p2p news / p2pnet: In 1932 Solomon Linda wrote a song he called Mbube. In the 60s, it showed up in the music charts as Wimoweh and re-gained popularity when it turned up again as The Lion Sleeps Tonight in Walt Disney’s The Lion King.

Mbube, as it was originally named, has earned millions in royalties but, when Linda died in 1962, he was penniless and his impoverished family received only about $38,500.

Relatives, including Solomon’s three daughters and grandson who lived in Soweto, have been trying to get money out of Disney for years and now, “Lawyers acting for the family of Zulu migrant worker Solomon Linda, the song’s original composer, say Abilene Music – which administered its copyright in the United States – had agreed to settle the dispute for an undisclosed sum,” says Billboard.

The amount is confidential, “but it’s been described as an amount which is suitable for the family’s needs and includes both back payments for royalties as well as future payments,” it has lawyer Herman Blignaut saying.

“The outline of Solomon Linda’s story is instantly familiar,” says SA Music, “poor boy comes to the big city, creates a work of art that makes him famous, but dies in absolute poverty while his work lives on, generating money for the clever men who control the copyright. Linda was never cheated or defrauded. Nor was he singled out for exploitation because he was black under apartheid, although that was certainly a factor.

“He was simply the victim of a system where those with knowledge of copyright law and access to copyright lawyers often wind up controlling the destiny of those who don’t.”

Does that look familiar?

Also See:
earned millions – African family sues Disney, July 4, 2004
Billboard – US Firm Pays S. African Heirs Of ‘Lion’ Composer, February 17, 2006
SA Music – Groundbreaking SA lawsuit sends a message to the world’s cultural power-brokers, February 18, 2006

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