Would you have guessed that the song, ‘Happy Birthday to You’ generates an estimated $2 million dollars a year in royalties? (and has earned this much annually since 1996) It’s only eight measures long, spans an octave and was written for children …but it’s a big money maker.
The song has appeared in over 140 movies, in countless advertisements for products ranging from cars to cereals to insurance to paper products and pet stores… and was featured in the world’s first singing telegram in 1933. Royalties are earned for public performances of the song as well as its use in movies, television shows, advertisements, music boxes, theatrical productions and the like. (Just an fyi… singing it around the dinner table or serenading your friend is a royalty-free private performance.)
‘Happy Birthday to You’ was written by two sisters… one was an educator and the other a composer. They were knowledgeable about copyright law and took steps to register their work for copyright protection. They may not have guessed that their song would become one of the most popular songs in the 20th Century…. earning over an estimated $45 million dollars to date. (Spending $35 to register your music for copyright protection pays off –> http://t.co/ynaHCbX )
(Since this blog just celebrated its first birthday… this is a timely topic.)
BY: Vanessa Kaster, Esq.
For more personalized legal services contact me at vk@kasterlegal.com
An interesting reference for more on the copyright issues surrounding the Happy Birthday song, see Professor Brauneis’ legal paper http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1111624
Copyright protection only costs $35
August 24, 2010
Copyright protection for your songs, photos, poems and other creative work is not expensive – it only costs $35 to register online with the US Copyright Office. And to make the deal even sweeter… it’s possible to register multiple pieces at once.
How do you do this? The first step to registering multiple pieces is to have them organized in a way that will allow you to upload them quickly and easily to the US Copyright office website when you are completing the electronic copyright registration form online. Basically, the $35 buys you one hour of time to upload your work. One hour should be plenty of time to upload a collection of songs or a series of photographs. If you prepare properly, it’s possible to upload over 2,000 photographs within the hour… which is less than 2¢ a picture.
It’s a good idea to watch the tutorial provided by the US Copyright Office on how to complete the online registration process (eCO Tutorial) before you start your registration.
–> http://www.copyright.gov/forms/
Good Luck!
BY: Vanessa Kaster, Esq., LL.M.
For more personalized legal services contact me at vk@kasterlegal.com
for more on copyright –> http://t.co/AvACRfs and www.kasterlegal.com.
