Why hello everybody, and welcome to day three of the 12 days of Christmas. I'm Mimi Fotz, and this is Hello from the Van. One of the first things you'll notice today is that we now have a jingle. And we have this jingle for no other reason than I wanted one. Anyhow, let's get into it today, shall we? Today is Monday, December 15th, and this is day three of the 12 days of Christmas. Before we begin, parents, today's episode is about 13 minutes long. Plan accordingly. Our topic today comes to us from, of all places, my van. Let me tell you a little story. So there I am, I'm driving in the van, of course, the Great Odyssey. And the kids requested our local radio station that plays Christmas music all season. One of these stations is 99.5, the other is 100.3. Now I go to 99.5 and I hear bum bum and I know. I know which song is coming. It's the Little Drummer Boy. Now, for those of you who don't know me personally, the Little Drummer Boy is probably my least favorite of the Christmas songs. I do not like the song. I don't know why. If you were like, hey, Mimi, why do you hate this song? I don't know, you guys. I just don't like it. I don't know if it's the repetitive nature. I don't I don't know what it is. Alright? But you just don't like the song. So I turn to my children and I say, it's not happening today, guys. We are not listening to the little drummer boy. So I switch from 99.5 to 100.3. And you want to know what I hear? Bum bum. And I know that the exact same song at nearly the exact same place is playing on both stations simultaneously. And this got me thinking, why do we hear the same songs all Christmas season? It seems like there's 10 to 12 songs that are played on repeat, and every once in a while we throw in a new song here or there, but there's basically this group of songs, a canon, if you will, of Christmas songs that are all played all the time on all stations. Well, that's what we're going to talk about today. Why do we hear the same songs over and over and over again? Where did they come from? And why do all radio stations agree that apparently these are the songs that we should be listening to all season long? Before we get into this topic, let's get on the same page with some words. The first word is canon. When I say canon, I don't mean like Peter Pan, Captain Hook canon of like, I'll get you a paint top hand, fire. I don't mean it like that. What I mean is the term canon or musical canon or canon event, when we use it that way, the word doesn't mean like a physical thing. It means like a shared experience or a piece of writing that everyone knows. So a canon event would be like a world war. No matter where you go, everyone knows about it. So canon music would be music that everyone knows. That's canon. So when I say canon, that's what I mean. The next word is copyright. Now, copyright has two different words in it. It's what's called a compound word. It has copy and write, or the right to copy. So it's pretty self-explanatory. Copyright means you're you have the right to copy someone else's work. And that is gonna matter when we talk about music. So with those two words under our belt, let's get started. The musical canon for Christmas music is a tight list. In my research, I Googled most popular Christmas songs. And you want to know what I found? Most popular Christmas songs are also part of what's called public domain. Remember that copyright word we talked about? Well, normally in the United States, you have to pay copyright fees, sometimes called royalties. You have to pay for the ability or the right to copy other people's music. This includes written lyrics and written music. So let's say for example, I just had delusions of grandeur and decided that I was going to put out the Mimi Fotz Christmas album, and I was going to sing everything on Mariah Carey's Christmas album in the exact same attempted way that she sings it on hers. Could I do that? Absolutely not. Not without paying for it first. In order to use someone else's written music, you have to pay them what's called royalties. You want to know what all those really popular Christmas songs have in common? They are royalty free, meaning that they are part of what's called the public domain here in the United States. There are seventy-eight well-known Christmas songs in public domain. Now, to be part of public domain requires a certain set of circumstances. The first benchmark or requirement to be in public domain is that it must be written before the year 1930. The second requirement is that you must use the original written work as your reference. So for example, I love the song Oh Holy Night. But if I was going to record the Mimi Fots Christmas album, I could not use a rewritten work of that song. So for example, I couldn't use Carrie Underwood's version. I would have to write my own from the original or based on the original. I can't use someone else's iteration because that starts a new copyright when they write it. So of these 78 Christmas songs that are in public domain, do you think you know any of them? Let's play a little quiz game, shall we? This game will be called public domain or not. Alright, song number one. We have five songs. The first song, Oh Holy Night, public domain or not? That's right. It's an easy one. It's public domain. We already talked about it. Alright, second song. Silent Night. Public domain or not? It's public domain. Alright, next next one. Number three. Here we go. We wish you a Merry Christmas. You know that one. We wish you a Merry Christmas. Public domain or not? It's public domain. Okay, I'm gonna give