On Thursday, Remedy Entertainment announced that it would soon release a patch Alan Wakker to remove David Bowie’s “Space Oddity” from the game’s credits due to licensing issues. Music has been a problem for Alan Wakker for: Remedy had to pull the entire game from Steam, Xbox Games Store, and other platforms from May 2017 to October 2018 as licenses were renegotiated. And it’s not just a Remedy problem. It’s apparently happening over and over again: Sega and Obsidian Entertainment’s Alpha ProtocolRockstar Games’ Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (Grand Theft Auto 3The launch of the PlayStation 3 was delayedalso about music sales), 2K Games’ Spec Ops: The Line, The upcoming Sony Interactive Entertainment- Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, from Activision Tony Hawk Pro Skater HDand many more have had issues with music licensing.
People in the video game industry hear about games being pulled from sale for these reasons all the time — something that will likely continue to happen in the future. But what about other types of media? On Polygon’s Alan Wakker news report, commentator VeronicaTriumphant asked a poignant question: “Why does this always happen to games, but never to movies?”
The answer is complicated and it is not the same for all movies, TV shows or video games. In broad terms, however, it is do It happens with other forms of media. Jeffrey Cadwell, an intellectual property attorney at law firm Dorsey & Whitney, told Polygon that it’s more common with older TV shows that haven’t considered licensing deals with, say, streaming platforms like Netflix, which didn’t exist when the shows were made.
“For example, I know Bosom buddies (the old Tom Hanks show) originally had a Billy Joel theme song, but on DVD and now in syndication, it uses a different theme,” Cadwell said. “It’s become more current, same problem with Dawsons Creek. The key when negotiating music licensing is to try to get all the rights in perpetuity so you don’t have to go back in the future with regard to format changes or reuse fees.”
A 2015 Vox report said that most modern TV shows now negotiate “all possible uses of the song — initial airing, reruns, syndication, DVDs, international and online streaming.” That’s why we don’t see too many issues with shows created after the rise of streaming platforms.
Usually the producers of these shows replace the music if necessary, as in the case of Dawsons Creek — the iconic theme song, Paula Cole’s “I Don’t Want to Wait,” was replaced on streaming services with Jann Arden’s “Run Like Mad” due to licensing issues. But that example itself is a lesson in how complicated this whole thing can be: Arden’s “Run Like Mad” was actually written for Dawsons Creek and the producers’ original choice for the show’s theme, according to the Huffington PostWarner Bros. executives later changed their minds and added “I Don’t Want to Wait” as the theme song when the show debuted. The deal had to be renegotiated a few years later, and when Dawsons Creek lost “I Don’t Want to Wait.” Instead of paying Cole more money, they put Arden’s song back in. When Dawsons Creek came to Netflix in 2020, Fans rebelled against the removal of the iconic “I Don’t Want to Wait,” Billboard wrote in 2021. In 2021, Dawsons Creek producers made a new deal with Cole; she re-recorded the song, so it’s licensed through her and a re-recorded master, not through Warner Records. So the song came back.
Movies are considered to have a longer shelf life than video games, or at least they used to be. For that reason, movie producers were more likely to be granted perpetual licenses. As with TV shows and movies, the video games that do get taken off the list for music licensing issues are often older games that publishers didn’t expect to see continued interest decades later. Instead of a perpetual license, video games are often given “a more limited license,” Schacht said, which requires the creator to “come back and renegotiate — and pay for — additional rights when they need them.”
If publishers and studios can’t — or won’t — renegotiate, they’ll have to pull their game or patch the music. “The infringer could end up with a lot of money and no longer be able to use the music” if they continue to use music with expired licenses, Schact said.
If you are looking for the In summaryhere it is: Movies and TV Shows Doing have similar licensing issues as video games, but it usually affects older shows that weren’t licensed for home distribution or streaming. You may not hear about it that often, since shows are constantly coming and going from streaming services. But you’ll definitely recognize it the next time you Alias on Disney+, only to learn that all your favorite sequences have new songs.