The Folgers jingle is for sale, and it could be a moneymaker

It’s National Coffee Day, and rather than giving your favorite java lover yet another mug, this year you can hand over the royalties to the most iconic coffee jingle of all time, Folgers’ “The Best Part of Wakin’ Up.” It’ll just set you back about $70,000. The songwriter’s royalties for the song (technically titled “Real Snowy Morning”) are up for auction, and bidding ends Sept. 30. In the day since the song was listed, the price has climbed more than $7,000. It wouldn’t just be a vanity buy. Royalties pay out every time a song airs on TV, radio and (for this song, at least) every other medium, including ones that haven’t been invented yet. In the past year, music giant BMI has paid out $11,747 to the rights owner—in this case, the songwriter. But wait, why would The J.M. Smucker Company, which owns Folgers, let this happen? Turns out it's not involved. “The rights currently being sold are not owned by Smucker. The seller of this auction owns the songwriter’s share of public performance royalties,” said DeDe Burns, head of operations at Royalty Exchange, the site hosting the auction. “Smucker owns the publisher’s share of public performance royalties.” The royalties are being split between the two rights holders, which is a common setup in the music industry. It seems like an easily recouped investment at first glance. “This is the risk. It's a gamble to buy because you're betting on the fact that that Folgers is going to continue using this jingle,” said Eric Sheinkop, CEO of The Desire Company and author of “Return of the Hustle: The Art of Marketing With Music.” “The problem is what happens if Folgers does a rebrand and they completely scratch that, and it's no longer being put on television? Well, then there are no longer royalties to earn,” he adds. “Royalties are the best thing in the world. They are literally the gift that keep on giving, as long as that song is on air. The second it goes off, there's no more.” Sheinkop knows this feast and famine firsthand. He was paid $2,500 to rap on a McDonald’s commercial, but the royalties added up to more than $100,000 over the next three years. After that, the ad was pulled, and he hasn’t seen a dime since. Determining whether the Folgers jingle might be a good investment can take a bit of research. “The Best Part of Wakin’ Up” first aired in 1984, and it’s been a staple of Folgers’ branding ever since. It’s been covered and spoofed and remixed (including in a wacky campaign from 2019, see one commercial below), all of which increase its payout. And if a buyer knew whether Folgers was planning a big rebrand or, conversely, planning a reboot of the classic jingle, that information would be extremely useful. “Agencies have been buying the rights to the songs in commercials for many, many years,” Sheinkop said. “They end up continuing to push, 'no, we should move forward with this campaign again this year,' because they're making money. So music actually turns into a profit center for these companies, if it's done right.”

The Folgers jingle is for sale, and it could be a moneymaker

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