ARTSEDGE: March 04
Media
March 04
When “Happy Birthday” is sung in a movie or television show, the producers pay a fee called a royalty for the use of the song to Warner/Chappell Music.
1924:                A Song is Born
“Happy Birthday to You” is published
You’ve probably sung the most popular song in the English language more times than you can count. It’s said that the melody of the tune is borrowed from a song called “Good Morning to All,” written in 1893 by Patty and Mildred Hill, sisters and kindergarten teachers from Kentucky.
All they wanted to do was create a song easy for five-year-olds to sing. They never copyrighted the song, meaning they never registered it as their work. But an editor named Robert Coleman published the song in a book, adding a second verse to the “Good Morning to All” tune that features the words we all know. And from then on, “Happy Birthday” has stuck in a big way.
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