i recently watched a documentry called 'the corporation' and was disgusted to learn that a company actually owns the rights to the song 'happy birthday'. What kind of world do we live in when some filthy rich company is receiving money for a song that's sung by so many. The company receives around $10,000 when ever the song is sung in a movie. peace
yea, but please tell me that wasn't the only thing that made you disgusted by watching 'the Corporation' - great documentary though ~Dan
ha ha, nah man..that doco has inspired me to change the world!!! You'll be hearing my name soon!! peace
According to Snopes: Who does own the publishing rights to "Happy Birthday to You"? They were acquired by a New York accountant named John F. Sengstack when he bought the Clayton F. Summy Company in the 1930s; Sengstack eventually relocated the company to New Jersey and renamed it Birch Tree Ltd. in the 1970s. Warner Chappell (a Warner Communications division), the largest music publisher in the world, purchased Birch Tree Ltd. in late 1998 for a reported sale price of $25 million; the company then became Summy-Birchard Music, now a part of the giant AOL Time Warner media conglomerate. According to David Sengstack, president of Summy-Birchard, "Happy Birthday to You" brings in about $2 million in royalties annually, with the proceeds split between Summy-Birchard and the Hill Foundation. (Both Hill sisters died unmarried and childless, so the Hill Foundation's share of the royalties have presumably been going to charity or to nephew Archibald Hill ever since Patty Hill passed away in 1946.) That having been said, unless you use the song to generate income, you are not required to pay use fees for performing it in public. So I wouldn't get your panties in a bunch unless you happen to be Steven Spielberg or Stephen Sondheim or someone like that.
That's why they made their own version of 'Happy Birthday' in that Futurama episode... Where it's nibbler's birthday. Bit of useless trivia for you there. .
ha ha i love that show, anyway. I guess the point i was trying to make in my first post was that i feel that because the song is so widespread and used then nobody should own it or make a profit out of it. It seems like anything that is seen as a commodity is snached up by these big corporations and sold out to the world and it makes me angry. By the way my name is kyle. peace
Hmmm.. That gives me an idea.. I'm gonna buy the rights to the words 'hello', 'hi' and 'hey' and sell them off at ridiculous prices... and tax oxygen usage. Whoever said money doesn't grow on trees wasn't a capitalist. Hmm.. maybe I can tax the phrase 'money doesn't grow on trees' too.. please ignore me
that just goes to show how much money has affected the morals and priorities of people today. it seems like thats all that matters in this day and age
