She's number one but it won't earn Dame Vera any royalties
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 1:17 AM on 16th September 2009
She's beaten off competition from the Beatles and is sitting pretty at the top of the charts.
But Dame Vera Lynn is not entitled to a penny in royalties, despite selling more than 24,000 copies of her new album last week.
Under the law, performers receive royalties for up to 50 years after the song was first released and the performing rights on the songs on the album expired during the 1980s and 1990s.
Instead, the royalties from We’ll Meet Again – The Very Best of Vera Lynn will go to the singer’s record label, Decca, a subsidiary of Universal.
The Performing Rights Society, which collects royalties for artists, said Dame Vera could have earned up to £18 a minute every time one of the songs is played on the radio, although a cut of that would go to the songwriters.
She is also missing out on royalties from downloads and album sales.
Read more:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1213746/Shes-number-wont-earn-Dame-Vera-royalties.html
