If her side of the story is true, then like anyone else, I'd want her to get what she's owed. I hope things can be settled reasonably with all parties involved being satisfied with the outcome. This does seem strange that it gets noticed here and now so close to the 2nd movie. I'll agree with Ops even 12, 13 years ago, her quest for royalties was started quite late. It's too easy to perceive this as someone coming out of the blue to cash in on a hot franchise. With the original series Rhino DVD releases reaching high prices whereever they're found and Sony trying to start their own set of releases, it's too coincidental in my view. I wouldn't want Sony's releases to be affected by this the same way the Married...With Children DVD sets are. Some greedy person appointed by the late Frank Sinatra's family jacked up the royalties and forced them to dub over the "Love & Marriage" theme song unless they were willing to overprice those sets to accomodate the hike. So, yeah, I really hope things are settled fairly, so the Sony DVD sets don't carry a dub over theme of their own.

 

I don't know, I wouldn't mind having a Powermaster Prime explain to me what happens in this episode before it happens in lieu of an opening theme  

 

What's this? There's a problem with the Married... With Children DVDs? I hadn't heard about this. I have I think the 1st 4 seasons and haven't noticed anything. Are they changing the song on the later ones, or have the later sets actually been delayed?

 

Seconded!  

My HS music teacher (LOOONG ago) was a struggling musican. He was "old" and "not marketable" which means he didn't look sexy enough for MTV. So he did a few commercial jingles then decided to teach. He was really cool, but he dispelled any notion of any of us being a rock star and insisted that all of us keep up on our other classes (math, science, english, etc.) since, "even musicians need to file tax returns"

Anyway, long story short one day he brought in his royalty check he got for some music he did. It was some tune we all recognised at the time but I can't recall it now (like a tissue comercial jingle). Anyway his montly royalties worked out to about $1.32 or something and this was on a commercial that we all heard at least once a week.

So I'm pretty sure that if you wrote themes for JEM, TF, GI-Joe, etc. Episodes, commercials, etc. then by 1994 when the series was falling into obscurity, some accounting snob probably decided it was better to pay annually rather than monthly, then bi anually, then not at all. Then said accountant retires and the new one just makes the money "fall though the cracks"

Then TF get's retro cool and no one remebers to pay the old royalties.

Corporate gets defensive when someone askes for back pay.

Lawyers get involved.

etc. etc. etc.

 

i wish her all the best

 

They need to pay the woman

 

Well, it's contract law. Either the contract's being lived up to or it's not, regardless of morality. That said, without knowing any of the dirt on the situation, I suspect that this isn't so much a matter of "the evil bastards won't live up to the contract" as DVDs simply not being dreamt of then and ambiguities in the contract over who has to pay whom.

Then again, who knows with the music cartels. I think you'd have to go back to the middle ages to find a sense of entitlement like that. The musicians are the vassals and we're the lowly serfs, and the right and proper way for money to flow is towards them - and it damn well better be in the amounts they'd like or there are going to be problems.

 

"infamous Transformers theme song "? Oh well, I wish her all the best and hope she gets every penny she deserves.

 

Anne Bryant's legal battle

TFSC & Anne Bryant:

I'm feelin' ya! All these instances continually prove to me one thing: that people should not depend on corporations for things that they can do for themselves. I hope that Anne Bryant gets her due compensation. Seems like Sunbow has some serious problems with compensating their employees, as do the other parties involved in this lawsuit. This also brings another question to my mind - not to blame Anne for anything: Would Anne Bryant be able to own the master recordings of the themes she wrote? If she did, then I'm sure there would be a different outcome. Just curious, as tons of singers and performers have gotten taken to the cleaners due to not owning their masters or publishing.

 

Your HS Music Teacher's predicament

I've seen stories like your HS Music Teacher's story all the time, and it happens countless times. I know your HS Music Teacher must have been p-o'd and he had every right to be. Screw eMpTyV and others like it! They do not appeal to me. If I was a musician, I would:
1)Have my own label
2)Record my own music
3)Own and control the recorded masters of my music, as well as the publishing
4)Do my own marketing
5)Do my own publicity
6)Primarily handle my own distribution, unless I found someone trustworthy to handle distribution of my product
7)Incorporate new copies of my singles and or albums with concert tickets
8)Have a website and allow people to fileshare my music.
With those conditions, then I'd be able to reap the lion's share of the profits, which would be rightfully mine, since I (and not some corporate bean-counting suit)created the music in the first place. Also:
9)NOT go on shows like "American Idol" - have you seen or read about the contracts for that show? Anyone who enters into a contract with that show, or show like that, might as well put themselves in shackles and chains.

I hope your HS Music Teacher gets what is due him. By the way - what jingle did he compose? Just curious.

 

I was wondering the same thing...

I mean, I agree that people should get paid for their work, but why so late?

 

Powermaster Prime: I must go now for an interstellar conference. But until I return, I leave you with "The Touch"!

 

While it would be awesome to meet her, I highly doubt she can be invited to BotCon. It is a Hasbro convention, and she is suing them (or a subsidiary) so that's a conflict.

 

Infamous? Why Infamous? 
Having seen "3 Amigos", we all know El Guapo was "In-Famous". But Anne should not be in such company.

The Transformers song is nothing short of awesome, and should therefore be considered as "Famous".

 

It's been going on since maybe the 3rd or 4th seasons. Another problem with what's going on with the dub over is different sets of audio tracks for the original, full episodes and the cut-up, syndicated versions. Because of the dubbing process, this somehow leaves them only the shortened syndicated episodes to work with. I don't entirely know how that is, there was a long article on it somewhere at www.tvshowsondvd.com . So, yeah, because of this person, the fans are losing more than just the opening song in each episode. I'd hope if there is to be a dub over on Sony's TF series release, the episodes won't have to be cut.

 

Boo on Franks fam!!  

They should get Ed Oniel to re-sing the theme song, then give HIM the royalties! I'd pay extra to hear THAT!!    

 

There seems to be a recurring problem with Transformers-related professionals getting paid their due. I still feel bad for the extremely talented Dreamwave crew that got screwed in the end. I hope that Anne gets everything that she deserves.

Michael

 

Not to go on too much of a tangent here, but the problem with that idea is that not every musician is a good businessman. Heck, most aren't. And while such a scheme may pay big dividends to the net-savvy up and coming band, it's not a good fit for every musician. For instance, I might like to tour infrequently (Counting Crows) or not at all (the later Beatles), or the large number of people I tour with might make touring not always financially feasible (Brian Setzer Orchestra). Or the crass commercialism of merchandising might make me sick.

If free file sharing is the norm, then anyone who wants to opt out of the touring side or the merchandising side gets left out in the cold, and finds it extremely difficult to make money, and thus continue producing music.

So I don't think it's enough to simply say that artists should go down the path you've outlined and avoid the labels. Is it too much to demand that the record companies to deal fairly with people?

 

Good thing I'm already perfectly happy with my complete Rhino set and wasn't planning on selling them