Here is one of my out-of-nowhere ideas. Make classic television theme songs available on the web. That simple.
I listen to music a lot when I’m working (and I mean a lot). Tonight, my coworkers and I wanted to delve into the classics. TV opening theme classics to be specific. We were annoyed to find that Spotify, Pandora, and even Slacker don’t have any stations dedicated to TV theme music.
Now, I have Slacker Premium, so I can listen to a wealth of music on-demand streaming. I found this weird since Slacker has a station just for movie music and even television commercials. Why haven’t TV themes made it past the focus group? Unfortunately, I could not find any of the classic themes I was looking for, even on demand, so I decided to just buy some tracks when I got home.
Well, that turned out to be nearly impossible. I scoured the web for hours tonight trying to buy TV theme songs (yes, I buy music. I’ll explain in a later post) such as the classic “As Days Go By” from Family Matters, “Everywhere You Look” from Full House, and even the Boy Meets World opening themes. This endeavor was met with little-to-no success.
Sure, on Amazon MP3, you can find some knockoffs done by Hitting Crew. They’re alright, but they don’t provide the original tracks, so what’s the point? I quickly realized that none of these classics, a lot done by Jesse Fredericks, are available to purchase.
I did some digging and found out that the rights to these songs are strictly protected. Unless I want to be listening to Mark Hamill do a karaoke rendition of “Step by Step”, buying these classic tracks wasn’t going to happen.
Why is that? There should be a huge market for these songs. Record labels have gotten around selling albums with a variety of different properties. I remember growing up and seeing commercials for “Classic Albums” or “Love Song Albums” that featured a large amount of different songs from different labels and artists. Why can’t this happen for TV theme songs?
I’ve learned firsthand that there is a market for it as well. I am hard-pressed to just assume that the networks, artists, or labels are just scared they’re going to lose money (or not get the money made from this), which is insane. On the other hand, I know that there is a market for this because I, personally, have discovered it. Perhaps it is my calling to bring classic TV theme songs to a new generation while simultaneously satisfying the newfound nostalgia that older millennials are beginning to tap into as they reach adulthood?
I’ll let you all know if it works out.
-JN
*On a side not, I did eventually manage to find some songs I was looking for, and you might too. The point is that it took way too much digging and was sketchy. Not recommending it.
Image Credits
http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m1idd2rWbA1qz9n0k.png
http://www.nypost.com/r/nypost/blogs/popwrap/200812/Images/200812_full-house-reunion.jpg
http://c450556.r56.cf2.rackcdn.com/2011/04/final-exams-photo-pragmagraphr.jpg
http://www.scififx.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/mark-hamill.jpg
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I, for one, am perplexed as to why we cannot buy them. I am a TV theme tragic and know a knock off when I hear it. Why allow a cover but protect the original? That seems counter-intuitive if you are coming from an “integrity” angle. For example, McCartney will allow people to buy original Beatles material, but would never entertain the idea of letting someone butcher his song. And rightly so.
Secondly, what future revenues would they compromise? Take the Growing Pains theme…which I sadly love. What plans do they have for Growing Pains in the the future, that allowing the REAL theme to be purchased would jeopardise?
Notwithstanding the above, I believe the Gilligan’s Island theme on iTunes is the real deal….or maybe I’m losing my ability to detect a knock off 🙂 It is definitely a First World Problem that needs to be addressed.