The Music Rights Issue - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

digitalmonkey · 07-11-2006, 03:18 PM

I am aware of series such as The Wonder Years, Beverly Hills 90210 and WKRP in Cincinnati that are being delayed because of the immense task/cost of obtaining the music rights. Does anyone know of any other shows experiencing the same difficulties?

Also, what shows (like 21 Jump Street, Dawson's Creek and Married With Children) have been released with changes made to the music?

This would be a good place to post such info as original music is very important to some people (re: me) and it would place a slight premium on those recordings that contain the original music.

?

EDIT - Here's a list of shows that are being hampered by music rights issues or have been commercially released with different music.

WKRP in Cincinnati
Happy Days
The Wonder Years
Beverly Hills 90210
Dawson's Creek
China Beach
Life Goes On
Married With Children
The Cosby Show
Northern Exposure
Tour of Duty
Wiseguy
Profiler
Providence
Ally McBeal
Roswell
Quantum Leap
The Muppet Show
Saturday Night Live
Second City TV
Las Vegas
Square Pegs
American Dreams
American Bandstand
Felicity

anglemark10 · 07-11-2006, 11:36 PM

Happy Days is another series being delayed (or possibly cancelled) partly due to music rights issues.

digitalmonkey · 07-11-2006, 11:52 PM

Happy Days? Wow, that's too bad. I guess the good thing about Happy Days though is that the music was from the 50s which means it will enter the public domain sooner than the music from a lot of other shows.

I just found out Northern Exposure has some original songs replaced with generic music.

mhadley · 07-12-2006, 12:59 AM

Tour Of Duty, Wiseguy and Profiler. I am sure that China Beach will never come out with the original music either.

combsisthebest · 07-12-2006, 01:22 AM

Life Goes On has a totally different theme song on the DVD release.

april4972 · 07-12-2006, 03:20 AM

Providence has a different theme song and different music and they
only came out with a collection of eps, not even a full season or anything....

digitalmonkey · 07-12-2006, 09:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by combsisthebest

Life Goes On has a totally different theme song on the DVD release.

Wow, that is almost tragic. Very odd considering they named the show after the theme song.

digitalmonkey · 07-12-2006, 09:32 AM

The Song Doesn't Remain the Same

Vintage TV Faces the Music

T-Greg · 07-12-2006, 12:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by anglemark10

Happy Days is another series being delayed (or possibly cancelled) partly due to music rights issues.

In the immortal words of Reginald Denny..."Can't we (they) all just get along"?....and I'll add my own note: "There's plenty of money in this for all of them".

dlemond · 07-12-2006, 12:43 PM

It's absurd these people don't reduce the cost so they can get some money for the rights, instead of no money at all with no release.

How much money is being lost because they outprice themselves?

And I have to tell you, if Freaks and Geeks can license 118 songs, anyone can figure out a way to get 95% of their music back.

No way in hell did WKRP have 118 songs in one season.

Anthony33 · 07-12-2006, 10:15 PM

I heard Quantum Leap had some music replaced in their DVD releases after Season 1.

Lamont · 07-12-2006, 10:31 PM

well the blame falls on those who did the contracts originally
for instance most shows licenesed the music rights for the show and also for syndication deals----
some even mentioned for possible VHS releases
BUT AT THE TIME noone knew about dvd coming i guess
so some of these shows NEVER HAD PROVISIONS for dvd releases
so its a loophole that allows more $$$$ to be paid out

some shows like HAPPY DAYS always had TONS OF era music in the background and so its just too difficult and costly to reedit them all
and the sales were not strong enough to pay the licensing fees again

debwalsh · 07-12-2006, 11:47 PM

To be fair, no one knew the TV on DVD market was going to explode like it did. Until then, TV video collectors were a small niche market. I think music rights are considered more now, but even a year ago, the market hadn't taken off as it has now.

