6 ms·

So many shows are unavailable or different because of ridiculous licensing rules around music. Scrubs has several different versions of music, The Drew Carey Sh

So many shows are unavailable or different because of ridiculous licensing rules around music. Scrubs has several different versions of music, The Drew Carey Show is basically impossible to find because of music. If Congress wanted to ever do something pro-consumer, passing a law that ends all this nonsense around licensing and require all licensing to be delivery method agnostic. whether a show is premiering, a rerun, syndicated, streamed, or on DVD it should be the same show.

sobkas 3y ago
> So many shows are unavailable or different because of ridiculous licensing rules around music. Scrubs has several different versions of music, The Drew Carey Show is basically impossible to find because of music. If Congress wanted to ever do something pro-consumer, passing a law that ends all this nonsense around licensing and require all licensing to be delivery method agnostic. whether a show is premiering, a rerun, syndicated, streamed, or on DVD it should be the same show. And everyone knows that answer will be: "nothing stops potential distributors from licensing music now and releasing originals, the fact they are not willing to pay is not copyright holders problem". And there's some truth to it, licensing costs back then were lower because they were time constrained. No one would pay more for broadly licensed music in throwaway series. No one knew they would have lasting impact on popculture.
cellularmitosis 3y ago
“Adventures in good music” with Karl Hass is likely offline forever due to licensing issues, sadly.
justinator 3y ago
The State on MTV is one of these too. They had an interesting deal where they could use literally the entire MTV catalog of music for the show, but didn't have license to use any of it for distribution of the show afterwards. That made producing the show cheap, and up'd the quality since you'd have these hilariously scenes of mock teenage angst or whatever with REM's "Everybody Hurts" playing in the background. But in the long run, it sort of hurt a lot of careers of the comedians since the music was so entwined in the sketches distribution was all but impossible, and much of the future work from them are themselves cult hits, but haven't really become part of the cultural fabric. Comedies like Wet Hot American Summer or Drop Dead Gorgeous or Super Troopers.
- kid64 3y ago
  I noticed lots of set decorations (posters, pictures, etc) are blurred out too. So incredibly sad.
  - justinator 3y ago
    That's a bummer. Pirated episodes are as you would expect of very low quality, being taped from home almost 30 years ago.
ralphc 3y ago
We can't forget WKRP in Cincinatti, which had so much good music of the time, and even referenced it in the show which made for some butchered edits. The most egregious example is from the classic "Turkeys Away" episode, there was a whole joke about Pink Floyd's "Dogs" which Johnny Fever was playing at the time. In the edited version Mr. Carlson just walks out mid-conversation.
tivert 3y ago
> Scrubs has several different versions of music Is there a list of the differences somewhere? I remember that show having a very good soundtrack.
dragonwriter 3y ago
> So many shows are unavailable or different because of ridiculous licensing rules around music. Or, often, because the original production bought licenses imagining more limited uses than later distribution opportunities presented, and chose not to spend extra money for things they didn’t expect to need.

sobkas 3y ago

> So many shows are unavailable or different because of ridiculous licensing rules around music. Scrubs has several different versions of music, The Drew Carey Show is basically impossible to find because of music. If Congress wanted to ever do something pro-consumer, passing a law that ends all this nonsense around licensing and require all licensing to be delivery method agnostic. whether a show is premiering, a rerun, syndicated, streamed, or on DVD it should be the same show. And everyone knows that answer will be: "nothing stops potential distributors from licensing music now and releasing originals, the fact they are not willing to pay is not copyright holders problem". And there's some truth to it, licensing costs back then were lower because they were time constrained. No one would pay more for broadly licensed music in throwaway series. No one knew they would have lasting impact on popculture.

cellularmitosis 3y ago

“Adventures in good music” with Karl Hass is likely offline forever due to licensing issues, sadly.

justinator 3y ago

The State on MTV is one of these too. They had an interesting deal where they could use literally the entire MTV catalog of music for the show, but didn't have license to use any of it for distribution of the show afterwards. That made producing the show cheap, and up'd the quality since you'd have these hilariously scenes of mock teenage angst or whatever with REM's "Everybody Hurts" playing in the background. But in the long run, it sort of hurt a lot of careers of the comedians since the music was so entwined in the sketches distribution was all but impossible, and much of the future work from them are themselves cult hits, but haven't really become part of the cultural fabric. Comedies like Wet Hot American Summer or Drop Dead Gorgeous or Super Troopers.

kid64 3y ago
I noticed lots of set decorations (posters, pictures, etc) are blurred out too. So incredibly sad.
- justinator 3y ago
  That's a bummer. Pirated episodes are as you would expect of very low quality, being taped from home almost 30 years ago.

ralphc 3y ago

We can't forget WKRP in Cincinatti, which had so much good music of the time, and even referenced it in the show which made for some butchered edits. The most egregious example is from the classic "Turkeys Away" episode, there was a whole joke about Pink Floyd's "Dogs" which Johnny Fever was playing at the time. In the edited version Mr. Carlson just walks out mid-conversation.

tivert 3y ago

> Scrubs has several different versions of music Is there a list of the differences somewhere? I remember that show having a very good soundtrack.

dragonwriter 3y ago

> So many shows are unavailable or different because of ridiculous licensing rules around music. Or, often, because the original production bought licenses imagining more limited uses than later distribution opportunities presented, and chose not to spend extra money for things they didn’t expect to need.