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> In a statement, Ludlow said royalties from the song since the early 1960s had been donated to the nonprofit Highlander Research and Education Center in Tennes
by vanderZwan 9y ago
> In a statement, Ludlow said royalties from the song since the early 1960s had been donated to the nonprofit Highlander Research and Education Center in Tennessee, which created the We Shall Overcome Fund to distribute all of the royalties through grants and scholarships in black communities. It was not immediately clear how much money the fund had distributed. “Without the same scope of copyright protection, Highlander’s grants and scholarships will be deeply affected in the future,” the statement said.
Without transparency, I am leaning towards assuming there is a hefty dose of Hollywood Accounting (or whatever the name for the the music industry's equivalent is) going on[0].
> Ludlow also said uses of the song had in the past been “carefully vetted” but warned that its words and melody could now be used by advertising agencies and others “in any manner they wish, including inaccurate historical uses, commercials, parodies, spoofs and jokes, and even for political purposes by those who oppose civil rights for all Americans.”
Oh I am sure that a for-profit company "vetting" potential clients is much more reliable than the inevitability of a huge social backlash against anyone foolish enough to use this song for selfish purposes.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollywood_accounting https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollywood_accounting
- halestock 9y agoEh, I'm sure this is going to end up in a Coca-Cola commercial eventually.
- greglindahl 9y agoParodies, spoofs, and jokes are often fair use. It's bizarre that a copyright owner would say that.
- wutbrodo 9y ago> It's bizarre that a copyright owner would say that. I dunno, intellectual dishonesty from any party when it comes to this topic doesn't strike me as "bizarre" as much as "super common".
- ENOTTY 9y agoCharityNavigator entry for Highlander Center: https://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=7634 https://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summar...
- arkades 9y agoThey seem to do reasonably well on the Transparency subsection.
- IntronExon 9y agoI went in hoping for blood, but that’s actually pretty good. Unless they’re fudging their financials in a truly criminal way, and there’s no reason to believe that, it’s a tight ship with low administrative overhead. They’re spending a bit over 70% on their programs, and not too much on admin or fundraising.
- vanderZwan 9y agoGlad to see that the charity donated to is OK, but that is still after the royalties are donated. Hollywood accounting is not yet ruled out.
- confounded 9y agoIt's legit. There's a good documentary about it on FilmStruck at the moment. MLK and Rosa Parks were alums.
- duxup 9y ago"We shall overcome our hunger for a taco dripping with cheese!"