Former Procol Harum organist Matthew Fisher has been awarded a 40 percent share of the copyright for "A Whiter Shade Of Pale," the Associated Press reports, because, a judge reasoned, Fisher's organ solo constituted a significant contribution to the song. His opponents—singer Gary Brooker and lyricist Keith Reid—issued a statement saying that the ruling means "that unless all musicians' parts are written for them, no publisher or songwriter will be able to risk making a recording for fear of a possible claim of songwriting credit." Damn those rascal musicians, improvising stuff that enriches songwriters' work! Fisher's entitlement under the ruling goes back only to 2005, when he first took matters to court, so he apparently doesn't benefit from the fact that the song has seemingly been in every fucking movie about the '60s since the dawn of time.
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