you a hard one. White Christmas. You know the one. I'm dreaming of a white. That one? Public domain or not? It is not public domain. Although it will be in 24 years. So in your lifetime, when you're an adult, it'll be public domain. Alright, last one. You ready? My least favorite of all the Christmas songs, The Little Drummer Boy. Is it public domain or not? It is not public domain. I know. I'm as shocked as you are. Alright, listen, I yeah, I'm so shocked I threw my hands up and hit my microphone. Alright, so here's the deal. It is not public domain, but why is it everywhere? And why do I hear it all season long? Well, guess what? I did some research. I'm gonna tell ya. So first things first, this song, The Little Drummer Boy, was written in 1941. We know that according to US law, copyright extends for 95 years from the time that a song is written. So assuming that the copyright isn't renewed for the Little Drummer Boy, that means I have 11 more years before this song hits public domain. Now, I don't know how bad it's gonna get, you guys. I just know that once this song hits the public domain, every other station is just gonna be going don, don, don, don all the time. I'm not gonna be able to escape this in 11 more years. My only hope is that there are a lot of other really great Christmas songs that are also going to be entering public domain at around the same time. It's possible that the little drummer boy will just get overshadowed by all of these other lovely songs that will be entering the public domain at around the same time. One can only hope. And if you're wondering who owns the copyright for the little drummer boy at this time, it's actually a college. The original writer, Catherine Kennicott Davis, bequeathed her share of the royalties to Wellesley College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, to fund music scholarships and music programs. So I guess I can't feel too bad. Every time I hear the little drummer boy, I can feel better over knowing that my suffering is at least helping some music majors out in Massachusetts, right? I guess there's a positive side to everything in this world, and it appears we just found ours. In other news, there are some wonderful songs that are about to enter public domain in the coming decade. Songs like Winter Wonderland and Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer. Look out for those remixes, people. They're coming. It's also important to note that older Christmas songs like the ones about to enter public domain normally have cheaper or less expensive royalties than newer songs. Let's do a comparison, shall we? An older song, like Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer, has very limited royalties that you have to pay. You don't have to pay a lot to be able to use that song. In fact, I looked it up. You need to pay 9.1 cents for every copy that you make of that song. So let's say, for example, I recorded the Mimi Fots Christmas album and I made a hundred copies and I put rocking around the Christmas tree on my album. I would have to pay royalties for each copy that I made. It's not just a flat fee. You have to pay for every single one. With streaming, it's the same concept, but a different amount. But what about new music? For example, Mariah Carey. Mariah Carey's song, All I Want for Christmas is You. This song has grossed or made over$100 million in total royalties since its 1994 release. It's estimated that Mariah Carey makes two and a half to three million dollars per year in royalties alone, just from this one song. And if you're thinking, wait, well, I'll just record it myself and make my own version and I will make as much money as Miss Mariah. Well, guess what? Mariah Carey does not let anyone re-record this song. She holds her royalties near and dear and does not let anyone use her copyright. All lead vocals are strictly Miss Mariah. In fact, Mariah Carey is part of the package deal if you want to use the song. So for example, in 2019, Pepsi, you know the drink? PepsiCo wanted to have the song in a commercial. And they were like, oh, wouldn't it be great if we had Mariah Carey in the song because she wrote it and she sings it? And she said, Yeah, absolutely, but you gotta pay up. They paid her$11 million to sing this song, just a couple bars, in a commercial. Basically, because this song is not in the public domain, and because Mariah Carey holds the copyright, she makes money in a lot of different ways from this one song. She gets money from the Master Recordings, from the publishing royalties, from the streaming revenue. So every time you hear this played on the radio or Apple Music or Spotify, she also gets performance royalties. And then the last way she makes money is licensing for commercials and soundtracks. So every time you hear this song in a movie, Mariah Carey makes money. So let's wrap it up. What did we learn today? We learned that a lot of the Christmas canon is based in the public domain. We also learned that 78 of the top 100 Christmas songs, they're part of the public domain. And finally, we learned that Mariah Carey makes a lot of money this time of year. You go Mariah. I hope you'll join us tomorrow as we read The Night Before Christmas and Christmas Every Day. I'm Mimi Fotz, and this has been day three of the twelve days of Christmas. And thank you for listening to Hello From the Van. Oh, and if you're still here, let's cite those sources. Today we use the help of the Public Domain Information Project, Spotify, the Billboard Top 100, and Wikipedia. Again, as a diving off point for all that research.