JAKARTA I just want you for my own, more than you could ever know. Make my wish come true. All I want Christmast is you. This is a snippet of the song All I Want for Christmas, which almost every Christmas moment ranks at the top of various charts. It was also this song that made Mariah Carey pocket hundreds of millions of United States dollars from the royalties of the song.
All I Want for Christmas is You, a single popularized by Mariah Carey, can be said to be a favorite of almost everyone at Christmas. When it was first released in 1994, it was ranked sixth on the Billboard Hot charts in the United States and number two in the United Kingdom and Japan. The song was also named the best-selling Christmas song of all time in the US.
After three decades passed, the song All I Want for Christmas is You still reverberates beautifully at every Christmas celebration. And this song is also the coffers of money for the diva.
The Coffers Of Christmas Queen's Money
All I Want for Christmas is You is a song written by Mariah Carey with Walter Afanasieff from his fourth studio album which is also his first holiday album titled Merry Christmas. This song was released on October 29, 1994 and immediately received a positive response not only from fans, but also music lovers around the world.
AllMusic's Roch Parisien, called the song an amazing song throughout the year, complementing its instruments and melodies. While Steve Morse, editor of The Boston Globe wrote Carey is very soulful in singing this song. Time Cady Lang's author stated there are several reasons for the popularity of the song, but the main thing is the strong vocal of the singer who is elusive.
This song immediately became an upper position subscription on a number of charts, and uniquely it has been repeated at every Christmas moment until now. Despite being released in 1994, All I Want for Christmas is You was the last single number one in the 2010s and number one in the first decade of the 2020s.
With this sweet note, Mariah Carey became the first artist in history to occupy the top of the charts in four separate decades, namely the 1990s, 2000s, 2010s, and 2020s charts.
The classic song All I Want for Christmas is You doesn't just make history on the world charts. Mariah Carey's annual revenue from the song is rumored to have reached billions of US dollars. When releasing the song in 1994, a woman born in 1969 may never have imagined that she would be the Queen of Christmas until 30 years later.
According to a Forbes report, Carey received 60 million US dollars (Rp937.4 billion) from royalties at the start of the release of the song until 2016. Since then, Carey's revenue from royalties has continued to increase and generate millions of dollars every year.
In 2023, the Associated Press estimates the total royalties income for the song is 100 million US dollars while The Economist predicts, Carey personally generates 2.5 million US dollars per year from this song alone.
This is certainly an impressive number, especially given the fact that Mariah Carey's song was released 30 years ago. But that's just a small part of the total revenue that Carey received during the usual holiday season.
All I Want For Christmas is You is recognized internationally, with 49 percent of the sales of song downloads and nearly 70 percent of the streams as requested coming from outside the US, Forbes reports.
In 2021 the song was downloaded 94,000 times and 823 million streams. That means Carey got another 4.5 million US dollars in global revenue and publishing royalties.
Mariah Carey isn't the only songwriter. As mentioned earlier, there is the name Walter Afanasieff or better known as Baby Love, who has often collaborated with Carey throughout his golden age in the 1990s. It is not known how much part Afanasieff received.
Royalty Harmony In Indonesia
Other in other US also in Indonesia. The Indonesian music industry is often shocked by royalty issues. Agnez Mo, for example, was banned from performing old hits by composer Ari Bias, who composed five songs for the 38-year-old singer. Likewise with the case that ensnared Stinky, which was prohibited from singing iconic songs, could be by the creator of his song who is also their former guitarist. The same thing was also experienced by the TKoes tribute band which was prohibited from performing Koes Plus songs by the heirs.
All of this happened due to complicated royalties in Indonesia. The creators and song composers feel that the royalty pay they receive is not comparable to the singer who gets fantastic honorarium on the commercial stage.
This was also acknowledged by senior musician and one of the Board of Trustees of the Federation of Indonesian Musicians (FESMI) Candra Darusman. He said the fulfillment of the basic rights of musicians in Indonesia, especially composers and songwriters, tends to be ignored.
Once Mekel, Mochamad Iriawan, and Ahmad Dhani when met at the Ministry of Law and Human Rights Office in Jakarta, Tuesday (18/4/2023). (ANTARA/Suci Nurhaliza)
Candra said that this neglecting condition was an obstacle in enforcing the welfare of musicians through royalties. Moreover, it is not easy to mobilize organizers to be aware and care about their own obligations.
Meanwhile, music observer Mudya Mustam admits that the application of the rules regarding song copyright is still difficult to realize. Basically, the music industry is very complex, because the music industry does not only regulate the recording business.
"Generally, there are already laws that regulate. But of course in many ways, and this does not only happen in music, usually the application in the field is still far from perfect. Because maybe we are not used to it, and we ourselves are still in the process of going to equitable absorption," said music observer Maudya Mustam to VOI.
It still takes time to get many parties to understand, and have the awareness to apply it according to the applicable law. The music industry is very complex, because it is not only about the record business, but there is also the stage industry to the use of interconnected digital content.
The English, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, and French versions are automatically generated by the AI. So there may still be inaccuracies in translating, please always see Indonesian as our main language. (system supported by DigitalSiber.id)
