Mike Batt, best known as the man behind the music of the Wombles, has paid a six-figure sum to the estate of the late composer John Cage in a dispute over who owns the copyright to a track of complete silence. Batt was accused of plagiarism by the publishers of the US composer’s music after he included a silent track on his latest album ‘Classical Graffiti’ which he credited to himself and Cage. Cage ‘composed’ a silent track in the fifties called ‘4’33’. After various wranglings Batt has agreed to pay an undisclosed six-figure sum to the John Cage Trust, but insists it’s a good will gesture.
"I am relieved we have been able to settle this one out of court," Batt told the BBC. "This has been albeit a gentlemanly dispute, a most serious matter. I am pleased to say that Cage's publishers have finally been persuaded their case was, to say the least, optimistic. We are, however, making this gesture of a payment to the John Cage Trust in recognition of my personal respect for John Cage." Explaining the motivation behind the silent piece he said: "The idea of the track was to separate some acoustic arrangements from rockier material on ‘Classical Graffiti’. I thought for my own amusement it would be funny to call it something so I called it ‘A Minute's Silence’ and credited it as track 13 and put my name as Batt/Cage, as a tongue-in-cheek dig at the John Cage piece," he said.
A spokesman for Peters Edition, Cage's publishers, said they felt "honour had been settled. We do feel that the concept of a silent piece - particularly as it was credited by Mr Batt as being co-written by 'Cage' - is a valuable artistic concept in which there is a copyright. We are nevertheless very pleased to have reached agreement with Mr Batt and accept his donation in good spirit."