THE WONDER YEARS (Consolidated Thread; No New Ones, Please!) (1 Viewer)

[Matt Harrison]

TVSHOWSONDVD.com is saying that Sea quest it being released after being 4th in the requested voting list. The Wonder years is 5th....Surely there will be some more information soon.

 

[Gord Lacey]

Please keep in mind Thw Wonder Years has a LOT of music to clear, which is both costly and time consuming. SeaQuest doesn't have a lot of music to clear.

Gord

 

[Matt Harrison]

Yeah thats true. I understand it takes alot of time and money, its just i've been waiting along time

I just hope it comes out one day and the article you posted on your site before gave me a fair bit of hope. Patience is the key I suppose.

 

[Mark Talmadge]

Why is this so hard to understand?

When these television series were being broadcasted on television there was noi such thing as these shows being released to home video, let alone on DVD, which was unheared of. While the studios who release these shows have to pay the creators of the show, the actors and actresses who appeared on that show as well as the music artists who performed songs for that show as well as the distributor of that artist who releases their music on CD.

Those artists and the recording studios who release their music do have the right to be able to make money from their music appearing on that show and to share in the profits as well. This results in liscensing fees for that music to a new medium, home video or DVD. Often enough, when an artist creates or records music for a television series the rights, more appropriately enough, only extend to broadcast rights, not home video or DVD.

While most of us moan and complain about a particular series not being released and cry about it not being fair, it's also not fair if we expect these artists and songwriters to not able to get paid for their work when that music is transfered into a different medium, which they are entitled to.

This would be akin to someone downloading a movie, a television series or music off the internet for free. While studios cry foul when someone does download their material without paying for it so should those companies "pay" for that music if they intend to release it to DVD.

Even when new music is created for newer television shows, often enough, these studios only negotiate for broadcast rights but when it concerns a major artist sometimes they will negotiate for liscensing fees due to the fact that that show could be released to DVD.

Support the artist by telling these movie and television studios to start paying these music artists for their hard work and to pay those liscensing fees for those songs if they wish to release them to DVD.

It's not too much to ask of these studios ... isn't that right, Gord?

 

[Matt Harrison]

Im disputing the fact artists should get paid, I just don't see why it has to be ridiculous amounts..

 

[Katherine_K]

The problem with your argument Mark is that more often than not it is not the artists who hold the music rights.

 

[Glenn Overholt]

I am sure that he meant the rights-holders, but the question still stands.

Glenn

 

[Katherine_K]

The rights holders have a reputaiton for behaving in a manner that is near extortion. If they were so pure and their demands were so reasonable they wouldn't spend so much time and effort (and threats) to make sure that they werne't publically identified.

 

[Eugene Esterly]

Mark Talmadge has a valid point but as Katherine_K pointed out, not all artists owns the rights to their songs.

In fact, the rights to most songs used in TV shows such as The Wonder Years are owned by the record companies & not the artists.

 

[Paul Sandhu]

Maybe that is why its been nearly a decade since I've seen it in syndication.

 

[Derek K.]

And to top it off, Daniel Stern wants too much money for the voiceovers, so they're replacing it with Bob Saget's voice.

 

[Marty M]

I think that if WYs is released on DVD, it won't have any recognizable music, at all.

 

[Mark Talmadge]

Where it concerns music, the artists who write and record these songs do indeed retain the rights to their own music. Those companies who sign recording contracts with those studios who want to use that music retain those rights as long as they hold that recording contract with that artist.

What's only being reported ius a shit-load of puclic relations spin by the studios saying that the companies that retain the rights to the music in question are asking too much. How is it that only one side of the issue has come forth. Television Studios who want to release these shows often spin the story in thyeir favor when talks break down as far as what one side thinks they should get paid.

Thye music companies know how much the music means to a given series and when it gets released to DVD the television studios don't want to pay a fair price for that music so they argue, moan and complain when they believe they should be able to set their own price. These studios need to stop the monkeying around and just pay these artists and the those who hold the distribution rights to that music the amount that they're entitled to.

To put it mildly, I've only heard one case where a record company owned the rights to a particular song and that was with the Righteous Brothers song for the Ghost soundtrack where they sold the rights to the song to a record company because they didn't like it or something along those lines.

Even when a piece of music is created for a television series or for a movie, the artist still retains the original creative rights to that song. This is a part of the copyright law regarding the creator of intellectual property.

 

[Anthony Hom]

the studios want to pay these artists the money for their recordings, but for some reason they don't want the money, or it looks like they don't want their recordings associated with these TV shows. What is the hassle? these recordings are already made, they don't need to do any extra work, easy money. Of course if they want $1 million dollars for every DVD copy sold for their song to pay off some huge debts, well what can I say?

 

[Mark Talmadge]

Anthony, I don't think it has anything to do with that at all. I think it has something to do with getting the appropriate payment for what they consider fair payment for services rendered on their product. If a set is priced at $60 retail, and they set their price at for that song at $5 per DVD sold ... it is considered fair. With approximately a guess that for every 100,000 copies of a boxed set with that song attached to it, my guess is that they are asking for $500,000 for every 100,000 copies made and that's part of the price of that boxed set. WIth theme music, the studios probably own that music but with actual songs that certain shows use from recorded artists then those fees are bound to go up for a new medium such as DVD.

 

[Mark Talmadge]

Also found this:

DVD sales are credited with driving studio growth, and TV shows on DVD have been a surprise -- and lucrative -- market, according to a September 2004 Merrill Lynch report. The report estimates that consumer spending on TV DVDs will grow from $2.3 billion in 2004 to $3.9 billion in 2008.

 

[Craig S]

Mark, go back earlier in this thread and read Randy Salas' explanation of the music rights issue. In many cases publishing rights (which are different from songwriter's rights and performing rights) are held not by the artists, not by the record companies/labels, but by individuals or companies who buy & sell them like real estate.

No one here is suggesting that artists not get paid for their work. But the fact is that the artists are often not even involved in these negotiations.

And I know your $5 example was just that - an example, but that figure is WAY high. Take "The Wonder Years" Season 1, which was just 6 episodes and would likely be a single disc release. In those 6 episode there were 23 pop songs (Music from The Wonder Years). So if rightsholders wanted $5 per song per DVD sold you'd be looking at this single disc costing $115, and that's without considering all the other costs that go into making and marketing DVDs (including the residuals for the creative forces behind the show itself). At that price, no one's making any money because no one's going to buy it.

 

[Katherine_K]

I'll grant we are only hearing one side of the story. Because the other side isn't talking. I'm sorry, I'm not prepared to give people who go out of their way to be annonymous and not tell their story the benefit of the doubt.

 

[Craig S]

I'm sorry, I'm not prepared to give people who go out of their way to be annonymous and not tell their story the benefit of the doubt.

I have no idea who you are talking about here.

 

[Katherine_K]

I have no idea who you are talking about here.

I was referring to Mark's contension that the studeos are refusing to pay proper market value for songs and that the information we have is all 'propaganda'. My point is that the reason we are only hearing one side is that the music rights holders go out of their way not to speak to the press or to let their side of the story out to the public.