Monk Turner is an American musician, songwriter, and record producer. Known as the “galactic defender of the concept album”, ^[1] Turner has created a number of multi-genre concept albums. He is known for winning the Free Music Archive's competition to create a copyright-free replacement for the song " Happy Birthday to You" whose rights were once owned by Time Warner.

Musical career

He often collaborates with other musicians: Kaleidoscope (2012) incorporated more than 40 artists internationally, ^[2] and his narrative album Emergency Songs (2011) ^[3] is a co-creation with singer and lyricist Alanna Lin (a.k.a. Fascinoma). It imagines post-earthquake scenarios in Los Angeles, self-styled as “public safety through music and storytelling”. ^[4] The track “Judicious Jason” from Instrumental Friends (Part 3) was the chosen soundtrack at the 2015 Blue Ribbon Children’s Festival, when 2,231 students made a Guinness World Record with history’s largest choreographed ribbon dance. ^{[5] [6]}

Over the years Turner has released all of his albums via Creative Commons licenses “as a means to escape the constraints of traditional music composition / distribution”. ^[7] He is a former Featured Commoner and has spoken alongside artists such as Curt Smith about the benefits of CC licenses for musicians and other content makers. ^[8]

The Birthday Song

In 2013, WFMU and the Free Music Archive held a competition ^[9] to create a copyright-free version of the ubiquitous “ Happy Birthday to You”. ^[10] Monk Turner's composition with musician Fascinoma entitled “It’s Your Birthday!” ^{[11] [12]} won the contest.

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