And then there's Cold Case, which will likely never be released on DVD because of the music rights. The production team made a decision to secure broadcast rights for the music, but opted not to add the considerable additional expense to secure DVD rights as well. From what I've read, the difference in cost was prohibitive, and they would have been able to license only a fraction of the music they do use. Contemporary music is a key component in the series, so the production team opted for the music for broadcast only.

On Profiler, there's an entire episode missing from the first season (Someone to Watch Over Me) - the title of the episode is a song, and the song figures prominently throughout, so the entire episode was pulled when the DVD set was released. I think I prefer that to what happened on Quantum Leap and Georgia on My Mind.

Another thing that frosts me is captioning tracks not being included on commercial releases (A&E releases especially). Apparently that's another expense, as the caption track actually belongs to someone else, at least in the US. I don't find captions to be missing from UK and Australian releases.

mhadley · 07-13-2006, 05:02 PM

Deb, if you need that Profiler episode, I have it clean from a sat feed.

http://www.rarevideosfortrade.com

Quote:

Originally Posted by debwalsh

To be fair, no one knew the TV on DVD market was going to explode like it did. Until then, TV video collectors were a small niche market. I think music rights are considered more now, but even a year ago, the market hadn't taken off as it has now.

And then there's Cold Case, which will likely never be released on DVD because of the music rights. The production team made a decision to secure broadcast rights for the music, but opted not to add the considerable additional expense to secure DVD rights as well. From what I've read, the difference in cost was prohibitive, and they would have been able to license only a fraction of the music they do use. Contemporary music is a key component in the series, so the production team opted for the music for broadcast only.

On Profiler, there's an entire episode missing from the first season (Someone to Watch Over Me) - the title of the episode is a song, and the song figures prominently throughout, so the entire episode was pulled when the DVD set was released. I think I prefer that to what happened on Quantum Leap and Georgia on My Mind.

Another thing that frosts me is captioning tracks not being included on commercial releases (A&E releases especially). Apparently that's another expense, as the caption track actually belongs to someone else, at least in the US. I don't find captions to be missing from UK and Australian releases.

digitalmonkey · 07-23-2006, 08:53 PM

I came across this list which indicates alterations made to TV series when released commercially.

07-11-2006, 03:18 PM	#1
digitalmonkey just getting started Frequent Poster Join Date: Jun 14, 2006 Location: Sudbury, Ontario, Canada Posts: 351	The Music Rights Issue I am aware of series such as The Wonder Years, Beverly Hills 90210 and WKRP in Cincinnati that are being delayed because of the immense task/cost of obtaining the music rights. Does anyone know of any other shows experiencing the same difficulties? Also, what shows (like 21 Jump Street, Dawson's Creek and Married With Children) have been released with changes made to the music? This would be a good place to post such info as original music is very important to some people (re: me) and it would place a slight premium on those recordings that contain the original music. ? EDIT - Here's a list of shows that are being hampered by music rights issues or have been commercially released with different music. WKRP in Cincinnati Happy Days The Wonder Years Beverly Hills 90210 Dawson's Creek China Beach Life Goes On Married With Children The Cosby Show Northern Exposure Tour of Duty Wiseguy Profiler Providence Ally McBeal Roswell Quantum Leap The Muppet Show Saturday Night Live Second City TV Las Vegas Square Pegs American Dreams American Bandstand Felicity
	__________________ Top of Want List Toupie and Binoo NHL games What's New Mr. Magoo? Abbott and Costello Animated Series Tales of the Wizard of Oz Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em http://www.freewebs.com/digital_monkey/ Last edited by digitalmonkey; 07-12-2006 at 09:40 AM.

07-12-2006, 03:20 AM	#6
april4972 Member Frequent Poster Join Date: May 03, 2004 Location: USA Posts: 432	Providence Providence has a different theme song and different music and they only came out with a collection of eps, not even a full season or anything....

