Singer Linda Ronstadt won’t make any money from the renaissance of her song, “Long Long Time”.
For those unaware, Ronstadt’s “Long Long Time” featured heavily in the most recent episode of HBO’s The Last of Us adaptation. It even gave the episode its name.
Please note, there are spoilers for The Last of Us below.
Bill and Frank each play Ronstadt’s song on the piano before their first kiss, and it is also the song that plays out the heartfelt episode. (If you watched this moment and didn’t shed a tear, then my goodness tell me your secret because I was a blubbering mess.)
Following the episode’s airing, Spotify revealed there was a “more than 4900 percent increase in US streams of ‘Long Long Time’ by Linda Ronstadt” compared to the week before. However, despite this monumental increase in plays, Ronstadt won’t make any money from them.
This is because, just shy of two years ago, Ronstadt sold her recorded-music assets to Iconic Artist Group. This all included royalty streams from her master recordings as well as ownership of some masters. So, we are not looking at a Kate Bush “Running up that hill” situation here. However, songwriter Gary White will benefit from the song’s recent surge in popularity.
Not that the singer is unhappy about this. Speaking to Billboard, Ronstadt said she “still [loves] the song” and that she is “very glad that Gary will get a windfall”.
Additionally, the singer’s manager John Boylan told the publication: “She’s not unhappy about it, believe me… We sold her catalogue. The last four or five years have been a complete tsunami of buyouts like this.”
Iconic Artist Group’s president Jimmy Edwards meanwhile called the song’s inclusion in The Last of Us “incredible”, stating the company is “working hard with our digital partners to use this moment to celebrate not only this song, but Linda’s important musical legacy.”
For more on episode three of The Last of Us, you can read my thoughts and feeling about it all here.
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