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
Royalty rates paid to musicians vary drastically depending on how and where the music is played or transmitted. The rates vary from several cents to a fraction of a penny.
Here are a few music royalty rates:
- $.0019 cents a song (approx.) per play on satellite radio (like SIRIUS XM)
- $.0019 cents a song (approx.) per play on Pandora
- $.09 cents a song (approx.) for a permanent download (like iTunes)
- $.09 cents a song (approx.) for a physical recording (like a CD)
- $.24 per ringtone.
The numbers are a bit sobering… but great music gets played over and over again… and it all adds up!
For more info on getting paid digital royalties from SoundExchange –> http://t.co/2WuFV2X and http://t.co/52HjluX
BY: Vanessa Kaster, Esq., LL.M.
For more personalized legal services contact me at vk@kasterlegal.com
Royalty rate info is available at: http://www.copyright.gov/carp/m200a.pdf; http://soundexchange.com/2010/12/17/looking-for-the-copyright-royalty-boards-2011-2015-rates/; http://www.harryfox.com/public/RoyaltyRateCalculator.jsp and www.kasterlegal.com.
Musicians MUST REGISTER with SoundExchange in order to get paid royalties from digital performances. Digital performances include having songs played on Pandora or Sirius Radio. I know that you might think that being registered with ASCAP, BMI or SESAC covers this, but it doesn’t. Separate registration with SoundExchange is required to collect royalties when your music is played on digital and satellite music providers.
SoundExchange pays royalties to performers and copyright owners. If you own your own track and play on it, then you get paid twice.
The only catch is that Musicians, performers and copyright owners must be proactive in registering with SoundExchange to collect their money.
–>Register with SoundExchange –> http://www.soundexchange.com/
Another critical step to getting paid digital royalties is to embed quality metadata on your CDs and music tracks –> http://t.co/52HjluX
p.s. if you haven’t already submitted your music to Pandora or Sirius Radio here is the contact info for that too. http://www.pandora.com/corporate/contact.shtml & http://www.sirius.com/contactus
BY: Vanessa Kaster, Esq., LL.M.
For more personalized legal services contact me at vk@kasterlegal.com and www.kasterlegal.com.
