Royalties For My Brother

I love Renaldo Lapuz. He’s this Filipino national who auditioned for American Idol this season and sang the song entitled “We Are All Brothers”, his own composition. I think he’s earnest and sweet and is the epitome of every videoke-loving tagay-tayo-sa-kanto Filipino. And he’s way better than William Hung! He’s much cuter. He’s creative. He didn’t just do a cover, but wrote his own song! His voice sounds much better. But most importantly, he’s Filipino!

I wasn’t able to watch his audition in real time. But I checked out U-tube for a clip of it and got a whole lot of samples. There are also remixed versions of his song. And now, his song can be heard on our local radio stations! (I was on the bus from Los Baños going to Quezon City when I heard the remix version playing.)

But I wonder if he’s getting any royalties from this? I understand that if your clip is viewed a whole lot, U-tube has a “revenue-sharing” scheme for the poster. But would Renaldo get anything?

And isn’t his song considered his Intellectual Property? Is he not considered a “performer” under the Intellectual Property Code? Is his song not a “sound recording”? If so, does he not have the exclusive rights to authorize the broadcasting and other communication to the public of his performance & the fixation of his unfixed performance? What about his “compensation” for the subsequent communications or broadcasts of his song on the radio? What are his rights when other people use his composition in their remix?

I don’t know the answers to these questions. At this point, I guess Renaldo doesn’t really care—his pure heart only wishes to be in the same room as his good man, Simon Cowell. And his wish was granted, free of charge.