Here are some facts: 1. Songwriters make some of their income from mechanical royalties. In the US, the royalty used to be 8.5 cents per song per unit (CD) sold. On January 1st, 2006 it became 9.10 cents. An album that sells 500,000 copies in 2006, would give the songwriter $45,500 per song.
Dorothyâs Ruby Slippers, 1938. Sixteen-year-old Judy Garland wore these sequined shoes as Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz. In the original book by L. Frank Baum, Dorothyâs magic slippers are silver; for the Technicolor movie, they were changed to ruby red to show up more vividly against the yellow-brick road.
When Dorothy and her friends meet the Wizard of Oz again, Toto tips over a screen in a corner of the throne room that reveals the Wizard. He sadly explains he is a humbugâan ordinary old man who, by a hot air balloon, came to Oz long ago from Omaha.