Does anyone pay royalties on Christmas Carols?
Many of the Christmas Carols that have entered the American repertoire and have become part of our collective memory and Christmas culture are old English carols and folk songs. As with any folk song, they are considered to be collectively authored and owned so anyone can sing them any way they like with no royalties paid. In addition to the prevalence of English folk songs, many Christmas songs come from the canon of African American spirituals which are also considered folk songs. If I were to record a version of one of these folk songs I would pay no royalties, but if someone played my version in their store or restaurant they would need to pay royalties to me. Of course, there are songs that have composers and royalties should be paid to them but I’m not sure that anyone from the James Pierpont family is seeking money every time someone sings Jingle Bells in public. Check out the Alan Lomax recordings. His “Sing Christmas” is a radio broadcast from the United Kingdom and you will h
