LibriVox Forum

One of our Librivox Listeners will be celebrating his 102nd birthday on June 12, 2016. Please join with me to make his birthday celebration special.

I'll be putting together a short podcast to celebrate Bill's birthday and would love to have as many LV readers as possible send along birthday greetings.

We don't know much about Bill. He posted a thank you note here: viewtopic.php?p=1212073#p1212073

To participate:

• Please keep your submissions short (no more than 1-2 minutes) and cheery.
• Please include your forum or catalog name, so Bill can connect voices to readers.
• I'd appreciate if a couple of people could add a separate bit to their file where they call out "surprise" - like you would when someone walks into the room at a surprise party. Got an idea I'm working with and having a variety of "surprises" to paste together for that will help . . .
• file name: happybirthday_bill_xxx.mp3 where "xxx" is your initials
• upload to my folder (maryannspiegel)
• post a link to your recording in this thread
• Deadline for submissions: June 4, 2016

Thanks for helping us out with this!
MaryAnn

He mentions enjoying Roger's works. He doesn't say which one. For some reason I think it's Roger Melin. But could we contact the Rogers of our catalogue and see if they'd like to send a Happy Birthday so hopefully the one he enjoys will be among them?

Do you know what the PD status currently is on the Happy Birthday song?

Peter

I'm going to check on it Peter, there was a settlement proposed in February, with a hearing before the judge in March of 2016. I can't find anything on the outcome of that hearing. I'll do a bit more looking this week.

MaryAnn

“Happy Birthday” is public domain, former owner Warner/Chapell to pay £9.6M

Winning lawyer says more bogus copyrights may come under legal attack.
http://arstechnica.co.uk/tech-policy/2016/02/happy-birthday-is-public-domain-former-owner-warnerchapell-to-pay-14m/

Carol (dancing in time to the tune!)

Carol,

I saw something similar reported in the LA Times, but the settlement was subject to court approval and I don't see that the court has actually approved it and the case dismissed. A hearing was scheduled for March. That's what I am still checking on.

MaryAnn

I read the article in full before posting. It appeared to be a fete accompli as there was no mention of an appeal.

Paragraph 7 begins 'Nelson's lawyer Randall Newman, who spoke to Ars Monday night shortly after the settlement was finalised, said ...'
That would have been 8th February 2016

Carol

I had been following the status of the Happy Birthday case with interest, hoping it might be definitely PD in time for the next LV Anniversary podcast. The last article I read about it, in mid-February, said that Warner had given up on further appeals, and was no longer contesting the PD status. They had agreed to a $14 million settlement paying compensation to those who had been charged licensing fees. This news article in USA Today said --

Ending a three-year class-action battle, Warner, its affiliates and others who claimed ownership of the song's disputed copyright agreed that if U.S. District Judge George King approves the deal they will no longer "charge any person a fee for use of the song," the filing stated. "All parties believe the song will be in the public domain on the final settlement date," which is expected in March, the agreement added.

I interpreted that to mean that since Warner had given up appeals, nothing else needed to happen other than waiting for the settlement date, and then it would simply become a done deal. It would be wonderful if someone could actually confirm that, though! I didn't see anything in the news on the settlement date itself.
There was some forum discussion about this song here -- viewtopic.php?p=1209654

It is easy enough to check, but I need to get to work tomorrow and ask someone with access to the system of electronic court records to look up the case for me. I've got the case number and the court . . . I just need someone with a PACER login to do the search and print the docket.

MaryAnn

This is a lovely idea.

It's the first time I've uploaded anything for a podcast, so please let me know if I need to change anything.

https://librivox.org/uploads/maryannspiegel/happybirthday_bill_el.mp3
(00.18)

Erin

Thanks Erin. That is sweet! The only suggestion I have is to include your forum or catalog name. That way if he hears a voice he recognizes or likes, there's some identification. I'll add that to my first post (sorry I didn't think of it sooner).

MaryAnn

Hi, MaryAnn. What a nice idea. Here's a contribution. I tossed in a "suprise" at the end.


https://librivox.org/uploads/maryannspiegel/happybirthday_bill_jdb.mp3

1:09

Feel free to edit or discard as you see fit.

Best of luck,

Hello, MaryAnn. My contribution, brief as requested, has been uploaded.

https://librivox.org/uploads/maryannspiegel/happybirthday_bill_rgm.mp3

:24

I hope this suffices, and if not for any reason, simply let me know.
Hopefully this surprise for Bill will put a smile on his face. Thank you for taking this on.
Thank you!

Thank you Roger and John!

MaryAnn

Hi all,

the first time I participate in a podcast, but I figured this would be a worthwhile cause. Since I like to dabble in poetry, I wrote Bill a small poem especially for the occasion and recite it for him. I hope we can make his birthday very special.

MaryAnn, do you have a way of sending Bill the link, so that we can be sure he will also see the podcast ? Just wondering.

I also included a SUPRISE at the beginning, which you can cut out for your purposes. I would be cautious with the volume there though, we wouldn't want the man to get a heart attack when he hears it. Already I can imagine his reaction to be very emotional to this. I know mine would be.

https://librivox.org/uploads/maryannspiegel/happybirthday_bill_ss.mp3
Recording time: 1:27 min.

I hope I speak clear enough and not too fast. If sb has a listen, and doesn't understand, please tell me and I can re-do it.

Sonia