The Cost of Music Licensing & DVD Releases

[bmoura]

An interesting story on music licensing and how it affects DVD releases....
http://www.vox.com/2014/11/3/7145231/shows-not-on-dvd-music-rights-wonder-years-wkrp

 

[Snood]

uggggggggggggggggh Snood hates Red Tape - especially when it involves the backdated music industry who refuses to adapt to the times............all the while killing themselves in the long run.

Some everyday person hears a song they really really like on a dvd or radio........they might go buy it. OMG it not take rocket scientist to figure this out. :howl

 

[Eclectic]

This is truly depressing

 

[bmoura]

This is truly depressing

It shows that the major record labels, along with companies including Dolby and DTS, are making more and more money today from licensing and less from actually selling products.
Definitely a trend.

 

[privateuniverse]

The scene in WKRP where Johnny Fever has Pink Floyd's "Dogs" playing is my favorite moment from the entire series. Knowing that it had been excised is enough to stop me from buying the DVDs.

This doesn't just happen with older shows. I subscribed to Showtime recently. They have all seasons of most of their shows available to view on demand. I've been discovering some great ones that I missed and rewatching others that had been favorites. As I was working my way through Queer as Folk which initially aired from 2000 - 2005, it dawned on me that all the music I had remembered from pivotal scenes was missing. Where were the great tunes from Pete Townshend, Queen, David Bowie and The Soft Boys that worked so well? They had been replaced by cheesy sound-alikes. It made watching the series the second time around less enjoyable. As the article points out, it's not surprising that this happens with TV shows that pre-dated the home video market, but you would think that this wouldn't be an issue for TV shows created in the 21st century.

 

[blue.monk]

I had been following the saga of WKRP and Wonder Years. That article is a great summation of the cost and challenges of licensing. Mad Men famously last year paid big for "Tomorrow Never Knows" (see link below). Knowing the challenges of licensing Beatles' recordings I was quite startled hearing it when the show first aired. And the prior episode used "I Just Wasn't Made for These Times", which could not have been cheap either. Unlike the older shows, however, I believe Mad Men (and other current shows) now attempt to secure the rights in perpetuity.

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2...-the-beatles-all-you-need-is-love-and-250000/

 

[bmoura]

Knowing the challenges of licensing Beatles' recordings I was quite startled hearing it when the show first aired. And the prior episode used "I Just Wasn't Made for These Times", which could not have been cheap either. Unlike the older shows, however, I believe Mad Men (and other current shows) now attempt to secure the rights in perpetuity.

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2...-the-beatles-all-you-need-is-love-and-250000/

It can get expensive licensing hit songs. Microsoft paid $5 Million to use "Start Me Up" by the Rolling Stones at their launch event and in ads when they rolled out Windows 95 back in the day.

 

[privateuniverse]

A little Sunday morning humor. Here's the WKRP scene with the Pink Floyd song intact:

[video=youtube;1enfo8zn3_g]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1enfo8zn3_g[/video]

 

[DocCasualty]

Thanks for the link. Another example of what's wrong with copyright law in the good old US of A. There's a recent lengthy and interesting discussion on SHF about this as related to the recent lawsuit won by Marvin Gaye's estate. I certainly support artists being compensated for their work, though we've moved far from the original Constitutional intent IMO,

To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries. Article 1, Section 8, Clause 8, (the Copyright Clause)

which was originally for 14, then 21 years.

I do appreciate how complicated this all is, though see this article as another example where current copyright law is stifling creativity, not promoting it.