person:paul collins

  • “Happy Birthday to You” copyright: Does the most infamous and resented copyright in musical history hold up to scrutiny? - By Paul Collins - Slate Magazine
    http://www.slate.com/id/2298271/pagenum/all

    The “Charge!” fiasco points to a more subtle development: Just as Google Books can reveal long-hidden plagiarisms, online databases are making it easier to knock shaky copyrights off their pedestals. And no copyright is shakier, or more widely resented, than that for one of the world’s most popular songs: “Happy Birthday to You.”

    Its copyright retains an eternal power to provoke incredulity: Really? I have to pay for that? But Warner Music Group, who acquired it in 1988, collects upward of $2 million a year from film and TV fees off the song. They nearly collected fees from Girl Scouts for campfire performances before a public outcry scotched the idea. To Warner, the matter is a simple one: “Happy Birthday to You” is a later-copyrighted variation of the melody to the 1893 song “Good Morning to All” [...]