Hi folks, I am currently helping someone in the States who is writing a biography of Art Garfunkel, and she asked me a couple of questions about the publishing rights he might have over Paul Simon's songs. Since some people on this list probably know a bit about copyright law, and the general mechanics of the music industry, I thought someone might be able to help. Here are my questions. Please e-mail me off-list if you have any points to make: (1) Garfunkel wrote none of the music. However, the last two Simon and Garfunkel retrospective box-sets have been promoted mostly by him, rather than Simon. What financial dividends would he receive, or is it a case of him doing all the promotion, and Paul Simon getting the profit? (2) Is Garfunkel entitled to sing Simon's songs after the end of their partnership, in solo concerts, because he sang on the original versions along with him in the sixties? (3) Is Garfunkel entitled to sing Simon's solo songs - ones which they sang together in reunion concerts, but NOT ones they originally recorded together - in subsequent solo shows, again because they DID sing them together in reunion shows? (4) Does anyone know where to find the dance cover version of "Bridge Over Troubled Water" which came out in 1992? Thanks in advance, John
posting this on-list as it's partly relevant to "The Manual", where a lot of this is explained
(1) Garfunkel wrote none of the music. However, the last two Simon and Garfunkel retrospective box-sets have been promoted mostly by him, rather than Simon. What financial dividends would he receive, or is it a case of him doing all the promotion, and Paul Simon getting the profit?
There are 2 types of money paid to artists, the mechanicals (for the specific recording of a song) and publishing (for writing the song). Here, Simon gets all the publishing money, and they split the mechanicals according to whatever agreement they have. The KLF mention that by doing a cover version for your no.1, you would give away all the publishing, which is why they say you should assemble lots of short, non-infringing pieces.
(2) Is Garfunkel entitled to sing Simons songs after the end of their partnership, in solo concerts, because he sang on the original versions along with him in the sixties?
Everyone is entitled to sing any songs they want, provided they pay the publishing dues (you can't stop cover versions of a track, no matter how bad, otherwise a lot of talentless people would be out of a career), AND they do not alter the original lyrics (this last point is how "I'm Raving, I'm Raving" was able to be banned, they altered the lyrics of "walking in memphis" in a way the author found objectionable. I believe there is an exepmtion for making the gender of a song suitable for a singer of the other sex, but that's all you can change without permission.)
(3) Is Garfunkel entitled to sing...
See (2)
(4) Does anyone know where to find the dance cover version of Bridge Over Troubled Water which came out in 1992?
Not me! - Andy_R
for a license the company who is putting out the music has to make an agreement with whoever owns the right to that record (so we assume that this is a label) the label then passes on money to the artist. The company who is manufacturing the album has to pay 8.5% of dealer price to MCPS for every copy they manufacture, who then distribute that money to the publishers of the writers (the writer could be collecting that themselves). This form of payment is called the mechnicals and is collected by the publisher.
(1) Garfunkel wrote none of the music. However, the last two Simon and Garfunkel retrospective box-sets have been promoted mostly by him, rather than Simon. What financial dividends would he receive, or is it a case of him doing all the promotion, and Paul Simon getting the profit?
There are 2 types of money paid to artists, the mechanicals (for the specific recording of a song) and publishing (for writing the song). Here, Simon gets all the publishing money, and they split the mechanicals according to whatever agreement they have. The KLF mention that by doing a cover version for your no.1, you would give away all the publishing, which is why they say you should assemble lots of short, non-infringing pieces.
(2) Is Garfunkel entitled to sing Simon's songs after the end of their partnership, in solo concerts, because he sang on the original versions along with him in the sixties?
Everyone is entitled to sing any songs they want, provided they pay the publishing dues (you can't stop cover versions of a track, no matter how bad, otherwise a lot of talentless people would be out of a career), AND they do not alter the original lyrics (this last point is how "I'm Raving, I'm Raving" was able to be banned, they altered the lyrics of "walking in memphis" in a way the author found objectionable. I believe there is an exepmtion for making the gender of a song suitable for a singer of the other sex, but that's all you can change without permission.)
(3) Is Garfunkel entitled to sing...
See (2)
(4) Does anyone know where to find the dance cover version of "Bridge Over Troubled Water" which came out in 1992?
Not me! - Andy_R _______________________________________________ KLF mailing list KLF@mailman.xmission.com http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/klf
participants (3)
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Andrew Robinson -
john MILNE -
Jon Doe