Long Tail enemy #1

Those of you who have seen my speeches on the legal dimensions of the Long Tail know that I consider the absurdly complicated and expensive process of rights clearance to be the primary barrier to unlocking the latent Long Tail value in content archives. The example I usually give is WKRP in Cincinnati, not because there's necessarily a lot of value in that 1970s sitcom, but because it's often cited as one of the hardest TV series to clear. Since it was set in a radio station, there are dozens of songs playing in the background of each episode. To release the series on DVD would require clearing the rights to each of those songs, which is too expensive and time-consuming for anyone to consider.

Yet today comes news that WKRP in Cincinnati is indeed being released on DVD. How did they do it? Read the following, from Wired's Listening Post blog, and weep:

The series will finally be released on DVD on April 24th, but fans are already irate.  The music originally included in the show has been replaced by generic muzak in order to placate the almighty copyright gods, who would otherwise have prevented the series from being released by (apparently) demanding so much licensing money as to render the whole project unfeasible.

Here's an account of the situation from the guy whose job it was to replace the offending musical compositions in order to pave the way for the series' release on DVD:

"During my years with MTM, I was asked to perform the most painful duty I have ever had to do in entertainment business. I was given the task of excising much of the original music from the episodes and replace it with Muzak-style songs that could be licensed in perpetuity for a small flat fee. This was deemed necessary in order to keep the program in syndication.

"The new music that was inserted into the show sucked ass. It was wrong for the feel and attitude of the show. Some scenes relied on specific songs at particular junctures (i.e., Les Nessman trying on a toupee to the soundtrack of Foreigner's “Hot Blooded”) . Those scenes were ruined. In many instances, we couldn't even finesse the proper audio levels in order to cut the costs of replacing the music...

"Allegedly, the original producer of the show (Hugh Wilson) was involved in replacing the Muzak with some other generic songs that are more palatable. While this is admirable, and Wilson has some great artistic instincts, it still isn't enough to undo the damage."

[Read more here]

Note: I do think that musicians should be paid for their work, if that's what they want. The problem lies with the convoluted rights clearance process, which imposes its costs mostly in delay and uncertainty, depriving both artists and fans of value from archived content. Nobody wins when WKRP in Cincinnati is released with a muzak soundtrack!

Comments

[nakliyat]

thank you very nıce much very very nıce much.........

[charlotte]

Thanks

[Eben Carlson]

If I can say it without sounding like a broken record: if they can't charge more for more work, why bother?

It's not like clearing samples is fun.

Artificially fixed prices, as we have for mass content, retard growth.

I could understand streamlining the process of clearing copyrighted material, but weakening the protection of creative content is counter-productive. It certainly wouldn't serve artists, who already subsidize our culture with millions of un and underpaid hours.

More about premium creative content and the impending cultural explosion at WhiteG.com.

--Mr. Carlson :)

[Greg]

As long as books like "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" are popular in America, we'll keep seeing this sort of thing. And I'm not being facetious.

Ostensively the book teaches the importance of getting a basic financial education. The take away message, at least for me, was this: create passive income. The author actually suggests purchasing music rights at one point! Once you control the music rights you can rake in all the profit from radio play, commercial spots, TV shows...

This sort of mindset forces shows like WKRP to compromise their art. The passive income holders have no incentive to make the copyright obstacle course any easier to navigate. In fact, they'll put as many gladiators out there as possible.

[Ehren Cheung]

Very good point Chris. It's actually funny how these rights issues always come into play and everyone ends up losing. People who buy these DVDs want to cherish the memories and hold on to the nostalgic feel of television series that are re-released on DVD. In addition, in the long run ... people who hear the original music may end up purchasing the track for a large number of reasons. It's the short-sightedness of rights issues that come into play and as you put it, makes it pretty much enemy #1 when it comes to the long tail.

[Jeremy Bettis]

Perhaps this should be a lesson to all current television directors: Get the clearance for the DVD release at the same time that you get the broadcast clearance!

[eric marden]

They did this to The State too (a sketch comedy on MTV in the '90s show from some of the folks in Reno 911). In one of their scenes, which was a farce on talk shows, they go to interview the lead singer from The Spin Doctors, the song playing on the iTunes release was a poor facsimile of their hit 'Little Miss Can't Be Wrong' which was in the original. This happens through out all 5 episodes on Season 1.

