The Joy of Happy Birthday

"Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday dear ______,
Happy birthday to you!"

Iconic, right? Everyone knows and sings this song. In fact, it is the most recognized song in the English language. (Wikipedia) We hear it sung from the time we are one year old. It doesn't just make us happy to hear it, but also to sing it. And we sing it a lot. In my family, its at least 3 or 4 times a year, and it was many times more when the Richards and Daloisio kids were under the age of sixteen. Even now, at age 63, I may hear that song sung to me, and it makes me very happy.

But guess what? Every time we sing it or play it, we should be paying a royalty, a fee, to the Warner/Chappell company, until their copyright expires in the U.S. in 2030. In the European Union, the copyright expires in 2016. To be used in a U.S. movie, the company charges up to $10,000, just to give you an idea of how much it costs to license it. (Wikipedia)

I went on their website to find out how much it might cost me to license Happy Birthday to You to sing to my daughter this upcoming June 22nd. What a mess! They are one of the largest licensors of music in the world! When I searched on "Happy Birthday" it came up with many published song versions ranging from 15 seconds to 2.33 minutes long. There was no sign-up or sign-in for an individual; only for companies. So I'm sad to say I can't tell how much it would cost you to sing "Happy Birthday to You" to your new grandson, granddaughter or loved one. Technically however? They want you to pay something for the right to use it. To pay for a license in other words.

Bah! Heck if I'm going to pay them! How will they know if we sing it to my daughter Kate? Do they have license spys like the BSA does for software copyright infringement? Actually, the BSA has a website to report such infringement anonymously. Anonymously! So I found that site, where I could report illegal activity, and then, curious, I went to the BSA website itself. For the life of me, after tooling around it, I can't tell you what "BSA" stands for. Maybe "Bad Software Agency?" or "Beware Software Acquisition?" I don't know. But they also call themselves the Software Alliance. 

I became intimately aware of the Software Alliance circa 2003 when I worked on a deal for the State of New Jersey to buy Microsoft licenses for Windows products to go on the tens of thousands of new IBM-compatible PCs the State was able to buy. Same principal as Happy Birthday to You. Want to use the software? Then of course you must pay for it. That's only fair. And the software industry had a long history of selling licenses for individuals or companies to either "buy" or lease their software products. I'd been involved with doing just that since 1980, so was very familiar with the game. And yes, I use to actually buy the software, before it all became lease rights only.

But the Software Alliance, a consortium of big and small companies, who paid for license police, was new to me back then. So at that time I looked into them a little, not that the State had any problem, because we always paid openly for our licenses. I discovered that the BSA issued heavy fines and penalties for infringement (tens-of-thousands, or hundreds-of-thousands of dollars). What I further discovered was the labyrinthine requirements to keep track of all those licenses, i.e. when they were transferred to a different PC/User, or added to, or temporarily discontinued. This was a huge area of responsibility on our part, on anybody's part, to keep track of such things. And if you didn't? If you were somehow using licenses that you weren't paying maintenance on? Then the BSA police could and would come and fine you. Especially if someone reported your infraction "anonymously." That's why small start-up companies were popping up with software programs (like Excel spreadsheets), to keep track of all your licenses. In either event, a lot of manual effort was required, despite the automation aspects of the tracking software.

And believe me folks, the BSA will fine YOU for unpaid software you're using on your PC! If they do find out, you must pay back maintenance and or the purchase price, which adds up quickly. 

My point? Watch out for the Happy Birthday to You police, because they would win in a court of law. There are attempts going on to negate this silly copyright that was first granted in 1935, but for now, we're all vulnerable. My personal opinion is that since Warner/Chappell is doing so well, they should release the copyright to Happy Birthday to You right now, as a gesture of good will. Of course, this means revenue lost, but maybe the IRS will give them a credit for unearned income or something? Or, they could certainly write it off as Good Will.

Oh, by the way, "Happy Birthday to you" is a registered trademark. I just want to say that less I'm sued for not saying so. My computer, I mean Blogger, won't let me add the copyright and trademark symbols or I would, for my own protection, so I'm taking a chance sharing this info with you. Think of me when I advertise my defense fund on Kickstarter, please.

So if you must sing Happy Birthday to You, better have your family members and guests sign a Confidentiality Agreement to protect yourself.

Just a word to the wise. And by the way -- Happy Birthday to You!

By Rodney Richards, NJ