Men at Work Losing 5% of Royalties Over Flute Solo

By PopEater / Wire Services Posted Jul 6th 2010 10:10AM

A judge ordered Australian band Men at Work on Tuesday to hand over a portion of the royalties from their 1980s hit 'Down Under,' after previously ruling its distinctive flute riff was copied from a children's campfire song. But the penalty -- 5 percent of the song's royalties -- was far less than the 60 percent sought by Larrikin Music, which holds the copyright for the song 'Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree.'

Compare the flute solo (at 0:50) to 'Kookaburra':

'Kookaburra' was written more than 70 years ago by Australian teacher Marion Sinclair for a Girl Guides competition, and the song about the native Australian bird has been a favorite around campfires from New Zealand to Canada.

Sinclair died in 1988, but Larrikin filed a copyright lawsuit last year. In February, Federal Court Justice Peter Jacobson ruled Men at Work had copied their song's signature flute melody from 'Kookaburra.'

On Tuesday, Jacobson ordered Men at Work's recording company, EMI Songs Australia, and 'Down Under' songwriters Colin Hay and Ron Strykert, to pay 5 percent of royalties earned from the song since 2002 and from its future earnings. A statute of limitations restricted Larrikin from seeking royalties earned before 2002.

The court didn't specify what the 5 percent penalty translates to in dollars.

"I consider the figures put forward by Larrikin to be excessive, overreaching and unrealistic," Jacobson wrote in his judgment.

Mark Bamford, a lawyer for EMI, said the company plans to continue with its appeal of the February ruling.

"The ruling today on quantum is a good result in light of Larrikin's 'excessive, overreaching and unrealistic' claim" for a higher cut of the profits, Bamford said in a statement. "EMI Songs will now focus on its appeal against the broader decision."

Adam Simpson, Larrikin Music's lawyer, said the company had no comment on the ruling, due to the pending appeal. Hay and Strykert were not in court for the decision and couldn't immediately be reached.

'Down Under' and the album it was on, 'Business As Usual,' topped the Australian, American and British charts in early 1983. The song remains an unofficial anthem for Australia and was ranked fourth in a 2001 music industry survey of the best Australian songs. Men at Work won the 1983 Grammy Award for Best New Artist.

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Tags: men at work

Comments

(4)

Tuesday 06 July

By Jalapeno

Vote down Vote up Report this

Still amazes me that this song won out over Totos' song "Africa".

By mig242

Based on the two videos provided for this article, the 2 songs sound nothing alike. What's the deal?

By Jan

I don't think it sounds like it, but even if it did, it came out in 1983 and the lawsuit was filed LAST YEAR. It should have never been heard in court since the song has been out for so long.

Wednesday 21 July

By Holly

It is very hard to hear but it is there. The end of the flute solo in the first video at seconds 57-59 is the same as the melody of the line "kookaburra sits in the old gum tree" in the second video seconds 6-8.

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