B Day, video, 6′55″, 2005.
I’m a big fan of the Downhill Battle, Evolution Control Committee, Illegal Art and by extension, the Yes Men and ®TM just to mention a few.
I was doing some researches concerning the music industry and the copyright some years ago.
One day, I discovered a text taken from a book which was sent to my blog.
This text was telling us the exact story of the “Happy Birthday” song: where was it written, when it was written, who wrote it, and in what context?
I was inspired by this text to make this video, but what most interested me in this almost “Hollywood” story was to see the development of the copyrights over time.
“Happy Birthday” is no doubt one of the most well-known songs on the whole world, but it is still protected by copyrights which brings in millions of dollars to its owners.