"Through the years, there have been many copyrighted compositions such as 'Happy Birthday to You' that have become part of America's cultural fabric. Warner/Chappell insists the copyright is solid, until it expires in 2030. The family's share of royalties now flow to the Association for Childhood Education International, a tax-exempt organization, Brauneis said. Both Hill sisters died unmarried and childless, and their stake in the song eventually passed to a nephew, but he has since died. Warner Music receives the bulk of the royalty payments. The copyright on various arrangements of the song were renewed, but not on the standard "Happy Birthday to You" version, he said. The murky authorship is one of several defects Brauneis said he has uncovered that likely would invalidate the copyright if the matter ever landed in court.Īnother of those weaknesses, he said, was the failure of the song's owner to properly renew the copyright in the early 1960s. Who wrote the lyrics "is a mystery," he said, adding it even is possible that children in the Hill sisters' school might be responsible. "There is no evidence that these two sisters wrote those particular words," Brauneis said. The same melody, with new lyrics, was copyrighted in 1935 as the "Happy Birthday" song known worldwide today. The story begins with sisters Mildred and Patty Hill, kindergarten teachers in Louisville, Ky., who wrote "Good Morning to All" in 1893. Even restaurants are supposed to pay, which is why some chains have their waiters sing alternative birthday songs that require no rights payments.īut Brauneis has just written the definitive history of the song, and he concluded that no one should be paying anything. The Girl Scouts once were warned they would have to pay a fee if campers sang it. It collects royalties for everything from happy birthday ring-tones to e-cards that play "Happy Birthday to You."
HAPPY BIRTHDAY SONG SERIES
Turns out this humble little ditty is a cash juggernaut, generating approximately $2 million in royalties every year, Brauneis said.Īfter a series of purchases and acquisitions, the song is now owned by Warner Music Group, through its publishing arm, Warner/Chappell. "But if you want to use it in a television show, a movie, or a television commercial, you'll pay anywhere from $5,000 to $30,000 for those rights." "If you want to sing it at your home at a birthday party you don't have to pay anything, because that is a private performance," he said. Use it for any commercial purpose, and you are supposed to pay up, says George Washington University School of Law professor Robert Brauneis.
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