Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville Now The Most Lucrative Song Ever

Rex Reagan12 years ago

Few things are better than getting drunk on the beach. Writing a song about getting drunk on the beach that makes you hundreds of millions of dollars is one of them, though.

With the opening of the $35 million, 40,000 square foot Margaritaville super complex in Atlantic City, media outlets are declaring Jimmy Buffett’s “Margaritaville” the most lucrative song ever. What started out as a few hundred words about a drink has spawned an empire that, in addition to bars and restaurants, includes clothing, blenders, posters, handbags, furniture and other ridiculous shit. Back in 2007, income from products and places with the name “Margaritaville” brought in $100 million. That was one year, and that doesn’t even include song royalties.

Robert Brauneis, a professor of intellectual property at George Washington University, said “Margaritaville” can’t be considered as merely as song. It has to be looked at with the same type of impact as movie franchise like Star Wars.

“From a larger business perspective, when you combine the two and look at what the song stands for as a lifestyle and as a branding vehicle,” says Brauneis, “it’s worth far more than ‘Happy Birthday.’ I can’t think of another example of a song that has that total impact.”

Not bad for a song that peaked at No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts in 1977.

Jimmy Buffett says he has never won an award for his music. Excluding a Country Music Association award for his cameo on Alan Jackson’s “It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere,” he’s right. Buffett’s music appeals to many people, but, as South Park put it, some people consider his songs “drunken frat boy monkey garbage.” Regardless, somehow “Margaritaville,” even more so than “Cheeseburger in Paradise,” “Fins,” “Why Don’t We Get Drunk” or any other song in Buffett’s catalogue, has joined the nation’s collective conscience.

[via Yahoo! Finance]