Forum - View topicAnswerman - How Hard Is It To License Western Music For Use In Anime?
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leafy sea dragon
Posts: 7163 Location: Another Kingdom |
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I'm sure universal licenses exist...they're just very expensive and difficult to get ahold of.
I have no doubt companies like Viz have attorneys to turn to in order to give them advice on what to do so as to avoid unnecessary lawsuits. Even if they can win, it still costs time and money, which they'd rather use for normal business than on lawsuits. I definitely know of at least one case where a name is not allowed for anything else, even unrelated ideas: McDonald's will go after anyone who uses the name "Big Mac" regardless of what it refers to (hence why Little Mac's transformation in Punch-Out!! is named Giga Mac and why the My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic character is named Big McIntosh). You also want to look up trademark law, not copyright law. In the case of names in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, that's what it concerns. |
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Heishi
Posts: 1345 |
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I guess I should mention the song "Cautionary Warning"
by John Sykes that was used for Legend of Black Heaven. It did fine being released on DVD without legal troubles. Perhaps less famous songs are easier to get than more mainstream songs, I guess. On a somewhat related note: I would love to have a Pink Floyd song featured in a an anime. An anime that I would love to see get rebooted. Won't tell you which one, though... Last edited by Heishi on Wed Apr 27, 2016 9:12 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Lord Geo
Posts: 2648 Location: North Brunswick, New Jersey |
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Just because it should be fine legally doesn't mean that people & companies haven't tried to enforce their stuff too much. Prince, for example, was super infamous for being hyper protective over the use of his name and song & album titles; that's partially why he changed his name to a symbol, if I remember right. People were amazed that Soft & Wet was retained for JoJo: All Star Battle, for example, especially since Gold Experience was changed to Golden Wind. |
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yuna49
Posts: 3804 |
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@Errinrundra
Does your R4 set of Monster include "Be My Baby" in episode fifteen? I'm pretty sure that Viz didn't include "Be My Baby" with Monster because the rights fee would have been prohibitive. It continues to command high licensing fees a half-century after its release: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/18/movies/be-my-baby-a-hit-single-with-staying-power.html. |
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NJ_
Posts: 3092 Location: Wallington, NJ |
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Same thing happened with an episode of Power Rangers and also 90s Melrose Place & Beverly Hills 90210. This has also been a common thing in wrestling too since the 80s. It's one of the reasons why we see edits made to shows released on retail video and shown on streaming services which can ruin wrestlers' entrances & segments because either the replacement music is (usually) garbage or they're just completely cut. |
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Kadmos1
Posts: 13597 Location: In Phoenix but has an 85308 ZIP |
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Another hard thing for the Japanese is even if the Japanese get the nod from the singer or band, it's often the record companies who are actually the owners. However, indie singers or bands that don't sign up with a record label might become the owners. As such, this gives those artists a chance at earning some royalties if they give the nod.
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Uter
Posts: 30 |
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Regardless, I can't find any information that even begins to suggest they could possibly be in real trouble due to using band names. Even the Big Mac example seems dubious, as Hasbro has used the name Big Mac on their My Little Pony show/products. Trademark appears to work in the same legal manner as copyright. The general rule of thumb when it comes to this stuff seems to be that you can't use the same name on a similar product (obviously Burger King can't come out with their own sandwich called the Big Mac). Otherwise I have yet to find even an unrelated instance suggesting that Jojo, in this case, would be legally infringing on anything. I mean, I can't speak for Viz but I'd be interested to find out their actual reasoning. |
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beansy99
Posts: 16 |
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One of my own musical mysteries of anime had to do with the Grappler Baki TV series. The Japanese version had some really dreadful OP, but the Funimation release had a real kick ass Dir en grey song. Never understood how/why that happened but I'm thankful for it.
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leafy sea dragon
Posts: 7163 Location: Another Kingdom |
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Yeah, I did notice a recent episode had other characters consistently called him "Big Mac" and he was called as such in the credits too. I do remember official word from Lauren Faust was that they contacted McDonald's to see if they could use "Big Mac" but they said no. I'm guessing it's been relaxed, as it's pretty clear the character is not going to negatively impact the Big Mac hamburger as a brand. Nevertheless, there HAS to be an explanation on why, say, for Viz's version of the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders manga, some of the characters' names are changed, and usually to other music references (like Devo to Soul Sacrifice, or my aforementioned Oingo and Boingo to Zenyatta and Mondatta) while others are kept perfectly intact (J. Geils, Vanilla Ice, Captain Tennille, with the strange case of Rubber Soul being a different character's name), and the most logical one is that some trademarks are stricter than others. |
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Zalis116
Moderator
Posts: 6897 Location: Kazune City |
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xifeng.hu
Subscriber
Posts: 103 Location: Oahu,Hawaii |
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I think that some of DragonForce's songs really fit some anime ("When Dragons Rule" really fits Cross Ange in my opinion). DragonForce also tours Japan pretty much every year (their live-concert video uses footage from one of their Japan concerts exclusively) and they also have a pretty good fan base there already. It would also be hilarious to hear Marc sing in Japanese (he already learned a little bit since they go to Japan so often) if they decide to do that.
Note: I did find that the use of "Polovetsian Dances" from Prince Igor in Blood Blockade Battlefront's last episode surprising, mostly because I have played that song before (it is quite a challenging piece) and it also was one of my high school band's signature concert songs when it gained national and international attention (in the band community) in the 90's to 00's. |
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yuna49
Posts: 3804 |
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My understanding of trademark law is that a product with an infringing name has to "cause confusion" as to the identity of the mark holder's product. From the USPTO site:
I can see how McDonald's might sue Wendy's if the latter introduced a "Big Mackie" sandwich, but I can't see much reason to think a character in My Little Pony would "cause confusion, deception, or mistake about the source" of the iconic hamburger. |
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leafy sea dragon
Posts: 7163 Location: Another Kingdom |
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It seems that they've eased up on it, but I do remember reading (I forgot where; I'll try to look it up if anyone asks) about them asking McDonald's prior to finalizing Big McIntosh's name and McDonald's saying no. Certainly, with the case of Doctor Whooves, they DID use that name and then got in trouble with BBC, and so that character's name was changed to "Time Turner" and again to simply "Doctor." Consequently, merchandise of this character whose packaging reads "Doctor Whooves" has gone up in price in the used market. Of course, in this case, the idea that they could cause confusion is much clearer, as this character is modeled after the Seventh Doctor, is associated with time travel, talks with a British accent, and has a vaguely steampunk-looking base full of weird contraptions. A lot of hamburger chains have created a "Big ____" as a menu item though. Burger King has the Big King, Carl's Jr. has the Big Carl, Jack in the Box briefly had the Big Jack, and Checkers/Rally's has the Big Buford. All of these hamburgers are characterized by having two patties and Thousand Island Dressing. It makes me wonder how close something can get before attorneys come calling infringement. |
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