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- Ariana Grande has sold 90% of her author rights to "7 Rings", the second controversial (but extremely popular) single from her latest album.
- "7 Rings" interpolates the melody of "My Favorite Things", an iconic song written by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II for "The Sound of Music" in 1959.
- According to the New York Times, the Republic of Grande label has an agreement with Concord, the music company that owns the latest catalog of composers and performers since 2017.
- The percentage is remarkably high to give songwriters a sample, especially in the absence of a lawsuit, but it is not unprecedented.
Ariana Grande's controversial "7 Rings" single has returned to the forefront this week, scoring six weeks at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 standings since its release in January – but, financially, the pop star will reap much less from that. success only one. expect.
The New York Times reports that Grande has yielded 90% of its "7 Rings" royalties to the estate of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, the iconic song composer duo who died in 1959 and 1970 respectively.
"7 Rings" interpolates the melody of "My Favorite Things", famous writing by Rodgers and Hammerstein for "The Sound of Music" in 1959.
Great transformed Julie Andrews' list of simple and innocent pleasures into a glorious anthem of financial freedom: "Brown paper packets tied with ropes / Here are some of my favorite things" becomes, in Grande's voice, "Eyelashes and diamonds, ATMs / Buy me all my favorite things. "
Rodgers and Hammerstein are two of 10 songwriters credited with the song Grande – his second most important hit in the standings, just behind the single "Thank U, Next" from the album, which also helped make comparisons with rapper songs like Princess Nokia, 2. Chainz and Soulja Boy.
Read more:The Princess Nokia finds the new song of Ariana Grande & # 7; 7 Rings & # 39; very familiar sounds & # 39; and hints that the singer stole her style
According to the New York Times, the Republic of Grande label has reached an agreement with Concord – the music company that has the latest catalog of composers and performers since 2017 – just weeks before the release of the single in January.
Concord would have asked for 90% of the copyright and the Grande team "was accepted without further negotiation".
The Times also reports that "Concord should pull millions of dollars from the song." Grande and her tag refused to comment on the report.
While it is common for a label to sacrifice a percentage of royalties when a pop song relies on a sample, 90% is a remarkably important cut – especially in the absence of a lawsuit.
Gwen Stefani's 2006 song "Wind It Up", which samples "Lonely Goatherd" from "The Sound of Music", owes Rodgers and Hammerstein Camp only 50% of the author's rights.
In 2018, when Marvin Gaye's family was successful in a lawsuit against Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams – who claimed that their hit "Blou Lines" was too similar to the 1977 Gaye song "Got to Give It Up ", the judge also awarded the Gayes 50% of future royalties.
However, the small share of Grande is not unprecedented.
In the 90s, The Verve was forced to give up all the royalties of the band's biggest hit, "Bittersweet Symphony," which partly inspired a symphonic version of Rolling's "The Last Time" Stones.
Despite the fact that Richard Ashcroft, the singer of The Verve, wrote all the lyrics, Rolling Stones director Allen Klein claimed that he had used too much of the original song and that he had won his lawsuit against the plagiarism.
"We were told it would be a 50/50 split," said Verve bbadist Simon Jones later. "Then they saw how good the record was, they rang and said we wanted 100% or removed it from the stores, you do not have a lot of choice."
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