Why are there no dates on records from the '60's?

An easy way to find what year a record was released is to read the fine print on the label or jacket.  I do this quite a bit when adding something to the database or doing a quick check as my 60 year old mind can't always remember everything.

So I noticed that only RCA seemed to have dates on their records prior to 1971.  I wondered why as everyone seemed to date their albums later.

Recordings weren't eligible for copyright protection until 1972!   A recording of Dylan doing public domain songs was fair game.

RCA dated their records, but they were copyrighting the LINER NOTES AND COVER ART!


Dylan's New Morning only lists the artwork under the copyright. This was probably an attempt to dissuade the bootleggers who were targeting Dylan.