who gets paid for the happy birthday song
Happy Birthday to You Prior to the lawsuit, Warner/Chappell had been earning $2 million a year licensing the song for commercial use,[45] with a notable example the $5,000 paid by the filmmakers of the 1994 documentary, Hoop Dreams,[48] in order to safely distribute the film.[49] On February 8, 2016, Warner/Chappell agreed to pay a settlement of $14 million to those who had licensed the song, and would allow a final judgment declaring the song to be in the public domain, with a final hearing scheduled in March 2016.[50][51] On June 28, 2016, the final settlement was officially granted and the court declared that the song was in the public domain.[19] The following week, Nelson's short-form documentary, Happy Birthday: my campaign to liberate the people's song, was published online by The Guardian.[52]