The lawsuit over Robin Thicke and Pharrell‘s “Blurred Lines” thickens (pun intended).
Anyways, his smash single with Bruno Mars, “Uptown Funk,” has generated a shit ton of plays and with plays, comes a shit ton of publishing revenue — the reach totals 5.5 million downloads, millions in physical album sales, and YouTube video streams.
At first, the only people getting paid were Ronson, Mars, Phillip Martin Lawrence, and Jeff Bhasker, but then Trinidad James and “All Gold Everything” producer Devon Gallaspy also received credits because their sampled being used.
Then, as most aging musicians do, The Gap Band accused Ronson of taking “elements” of their cadence from one of their 1979 songs, “Oops, Upside Your Head ” — which caused Ronson to give a percentage of 17% of their overall split up between Charlie, Robert and Ronnie Wilson, Rudolph Taylor and producer Lonnie Simmons, taking the four original emcee’s down to 17% following The Gap Band settlement.
Billboard estimates that “Uptown Funk” has generated at least $840,000 in publishing, which means if my math is right, Mr. James is set to make $47,250 from just being sampled on the song.
Now, that’s the bread I need.
Percentage Breakdown:
Bhasker/SonyATV: 17 percent.
Gallaspy/SonyATV: 7.5 percent.
Ronson/Imagem: 17 percent.
Gap Band/Minder: 17 percent.
Lawrence: 17 percent.
Trinidad James/Trinlanta: 5.625 percent.
Trinidad James Record label/TIG7 Publishing: 1.875 percent.
Mars/Mars Force Music/BMG Chrysalis: 14.875 percent.
Mars/Northside Independent Music/Warner/Chappel Music: 2.125 percent.
