Man, this is one of my favourite xmas songs, now you never hear it just cos some people have a problem with how Glitter spends his royalty checks. Is there no way around this? Can we just… not pay him royalties?
Not hearing this song being played is a small price to pay for seeing him brought to justice. If you want a rocky substitute, hunt down The Darkness with their Christmas Time (don’t let the bells end).
Warning, sick joke ahead:They’re not putting Christmas lights up in Vietnam this season. They’re hanging Glitter instead.
You can’t avoid paying him royalties; ASCAP would demand them on principle, and the structure of payment is such that they really can’t avoid it (i.e., the radio station pays an ASCAP fee, and ASCAP divvys it up depending on how often things are paid. If they veer away from the formular, other musicians would get angry).
So it’s better not to play it.
You’re all assuming that Gary Glitter actually owns the rights to his songs. He could’ve been screwed out of them early in his career (which happens all too often in the biz) or sold them to pay for the legal costs of his kiddy porn bust. (Does anyone know for sure?)
Whatever the case, it sure hasn’t stopped classic rock stations and hockey rink arenas from playing “Rock and Roll Part 2” every half hour. Now there’s a song I could live the rest of my life without…
Glitter is listed as composor, so he’s getting something. Though the record companies can screw you out of recording royalties, ASCAP is run by and for the composers, and the record companies are not involved.