Music Rights On TV DVD's (1 Viewer)

[Tom_Tagliente19]

I always liked the Frank Sinatra LOVE AND MARRIAGE theme on Married With Children. It was a perfect fit for that show. It was toungue-in-cheek for the way the characters were so dysfunctional. I'm not sure the music issues really matter in some cases, although this is just my opinion.

For example. I bought the first two seasons of Beverly Hills 90210 and looking forward to the third season. However, in certain episodes of both seasons, songs that were used either at the end or during scenes have been omitted for copyright licensing issues, and you wanna know something? Other than the I'VE HAD THE TIME OF MY LIFE from Dirty Dancing, in the episode where Brandon meets and begins dating a figure skater training for the Olympics, you really don't miss it, and in most cases the new incidental music is a perfect fit for the scenes, too.

Now, going back to the Married With Children theme, the new music never aired on the original FOX broadcasts, but if you just skip over the credits and watch the show, it was the jokes and the situations that make this show a classic anyway. The Sinatra song was just the icing on the cake. And in this day and age, lack of icing can be a good thing. It keeps the costs down and it is really not that important to me.

Just don't screw up FALCON CREST when it is finally released! But they can't! All FALCON CREST fans know that WB owns the music licensing for every note of music (including the great theme song). It was negotiated that way when Lorimar created the shows in the 80's and when WB bought Lorimar, all of those contracts were kept intact.

I'm not too sure about Columbia, but if the Married With Children theme was such a hard negotiating tool for the 3rd and 4th seasons, how come Sinatra's copyright holder on it allowed its use for seasons 1 and 2? One of those things that just makes one go, HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!?!

 

[TravisR]

Maybe they wanted more money that time.

 

[David Levine]

Do you know if 3 & 4 came out after Frank's death?

I ask, because I know that his estate has become MUCH more unwilling to allow his music to be used since his death.

 

[AnthonyC]

All of them (seasons 1 and 2 included) were released at least five years or so after his death.

 

[MatthewA]

We covered this MWC issue before. The Sinatra estate and family had nothing to do with this issue.

The song was written by Sammy Cahn and Jimmy Van Heusen (both deceased). It was the publishers of the composition that asked for an unreasonable amount of money per episode, which is why Sony put out the "Most Outrageous Episodes" discs first. This increased with season 1 and increased further with season 2, and with season 3 Sony shouted "Enough!"

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

Or they saw how many copies of the first two seasons were sold, realized that they had been rolled by Sony, and asked for an entirely reasonable amount of money per episode. Sony balked at having to share any more of the profits and the right-holders said, "Up yours!".



No one who wasn't in the room has any idea who was being reasonable or unreasonable, and therefore is in no position to take sides and assign blame.

The bottom line is that the two sides did not come to terms, so the music is out. We really need a sticky on this subject because it comes up so much and usually leads to tedious and repetitive arguments about who is at fault or what everyone concerned "should" do.

Regards,

Joe

 

[Corey3rd]

Having dealt with music publishers on trying to get permissions and had friends doing the same, i can assure you that music publishers will ask for an insane amount of cash - especially when they think they have the upperhand.

Music publishers have been hit hard over the last few years thanks to lower record sales. they want to make up the loss income. I met a producer who was quoted $50,000 to clear a ringtone for his documentary.

 

[TravisR]

That's an excellent suggestion.

 

[Hank Dearborn]

Yes but again you tell one side of the story. What about Nights in White Satin by the Moody Blues? In the key scene of the final episode of the Sonny Steelgrave arc of Wiseguy, the song is cut out. Yet the song was used in another show's DVD release and when the Moody Blues were asked about why they allowed it in one show and not Wiseguy, they replied that they were never asked. So there is no black and white in this. Stephen Cannell strips all of the music from his shows without even bothering to try to clear any songs. Who's fault is that? So you can't arbitrarily blame the music publishers. Bottom line is if you want to be sure you get a show as aired, then record it yourself when it airs. That's what I've been doing for almost 30 years.