It’s Monday afternoon in Cambridge, and the Tour de France, Stage 3 start and celebrations are over. Roads are almost open again. Pubs are undoubtedly still packed. All is well.
Now, I know the Tour de France, for some, is incredibly, incredibly, exciting. For me, however, I am more excited about the BBC documentary I just finished watching called “The Richest Songs in the World”. The doc exposes the top 10 money-making songs by royalty pay-outs, and reveals some controversies and stories behind each.
For instance, did you know that Roy Orbison’s first wife, for whom he wrote ‘Pretty Woman’ died in front of Orbison when she was hit by a car in an intersection while they were out riding motorcycles? Tragic. The song did go on, though, to earn an estimated 13 million British Pounds in royalties. The piece also goes through some sampling issues, which is always a hot topic when talking about royalties and copyrights.
The doc is up on the BBC website for just 6 more days (as of July 7th, 2014) – and it may be geoblocked (check: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01pjrt5) but I’ve found it on Youtube for your streaming pleasure (speaking of copyright and royalty issues…), if you’re interested in this sort of thing. It’s so far up MY alley that it’s at my front door ☺.
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