Jump to content

Interesting Royalties Story


seattlesteve

Recommended Posts

So this keyboard player/lead vocalist writes this haunting song in the 60's and his bandmate puts lyrics to it. The melody is based upon a classical composition, in this case, Bach.

Another keyboard player joins the band after the song was written. Plays organ on the recording. Ultimately the organist wins a lawsuit for 40% of the royalties as the organ riff is such a signature part of the song. The composers (one is lead singer, wrote the melody) wins back 100% of the royalties citing that it is a good precendent otherwise anyone that played or had a solo on a hit song, could sue.

Know the band or song?

Gary Brooker, Procul Harem, Whiter Shade of Pale

Bet EC played this in a bar in the day

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Steve, Great tale! I had that story filed somewhere back in my memory but had forgotten which band it was. I was a real fan of Procul Harem back in the day. They were reviewed on the recent PBS special and it was great to hear Whiter Shade of Pale. I adored that song--still do! Thanks for the story!

:) --Darlene

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...