A jaunty tune turned sour for Men At Work's man with the flute
Found on Sydney Morning Herald on Friday, 20 April 2012
The cause of death remains unknown, but a close friend of Ham's said last night he believed Ham, who had been on a methadone program, had begun using heroin again ''heavily'' and abusing alcohol after the Kookaburra trial.
Larrikin Music Publishing, which owns the copyright for Kookaburra, sued Hay, his fellow songwriter Ron Strykert and EMI Music Publishing, seeking back-dated royalties and a share of future profits.
The song Kookaburra was written in 1932 and Men At Work hat their hit 1981, 49 years later; and another 18 years later, in 2009, Larrikin sues them for royalties to profit from the hit. 77 years after the song was written. The artist, Marion Sinclair, died 1988 and in those 7 years between the hit and her death, she didn't make any attempt to sue Man at Work, but the label did 11 years after her death. I wonder how this protects the interests of the dead artist, because a label would not do this simply because of greed, right? So let's remember the corny line, coined by the entertainment industry: "Pirates steal from artists". Now we can reply: "Copyright kills artists".