Statement from Cohen Estate: Unauthorized use of "Hallelujah" as finale to Convention Festivities

[lizzytysh]

xoxoxox

[sebmelmoth2003]

The UK Ceremony for Holocaust Memorial Day (HMD)

chineke chamber ensemble - hallelujah - at end of 2021 event.

https://www.hmd.org.uk/news/uk-commemor ... -day-2021/

https://www.chineke.org

[oliviarodrigo]

i'm not sure why people get so bothered regards things that really in the bigger scheme of things don't really matter. i like artists who most certainly don't agree with my opinions but thats very good as in a free world the more we respect others views the better we get on. big deal trump singing a cohen song at a rally. at least unlike those lovely folk in isis and the talibaneverything he enjoys a good song.

[LisaLCFan]

i'm not sure why people get so bothered regards things that really in the bigger scheme of things don't really matter...

... ...

To Olivia and Arciom (assuming that the latter is agreeing with the former),

You are both missing an essential point: copyrighted music cannot be used by just anybody, especially in a public/performance setting, unless permission has been sought and authorisation granted for the use of that music. Copyrighted music is actually somebody's legal property -- it is not free to whomever wants to use it, and just like any other kind of property that is owned by someone, you can't just take it and use it, again, especially in a public/performance setting, without asking and being granted permission to use it (often for a fee -- royalties, etc.).

If someone uses copyrighted music in a public/performance setting without asking and without permission, it is technically stealing.

So, it does actually matter in the whole scheme of things that somebody used "Hallelujah" in the manner in which it was used and without authorisation, because it was a legal infraction, and people can't just choose which laws they will follow, and which they'll ignore. (Well, they can, but if everyone did that, perhaps you can see the problem...).

However, it has absolutely nothing to do with whether or not one agrees with the politics and/or opinions of the people in question in this particular case -- the fact of the matter is that it is a legal issue, and you may not agree with copyright law, but it is the law, like it or not (there are very good reasons for copyright laws, incidentally), and it was broken in this instance.

[oliviarodrigo]

i am actually someone who always buys the legal version of an artists work and do find it annoying how music is just considered a free for all now. what is even worse though is streaming. you get millions of streams if i am correct in that is what they are and make nothing. that for me is far worse then a few bars of your tune getting heard in public. anyway did they forget they could have offered him last years man. i love . my next post is gonna just be .

[LisaLCFan]

...what is even worse though is streaming. you get millions of streams if i am correct in that is what they are and make nothing...

Not true. Streaming services (legitimate ones) have to pay royalties to the rights-holders of the music. How much that amounts to depends on the streaming service, and on the number of streams, of course. Very few artists (and other rights holders) will get rich from streaming, but they do get paid, thus it is more than "nothing".

[sebmelmoth2003]

could it be watching shrek which alerted the donald to this song?

personally i'd like to think good music somehow has an improving effect - even if very small - upon donald and his fans.

shrek - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-4UKLeHI4c

[LisaLCFan]

could it be watching shrek which alerted [him] to this song?...

Oh, come on now! A person would have had to have been living in a cave (or on another planet) for the past 30 years not to have heard this song ! "Hallelujah" is ubiquitous, especially in America -- I think it is their unofficial National Anthem!

...personally i'd like to think good music somehow has an improving effect - even if very small - upon [certain people]...

How charmingly naive and idealistic! If only...

[Henning]

Well you all know the Hallelujah story by now. When Various Position came out in 1984 and was rejected by Sony USA the German Showmaster Frank Elster of the most popular Saturday night show invited Leonard to perform Halleluja live with the children choir in the background, no bell rang in the ears of the Germans and Hallelujah remained silent on the black vinyl. Jeff Buckley and John Cale pushed it forward with their versions but the comic figure Shrek presented it to a wider spread audience and from there it became a Hymn and found a new home on the streets and in the churches. Some may remember the time when we knew what was still going on below and Hallelujah was only a member of a record on the turntable.

[Teruo]

Leonard may have "discarded" many verses of his song "Democracy" - meaning that he did not include them on his album - but that does not mean that he never performed them. July 9, 1993, was his outdoor concert at the Paolo Soleri Theater outside Santa Fe, New Mexico. Perfect evening. 7500 feet up in the glowing hills backed by the 13000 foot Sangre de Cristos. Leonard used many of these "extra verses" to extend the length of the song to give each of his accompanists and musicians a chance to get backstage for at least a moment to refresh themselves. I don't remember much about the extra verses but for the line about slave ships sailing right into Charleston Bay. The verses turned the song into at least a 15 minute affair - people were dancing in the aisles as the moon rose. Pure magic. Julie and Perla wonderful. Now Leonard is gone, even the Paolo Soleri is gone, and I am an old man with wonderful memories.