07-12-2006, 10:31 PM	#12
Lamont Lamont says Smile! Forum Veteran Join Date: May 28, 2005 Location: Deep in the Heart of Nowhere Posts: 5,217	silly loopholes well the blame falls on those who did the contracts originally for instance most shows licenesed the music rights for the show and also for syndication deals---- some even mentioned for possible VHS releases BUT AT THE TIME noone knew about dvd coming i guess so some of these shows NEVER HAD PROVISIONS for dvd releases so its a loophole that allows more $$$$ to be paid out some shows like HAPPY DAYS always had TONS OF era music in the background and so its just too difficult and costly to reedit them all and the sales were not strong enough to pay the licensing fees again
	__________________ I have not been trading for some time now, so please do not ask---- sorry, i cannot help you!

07-12-2006, 11:47 PM	#13
debwalsh Ancient Archivist Frequent Poster Join Date: Mar 23, 2004 Location: Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Posts: 503	To be fair, no one knew the TV on DVD market was going to explode like it did. Until then, TV video collectors were a small niche market. I think music rights are considered more now, but even a year ago, the market hadn't taken off as it has now. And then there's Cold Case, which will likely never be released on DVD because of the music rights. The production team made a decision to secure broadcast rights for the music, but opted not to add the considerable additional expense to secure DVD rights as well. From what I've read, the difference in cost was prohibitive, and they would have been able to license only a fraction of the music they do use. Contemporary music is a key component in the series, so the production team opted for the music for broadcast only. On Profiler, there's an entire episode missing from the first season (Someone to Watch Over Me) - the title of the episode is a song, and the song figures prominently throughout, so the entire episode was pulled when the DVD set was released. I think I prefer that to what happened on Quantum Leap and Georgia on My Mind. Another thing that frosts me is captioning tracks not being included on commercial releases (A&E releases especially). Apparently that's another expense, as the caption track actually belongs to someone else, at least in the US. I don't find captions to be missing from UK and Australian releases.
	__________________ Deb Walsh Savage Traders Online!

07-11-2006, 11:36 PM	#2
anglemark10 Member Forum Regular Join Date: May 06, 2004 Location: United States Posts: 787	Happy Days is another series being delayed (or possibly cancelled) partly due to music rights issues.

07-11-2006, 11:52 PM	#3
digitalmonkey just getting started Frequent Poster Join Date: Jun 14, 2006 Location: Sudbury, Ontario, Canada Posts: 351	Happy Days? Wow, that's too bad. I guess the good thing about Happy Days though is that the music was from the 50s which means it will enter the public domain sooner than the music from a lot of other shows. I just found out Northern Exposure has some original songs replaced with generic music.

07-12-2006, 12:59 AM	#4
mhadley Member Forum Regular Join Date: Dec 22, 2003 Posts: 572	Tour Of Duty, Wiseguy and Profiler. I am sure that China Beach will never come out with the original music either.

07-12-2006, 01:22 AM	#5
combsisthebest Member Frequent Poster Join Date: Jan 04, 2004 Posts: 292	Life Goes On has a totally different theme song on the DVD release.

07-12-2006, 09:32 AM	#8
digitalmonkey just getting started Frequent Poster Join Date: Jun 14, 2006 Location: Sudbury, Ontario, Canada Posts: 351	The Song Doesn't Remain the Same Vintage TV Faces the Music

07-12-2006, 12:43 PM	#10
dlemond Hey, I know you. Moderator Forum Veteran Join Date: Dec 03, 2001 Location: New Jersey Posts: 6,751	It's absurd these people don't reduce the cost so they can get some money for the rights, instead of no money at all with no release. How much money is being lost because they outprice themselves? And I have to tell you, if Freaks and Geeks can license 118 songs, anyone can figure out a way to get 95% of their music back. No way in hell did WKRP have 118 songs in one season.

07-12-2006, 10:15 PM	#11
Anthony33 Member Frequent Poster Join Date: Jun 12, 2002 Posts: 408	I heard Quantum Leap had some music replaced in their DVD releases after Season 1.

07-23-2006, 08:53 PM	#15
digitalmonkey just getting started Frequent Poster Join Date: Jun 14, 2006 Location: Sudbury, Ontario, Canada Posts: 351	I came across this list which indicates alterations made to TV series when released commercially.