Wally De Backer better know as Gotye is sharing his profits for the hit single “Somebody that I Used to Know,” which has been the number one hit in 24 countries and has sales of 13 million.
Kimbra does receive a cut but Gotye is also splitting with Brazilian guitarist and composer Luiz Bonfa who died in 2001.
Gotye sampled a guitar hook off of Bonfa’s “Seville” originally recorded in 1967. The riff can be heard at the beginning of the song that awarded the Australian musician with a Grammy for record of the year and best pop duo/group.
The guitar riff also sparked the first few lines in the chart toping hit reported Tonedef.
“The back and forth left me thinking about these different break-ups and different relationships over the years, and the lyrics flowed from there,” Gotye said in an interview with Billboard.
“Somebody That I used to Know” was on Billboard’s charts for three weeks becoming the most digital downloaded song with 6.5 million. The song has also reached chart toping numbers on ARIA (Australian music charts).
The South American artist who is best know for his track in the 1959 film Black Orpheus, has profits of 1 million so far. Percentages between Gotye and Bonfa are divided 55/45. Bonfa is also credited as co-writer of the hit single reported Courier Mail.
The figure does not include revenue from YouTube hits, streaming or radio play.
“I’m not sure how far things will roll on with this record and what that will mean for writing new material. I guess I’m just keen to go into a mode of exploring,” Gotye said to Tonedef.
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