[Dixielandjazz] Singing Happy Birthday is a No-No - Was Who is BMI

[Fr M J (Mike) Logsdon]

THIS JUST IN!

Whilst having dinner at a lovely mom&pop-owned Italian restaurant this
evening, I heard the Forbidden Song sung by service personnel, and at a
volume not intended to deceive any BMI staffers that might have been hiding
in the woodwork.  Knowing that a crime was taking place, I hunched over my
plate of fettucini and hummed another tune (pre-01/01/1923) to myself,
occasionally raising my head to swig from my lovely bottle of Italian lager
the whilst.  The owner was actually having her own dinner at the table next
to me, to whom I was tempted to share our favorite bit of legal dogma, but
decided against it in the end.  Hearing a gaggle of Mexican waiters in an
Italian restaurant singing a particularly white-bread piece of Americana at
an unnaturally high volume in an Italian restaurant on the edge of a
particularly insignificant town, is almost too good to jeapordise.

Just had to share.  Back to the usual tirades...,
----
Etc,

Fr M J (Mike) Logsdon, Vicar-general
North American Old Roman Catholic Church (Utrecht Succession)
Archdiocese of California
www.naorc.org

"Simplicity, when it is not a careless gift of the Muse, is the last and
most painful achievement of conscientious self-denial." - James Russell
Lowell.


> -----Original Message-----
> From: dixielandjazz-bounces at ml.islandnet.com
> [mailto:dixielandjazz-bounces at ml.islandnet.com]On Behalf Of Steve
> Barbone
> Sent: Tuesday, April 17, 2007 7:05 AM
> To: Rev M J (Mike) Logsdon
> Cc: Dixieland Jazz Mailing List
> Subject: [Dixielandjazz] Singing Happy Birthday is a No-No - Was Who is
> BMI
>
>
> List-Message-Recipient: mjl at ix.netcom.com
>
> Did you know Happy Birthday is copyrighted and the copyright is currently
> owned and actively enforced by Time Warner?
>
> Did you know that if you sing any copyrighted song:
> ...at a place open to the public
> ...or among a substantial number of people who are not family or friends
> You are involved in a public performance of that work?
> You can hum and/or play Happy Birthday without infringing on a copyright
> because the melody is in the public domain. But if you sing it,
> beware. Note
> that the lyrics were copyrighted in 1935, are now owned by Time
> Warner, and
> the copyright is vigorously enforced by ASCAP. The lyrics generate $2
> million dollars a year for Time Warner. NONE OF THAT GOES TO JESSICA HILL
> one of the original family members who authored the tune and then
> copyrighted the lyrics.
>
> The reason the copyright laws on music are "extended" frequently
> is because
> "money talks", the big boys have the money, and they contribute some of it
> to political action committees of politicians hoping to be
> reelected. Then,
> when the copyrights are about to run out, they get a "favor" from the
> politicians they now own.
>
> In simpler times, we'd call it bribery. Net result? We are being
> repeatedly
> screwed by the corporate greed inherent in the music business.
>
> Cheers,
> Steve Barbone
>
>
> The melody for Happy Birthday was first penned by two sisters
> from Kentucky,
> Mildred J. Hill and Patty Smith Hill. The song was called Good Morning to
> All, but bore the recognizable melody. The tune was first
> published in 1893
> in the book Song Stories for the Kindergarten. The melody has since passed
> into the public domain, and is safe to hum in public without permission.
>
> While it is not entirely clear who first wrote down the words for Happy
> Birthday, it showed up in a few places before Jessica Hill (another Hill
> sister) was able to demonstrate undeniable similarities between
> Good Morning
> to All and Happy Birthday and to secure the copyright to the song.
>
> Working with the Clayton F. Summy Publishing Company, Jessica
> Hill published
> and copyrighted Happy Birthday in 1935. While the copyright should have
> expired in 1991, copyright has been extended repeatedly over the last
> quarter of the twentieth century and the copyright for Happy
> Birthday is now
> not due to expire until at least 2030.
>
> The Clayton F. Summy Company is no longer independent, but,
> through a chain
> of purchases, the copyright for Happy Birthday To You lies securely in the
> hands of the Time Warner company. Happy Birthday's copyright is
> licensed and
> enforced by ASCAP, and the simple little ditty brings in more than USD $2
> million in annual royalties.
>
>
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