Happy Birthday copyright question?

Question

I know the song is copyrighted and it is not illegal to sing it in the privacy of your own home but according to snopes.com it is illegal to sing it in restaurants If this is true, how is that any different than playing copyrighted music on the speakers in restaurants or stores? Is that illegal too?

Answer 1

When you hear music playing, then someone is getting paid.
Either through the service that''s piping in the music to the restaurant, or the radio station is paying royalties, etc.
If they're just playing a CD, then again, the copywrite owner got paid when the CD was bought.
But there's nobody getting paid if someone gets up and performs a copywrited song live, but you're supposed to pay for it.
Nobody enforces it in these situations though, because it's such a small thing, and would be impossible to enforce.
Big concerts, etc., though, it's a different story. They're paying.

Answer 2

No, not if they have a performance license. These can be obtained from BMI or ASCAP. You'll also notice that often, musac - the stuff you hear in restaurants and stores - is not the original artist recording. There are companies that license these songs, provide their own performers, and make special CDs for stores and restaurants - these CDs include the necessary additional licensing in their cost.

If you want to record a copyrighted song, then you also need a mechanical license, or a license direct from the owner of the copyright.

Answer 3

cause of how the copyright is written for happy birthday to me

According to United States copyright law in United States Code, Title 17 §106, authors of works such as musical compositions have the exclusive right "to perform the copyrighted work publicly." In United States Code, Title 17 §101, the law defines publicly performing a work as "to perform or display it at a place open to the public or at any place where a substantial number of persons outside of a normal circle of a family and its social acquaintances is gathered."

This means that if you sing Happy Birthday to your family at home, you're probably not committing copyright infringment. However, if you do it in an restaurant — and if the restaurant hasn't already worked out a deal with ASCAP — you may be engaging in copyright infringement.

Answer 4

It can be, but most (good) restaurants have licenses to play music from the major music licensing warehouses -- ASCAP, BMI, or SESAC. Those restaurants purchase licenses to play copyrighted music managed by these organizations throughout their restaurants for a fee based upon the size of the restaurant
and number of plays.

Here's info from ASCAP's licensing program for bars, etc.:

http://www.ascap.com/licensing/generallicensing.html

Answer 5

The melody of "chuffed Birthday to You" became written by utilising American sisters Patty and Mildred Hill in c4ca4238a0b92382dcc509a6f75849b893 while they have been college instructors in Louisville, Kentucky. The verse became initially meant as a lecture room greeting entitled "sturdy Morning to All". The version as all of us know it became copyrighted in c4ca4238a0b92382dcc509a6f75849b935 by utilising the Summy employer as an affiliation by utilising Preston Ware Orem, and is scheduled to run out in 2030. This became the 1st copyrighted version to contain the lyrics. the employer conserving the copyright became offered by utilising Warner Chappell in c4ca4238a0b92382dcc509a6f75849b990 for $c4ca4238a0b92382dcc509a6f75849b5 million money, with the cost of "chuffed Birthday" envisioned at $5 million. [a million] at an analogous time as the present copyright status of the music is uncertain, Warner claims that unauthorized public performances of the music are technically unlawful until eventually royalties are paid to them. that isn't any longer thoroughly specific who wrote the lyrics to "chuffed Birthday to You".

Answer 6

Actually, the copywrite for Happy Birthday expired a year or so ago and is now part of the Musical "Standard".

Answer 7

Snopes is actually wrong on the facts, has been intentionally ignorant for several years, and refuses to update them. Now that there is a federal ruling on the topic, perhaps they will stop spreading unproven rumors.

Answer 8

You are right. They need a license from ASCAP or BMI.

Answer 9

They let it go because it generates record sells. They want it to be heard.