Do U2 have to pay royalties to sing Happy Birthday live?

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Canadiens1131

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Just wondering if U2 or the tour company or whatever has to pay royalties when they sung Happy Birthday, as the song is copyrighted

Was Cher paying royalties to U2 to open her last tour descending from the heavens (or rafters) singing ISHFWILF?
 
Canadiens1160 said:
Just wondering if U2 or the tour company or whatever has to pay royalties when they sung Happy Birthday, as the song is copyrighted

Was Cher paying royalties to U2 to open her last tour descending from the heavens (or rafters) singing ISHFWILF?

Not sure about arenas, but most clubs in north america have a license that allows performers to play cover songs without paying royalty fees. Can't remember the name of the license right now, need my morning coffee...
 
If you can play it yourself then you don't have to pay royalty.
If you play in on a public meeting and the author finds out then he can sue you
 
This reminds me of an episode of Sports Night where Josh Charles' character, Dan, gets in trouble for singing Happy Birthday to Peter Krause's character, and as a result makes the rounds asking everyone at the show what songs in the public domain they want him to sing for their birthdays.


DAN: I've got the intellectual property cops crawling up my butt.

ISAAC: The intellectual property cops?

DAN: Yeah.

ISAAC: Are crawling up your butt?

DAN: The heat's all over me.

ISAAC: What the hell are you--

DAN: I sang "Happy Birthday" to Casey on the air.

ISAAC: When?

DAN: Well, on his birthday, Isaac.

ISAAC: Sure.

DAN: I'm being charged a thousand bucks by the copyright holder.

ISAAC: Someone holds the copyright to "Happy Birthday"?

DAN: The estate of Patty and Mildred Hill of Anchorage, Kentucky.

ISAAC: Anchorage is in Alaska. (Note: But in the actual show it was something more along the lines of "It took two people to write that song?!" which is so much funnier!)

DAN: Turns out there's also one in Kentucky. Anyway, I've put together a short list of songs in the public domain and I'm letting everyone pick the song they'd like to have sung to them on their birthday.

ISAAC: Why are you talking to me right now?

DAN: For you, I've boiled it down to "Les Trois Capitanes" by Giuseppe Verdi or "Yo-Ho-Ho and a Bottle of Rum".

ISAAC: Are you on any medication right now?

DAN: I'm gonna go with the Verdi.



http://members.aol.com/graecia13/property.html

God, I loved that show!!!
 
Actually, Paul McCartney owns (or used to own anyway) the rights to Happy Birthday. I wonder if he still does. :hmm:
 
So do U2 (any artist, for that matter) have to get permission to do snippets/covers at arenas, or is that included in the license mentioned above?
 
Edgette said:
Actually, Paul McCartney owns (or used to own anyway) the rights to Happy Birthday. I wonder if he still does. :hmm:
I read somewhere that Paul has to pay Michael Jackson for the rights to sing one of his own songs. True?
 
Bono's Doll said:
I read somewhere that Paul has to pay Michael Jackson for the rights to sing one of his own songs. True?

I've heard the same thing and I'm pretty sure that's true as Michael owns most of the Beatles' catelouge.
 
Edgette said:


I've heard the same thing and I'm pretty sure that's true as Michael owns most of the Beatles' catelouge.

This is not quite accurate. Royalties on songs are payed to 2 different parties: the songwriter and the copyright owner.

The majority of the Beatles song catalog consisted of songs written by Lennon and McCartney. Paul has always received 50% of the songwriters royalties on all these songs.

The first Beatles single in 1962 was Love Me Do b/w P.S. I Love You. John and Paul were unknown writers at the time, so the publishing (copyright owner) was handled by a company called Ardmore and Beachwood. This single was a hit, so beginning with their second single, Please Please Me, a company was setup called Northern Songs, which would own the copyright for all future Lennon/McCartney songs, as well as George Harrison's first couple songs.

The ownership of this company was 50% to known UK music publisher Dick James and 25% each to John and Paul. Paul has never sold his 25% ownship in all these songs, thus as minority copyright owner, he, along with Michael Jackson, profit off the song ownership.

Michael Jackson owns the 50% that Dick James had own, plus a certain amount of Lennon's 25% that John had started selling off in the 1970s. Michael owns somewhere between 51-75% owndership in the Beatles song catalog. As majority owner, he is the one who can decide whether to license the songs for commericals or whatever he wants. Paul has little say in this, since he does not have controlling interest. He does though profit from every time those songs are used, as songwriter and as minority owner.

Paul later on bought those first 2 Beatles songs, Love Me Do and P.S. I Love You and owns 100% control of them, thus from those 2 songs, he makes 100% of the publishing profits, plus 50% of the songwriters royalties.
 
Venues almost always have "blanket" licenses from ASCAP, BMI and SESAC so that any royalty that falls under the respective publishing companies are paid for by a sort of annual "subscription" fee.

I have a feeling that Happy Birthday is public domain by now, but if it (and snippets, which most def. aren't) isn't, then the person who owns the publishing rights to the song will be compensated by the Staples Center's "blanket" license already paid to ASCAP, BMI or SESAC, whichever company publishes the song.
 
You just CAN'T charge for singing the Happy Birthday!!! :lol: This is way too funny... I'd never have thought about it :ohmy:
 
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pacemaker said:
Venues almost always have "blanket" licenses from ASCAP, BMI and SESAC so that any royalty that falls under the respective publishing companies are paid for by a sort of annual "subscription" fee.

I have a feeling that Happy Birthday is public domain by now, but if it (and snippets, which most def. aren't) isn't, then the person who owns the publishing rights to the song will be compensated by the Staples Center's "blanket" license already paid to ASCAP, BMI or SESAC, whichever company publishes the song.

That's the answer I was thinking of. Happy Birthday rights belong to Time-Warner until 2030...
 
So I guess you better grab an ASCAP liscense along with the cake mix for your next B-Day bash :ohmy: :eyebrow:

Thanks for the info :)
 
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