Ben Aslinger’s piece in
Teen TV discusses the presence of music in teen shows such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Dawson’s Creek. It talks about how the
music not only enhances the show’s entertainment value, it also helps viewers
better understand the characters and plotline. Different styles of music can
set the tone of the scene, as well as establish the personality and mood of the
characters. It can build many extra details that otherwise wouldn’t be possible
to squeeze into a half hour to an hour television slot.
The chapter discusses
how there are often issues getting the licensing for songs when the episode is
being sold on a DVD or placed on instant stream services such as Netflix or
Amazon Prime instant video. The original music in the episode may have to change
to songs that are easier to receive licensing for. When this happens, the fans
are often outraged. When Dawson’s Creek
was added to Netflix, the insanely popular Paula Cole theme song was changed to
a fairly unknown song. Even someone who didn’t watch the show was subjected to
countless complaints.
The battle with music
licensing is nothing new. It has existed in the film industry for years. We’ve
all experienced the moment when you try to watch a film clip or tv clip on
Youtube and are given a message that the clip has been removed due to copyright
infringement. I don’t see why we’re still having this issue. The way I see it, it’s
a win-win situation. Having a tie-in with a popular tv show only popularizes
the song more. For example, having “I don’t want to be” as the theme song to One Tree Hill launched Gavin Degraws entire
career.
I wonder why the producers won't have artists make music for their shows. I would guess it's because they are able use pop music and still be able to pull the nonsense they already do by making low-quality covers of the songs they used on air. Which is sad and frustrating, especially for their audience who is expecting the same quality show they originally saw on their channel. Has another show you watch, that wasn't said in the reading, done the same thing as "Dawson's Creek" in terms of music?
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with the youtube statement. If a fan is using an artist's music, and they're not claiming that it's theirs, the fan should be able to use the music without their video being taken down! In the end, it's still free advertisement since word of mouth goes faster by fans than by advertisement alone. Perhaps it's just a messy web of music politics.