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.