Its disappointing at best, as it detracts from the cultural relevance the use of 'real' music had in the originals.

[Josephine Cameron]

As a musician, I happen to agree with Ehren. It's short-sightedness. There are more benefits to having a song on a DVD like that than just the royalty check (that the artists may not see a whole lot of anyway, depending on the circumstances). I heard a rumor that Wonder Years (which has had the same problem) is finally coming out on DVD. Do you think they've done a similar thing? Now *that* would be tragic!

[errepece]

Apparently, it is the same (stupid) thing they did to the second season of 'Happy Days', which has finally come out--more than two years after the first one--with only five out of fifty original songs in its soundtrack. I'm sorry but I'm not buying it: it is not a 'complete season' if the music is not complete. This is not only shortsighted... this is an insult to consumers. Anyway, thanks for a great post.

[Levi]

I am patiently waiting for the artists to revolt against this system (sans Don Henley).

[Dave Allen]

Clearly no one wins when this sort of thing takes place. It is mind-numbing in a way, to think that so many copyrights are tied up in a lumbering, quasi-bureaucratic copyrights system. Just recently my band, Gang of Four, almost lost the opportunity to be the title track in Sophia Coppola's 'Marie Antoinette' movie, all because of a snail-paced clearance system. If I hadn't been able to jump in and speed things up who knows how it would have ended up. The short-sightedness in that case would have meant losing an opportunity not only to be in the movie but to be unable to capture sales of our album from a great marketing angle.
It's sad.

Dave Allen, www.pampelmoose.com

[nakliyat]

thank you very much very very nıce...

[pkohan]

I'm not sure how much has been said here about the different types of clearances that need to be secured for this type of usage. For DVDs it's a synch license where the licensee needs to obtain proper rights from both the record label (and if artists consent exists, from that artist's management) and the track's publisher(s). Not only are there two parties (label and publisher) that need to sign off, but each gets to set their own price.

I have a cousin in advertising who told me that even when they used a version of a Burt Bacharach/Hal David composition that they owned for a TV spot the publisher still had them on the hook for $250K.

In general I am all for streamlining the clearance process at record labels. I've written a lot about that subject here: http://appetitefordisruption.typepad.com

But my basic theory is that if labels can license their entire catalogs for digital download services (with rare exceptions - i.e. The Beatles), then they should also work to rid themselves of artist consent clauses in contracts which hinder their ability to speedily process license requests and force the labels to be at the whim of artist managers or estates who have little interest in dealing with the record company. This may sound somewhat strange, but many artist managers' business is much more concentrated on touring, merchandising, radio airplay, and corporate sponsorships than revenue garnered through the recording contract per se. I maintain in this era of declining CD sales artist consent clauses are outdated. The labels need freedom to exploit the masters they own and control at will - compensating the artists fairly under their contracts, of course. The concepts of artist integrity and overcommercialization of a particular artist have given way to questions of obsolescence and declining revenues and profits. The label's main advantage is distribution, and it needs the freedom to exploit repertoire via whatever channel an opportunity presents itself in. A channel-agnostic strategy is key, but the labels and managers may be too blind to see this. It wouldn't be the first time.

Also, as someone whose career in the record industry dealt a lot with licensing of repertoire, I can tell you that even in 2007 there are still convoluted discussions about rights ownership of certain master recordings. Some labels - yes, and I do mean major labels - don't have artist contracts in a secure database that staff can access to quickly ascertain rights and consent questions. Dumbfounding.

[Ross Millar]

Thanks for the heads up Chris. My wife is a huge fan of the show and was excited about the DVD release, until I showed her this post. Disappointed to say the least, as a result of this muzak disaster, we will not be purchasing said series.

[Ed Driscoll]

Universal's done a pretty good job of keeping the original music on their "Miami Vice" DVDs. From what I've heard while watching the first three seasons, most if not all of the music is what I remember from the show's original network run.

I wonder if Universal spent more money on licensing to put these DVDs together. Or if in the mid-1980s with VCRs and cable exploding (Brandon Tartikoff's original concept was "MTV Cops", after all), they were able to write more inclusive licensing deals than MTM did at the tail end of the 1970s. Or both.

[kabin]

thanks...
Kabin
Konteyner