Audiophilez Music Blog

Larrikin Music is asking for 50% worth of royalties from Men at Work. Larrikin Lawyers in Australia claims that Men at Work‘s hit song Down Under is the same as Kookaburra Sits on the Gum Tree, a children’s song which was composed by Marion Sinclair. The song was then used for a jamboree of the Girl Guides dating back to the 1930s. Since then, Australian children from different generations have become quite familiar with the song.

As evidence to Larrikin’s claim that Men at Work plagiarised part of Kookaburra Sits on the Gum Tree, Martin Armiger was presented to the court. Mr. Amiger is currently employed at the Australian Film, Television and Radio School where he happens to lead screen composition. He is also a good friend to the band in question. Moreover, Martin Amiger maintains that the two songs are identical although giving him different impressions. He shares that Down Under has a South Pacific style compared to Kookaburra’s Victorian music style.

Men At Work ordered by a judge to hand over royalties from their No 1 hit single Down Under.

A source from the music industry shares that Men at Works’s Down Under has made an estimate of $14M since it was first released in 1982. It seems that Men at Work will only have to pay Larrikin Music $700,000 since the judge who handled the case ordered the former to pay only 5% of royalties instead of the 50% claim that the latter was asking for.

Apparently, Justice Peter Jacobsen feels that said claim is “overreaching, excessive and in my view unrealistic”. He also adds that there are other factors to be considered. According to the judge, weighing “the significance of the bars of Kookaburra to the overall musical qualities of Down Under” were done in order for the court to calculate the amount that Men at Work should pay Larrikin.

Hence, royalties dating back to 2002 onwards should be made payable to Larrikin Music. Colin Hay (guitar player) and Ron Strykert (vocalist) were also the songwriters of Down Under, did not attend court during judgement day.

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 1st, 2010 at 1:03 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.