BRISBANE, Australia — Feminist porn site BrightDesire.com has announced the release of the popular song “Happy Birthday to You” into the public domain, creating an erotic scene featuring the tune, which it claims is the first porn film to do so.
On September 22, a U.S. court ruled that music company Warner Chappell did not own the rights to the song, which was first composed in 1883. For years the company had reportedly charged a fee for use of the song in commercial works including film, but Bright Desire settled the case — with details of the agreement left undisclosed.
“This ruling is so important for small filmmakers like myself,” explains Ms. Naughty, owner and creative director at Bright Desire. “Dealing with music copyright can be prohibitively expensive when you make independent films.”
“It’s great that common sense has prevailed and that we can now use the most popular song in the world in our work — and that includes porn,” Ms. Naughty added.
In the scene, Mickey Mod, Nichole Shae and Livia Vye gather together for a small birthday celebration that features Mickey doing his best impression of Marilyn Monroe singing “Happy Birthday” before they light the candles and Livia makes her wish, which leads to a threesome.
“If you're going to celebrate a momentous change in copyright law, you might as well do it with a threesome,” said Ms. Naughty. “I think this could be the first pairing of ‘Happy Birthday to You’ and multiple female orgasms.”
The scene also celebrates the Bright Desire’s third birthday, following its launch in Dec., 2012.
According to Ms. Naughty, Bright Desire seeks to offer a new kind of positive porn to women, men and couples, by featuring a variety of explicit content, such as documentary-style scenes featuring real-life couples, and story-based fantasies.
“Bright Desire is part of the new wave of adult content that seeks to embrace transparent ethical production and feminist values,” says Ms. Naughty, noting that the site was recently honored at the 2015 Feminist Porn Awards, and that her films have screened at festivals around the world.
A safe-for-work version of Mickey Mod's birthday song is available here.
For more information, visit BrightDesire.com.
