Sir Cliff Richard and other ageing British artists may be heading for a more comfortable retirement, thanks to Nicolas Sarkozy and his friendship with the dinosaurs of the early French rock era.

Taking a position contrary to that of the British Government, the French President is to fight for an extension to the 50-year period under which musical recordings are protected by European copyright.

Artists and record companies in Britain and France are upset over the loss of income that they will suffer when they lose their royalties as the legacy of the late-1950s explosion of rock'n'roll falls out of copyright. Last July, Gordon Brown refused demands from the music industry to extend the European law to match the 95-year copyright of the United States.

Mr Sarkozy, a big fan of Sixties pop, is determined to help his friend Johnny Hallyday, 64, the still-rocking founder of the French genre. The move will also help other much-loved ageing stars such as Eddy Mitchell, Sylvie Vartan and Michel Delpech.

Last Monday, Hallyday, who became a teen idol with his first hit in 1960, was one of the guests at a small surprise 53rd-birthday party for the President. It was thrown by Carla Bruni, the supermodel-singer whom Mr Sarkozy is about to marry. Hallyday has also rewritten the lyrics of one of his biggest hits, Quelque chose de Tennessee, in the President's honour, retitling it Quelque chose de Sarkozy.

Mr Sarkozy, who loads his iPod with Hallyday and Elvis for his jogs in the Bois de Boulogne, will make copyright extension a priority for France's six-month turn in the European Union presidency, which starts in July.

Christine Albanel, the Culture Minister, has already asked the European Commission to do the groundwork.

“Today, whole swaths of the recording catalogue of the 1950s and 1960s, representing a significant part of the national pop heritage, are falling progressively into the public domain,” she said.

“That creates an obvious problem of fairness. Artists who began their careers very young are being stripped today of all remuneration from their first recordings.”

France is considering whether to protect records for 70 years or to extend cover for the life of the artist. Jean de Saint-Guilhem, musical director at the ministry, told The Times that support for extension was rising in the EU. “We want to make the most of this and use the French presidency to enact the reform,” he said.

Officials at the Elysée Palace said that the key would be overcoming British and German reluctance; the other EU states would follow suit.

Britain rejected calls to protect legacy recordings after a commission headed by Andrew Gowers, a former journalist, reported that this could harm the trade balance and the interests of consumers, with little real benefit to artists.

Attacking that decision, Roger Daltrey, of The Who, said: “Thousands of musicians have no pensions and rely on royalties to support themselves.”

Hallyday and most of the other “pôtes de Sarko” (Sarkozy's mates”) are still big earners. “Le Johnny National”, as he is known, has sold 100 million albums in France since 1960, but the much-divorced singer is famous for his high living and money troubles.

Gallic groovers

Daft Punk

Mixing disco with anything that took their fancy, this French duo were one of the most successful of the bands who made 1990s France a hotbed of electronic music innovation. Had UK hits with Around the World and One More Time

Air

A softer, more melodic voice on France’s house-inspired electronic scene, this classically trained and inspired duo’s debut album, Moon Safari, was a stand-out record of 1998

MC Solaar

The grand old man of French hip-hop, the Senegalese-born star has done more than any other artist to show the world that rapping is more than an English-language phenomenon

Serge Gainsbourg

Gainsbourg’s 40-year career is often reduced unjustly to the hoarse-voiced horseplay of Je t’aime . . . mois non plus, his 1960s duet with Jane Birkin. The untranslatable nature of his punning French lyrics cost him a wider audience

Sources: Virgin Records; Amazon; Times archives

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