A Rant Stemming From Freaks And Geeks

I've raved about this show before.

I think it's the best show ever. If you have never seen it do so.

I would tell you that IFC has been showing the episodes and to check it out there. But there is one fatal flaw in that.

The music is not in the episodes.

While flipping channels I stopped to watch one night. I was completely enjoying the show. Then something was not quite right. A scene that was completely driven by a Billy Joel song originally now had some bad fake instrumental version of something slightly Billy Joel like. It completely ruined the scene.

Music played a key role in the show. It was not just background noise.

I made a Freaks and Geeks playlist on my itunes of every song used in every show.

To me this is just a huge case of how fucked up the music industry is. The music rights are what held up the show being able to come out on dvd for years. And now I guess the paid rights aren't there to use in repeats on TV.

This just seems so stupid to me. Yes the artists deserve to get paid. They did for the original use. They did when they originally recorded it and sold it on an album. They did when they played the song in concert.

Trying to get cash for every small thing seems very short sighted to me. There is no thought to the exposure the song has in that scene can have to inspire someone to go buy that song, album or an artists entire catalogue. But without the song being able to be heard there is no chance of gaining a new fan.

The specific song is the scene I've been talking about isn't some song that gains a ton of radio exposure. This outlet could be pretty much the only way a person who isn't a Billy Joel fan could ever hear the song.

Plus the fact that one artists greed ruins another artists vision.

What if other industries operated in the same way. Say the design industry? Oh... you want to use the logo I designed on a billboard? You only paid to use it on your business card. And if you want to put it on TV or in an ad that will cost more too.

Yes artists deserve to be paid for uses of their material. But there is also a huge benefit to the added exposure. Just look at the sales numbers for songs used in Apple TV spots for proof of what exposure is worth.