When my group for Portfolio 2 was talking about what to write about, copyright relating to music was brought up about one of the topics. This got me thinking about an issue that arose several years back with one of my favorite tv shows of all time, the award-winning English drama Skins. Among the many great things about this show, one of them was the use of great music. However, an issue arose when releasing the DVD for the show. There was an issue because licensing the music for the DVDs would come with a high cost. So, completely different music was chosen to be put in the episodes released to the DVDs. The only way to buy the episodes with the original scores is to purchase them on Itunes. This is a real shame, because the music was one of the things that contributed to this show’s greatness. It almost feels as if something is lost with the original songs taken out.
I didn’t realize there were different licensing costs for using music on TV and on DVD. The only difference between the two is when people can watch the shows because technology (TiVo and DVR) allow viewers to record and rewatch shows at any time much like Sony’s recorders. Is there any connection to the price difference and the focuses the Universal v. Sony case that Goldstein mentioned? The case focused on negative commercial consequences and changing the timing of when people watch the show.