The Mystery Of The Rolling Stones' Rare Song That Appeared On YouTube Then Disappears

Rolling Stones (Twitter @rollingstones)

JAKARTA - A collection of rare recordings from the Rolling Stones was published on YouTube last week. But, then mysteriously deleted within a few hours.

Just before midnight on December 31st, a YoTube account called 69RSTRAX posted a collection of 75 rare Rolling Stone songs covering studio out-takes and live shows to its YouTube account, without comment or explanation. A few hours later, on January 1st, the account changed all video settings to 'private'

In the absence of a direct hint of the uploader's identity, YouTube's mandated email address for 69RSTRAX directs business inquiries to ABKCO, a music publishing company that owns the rights to a large number of the Rolling Stones' early recordings.

According to Variety, publishing the songs may be an attempt to circumvent EU copyright laws and keep them out of the public domain on the 50th anniversary of their creation.

For information, sound recordings are protected for 50 years after publication, and can be extended up to 70 years as long as they are legally communicated to the public in the first 50 years.

The 75 published tracks included several 1969 concerts nearing completion and several alternative studio versions of songs from the Let It Bleed and Sticky Fingers albums. Some of them have been available for decades on bootlegs (unofficial recordings).

Meanwhile, recently guitarist Ronnie Wood thought the Rolling Stones were "indestructible" after several members survived illness. Wood beat lung cancer in 2017 while drummer Charlie Watts beat throat cancer in 2006 after undergoing two surgeries.

Earlier this year, frontman Mick Jagger underwent heart surgery and, in 2006, Keith Richards suffered a cerebral hemorrhage after falling from a tree. Right this year, the Rolling Stones are 58 years old.