German Police Told to Pay Up for Jerusalema Challenge

A German state said Monday it was forced to fork out for licence fees to Warner Music after several police forces took part in the _Jerusalema _viral dance challenge. The song by South African DJ Master KG became a global hit last year after it was used as the soundtrack to a video by a group of dancers in Angola. Groups of staff at businesses, hospitals, police forces and other workplaces around the world have since filmed themselves dancing to Jerusalema as a way of spreading good cheer during the pandemic. But Warner Music has now written to many of these organisations in Germany demanding licence fees amounting to several thousand euros in some cases, according to a recent report in the _Focus _weekly news magazine. The interior ministry for Germany’s most populous state North Rhine-Westphalia told AFP on Monday that it had “settled claims from Warner Music on behalf of several police forces” in the region. A spokesperson for Duesseldorf University Hospital told national news agency DPA it had also received mail from Warner Music and had since taken down its video.

SOURCE: EYE WITNESS NEWS