So for example for the last 3 decades any showing of Wayne’s World (cinema, DVD, tv broadcast) could include the Bohemian Rhapsody scene. But meanwhile a game like Spec Ops: The Line gets delisted the second the music rights expire. What is the legal difference?
In: Economics
There’s no technical reason necessarily, it just comes down to how the rights are negotiated. I think because of the constantly changing technical aspect of games, some publishers don’t think of them as a long-term product the same way one might think of a movie — why bother paying for 15 years of rights for Spec Ops if the game might not even be remastered for PS4, let alone PS5, so nobody would be playing it (and thus, buying it) in 10 years? IMO it’s not too different from what happens with a lot of TV shows too, the licensing is just thought about differently than something like a movie that has more straightforward longevity
I should add it’s also possible to save money with cover versions of songs since you don’t have to license the actual recording rights, which is what happens with the Harmonix games, etc.
Because the distributors/owners still pay the royalties or fee for the rights. It’s that simple.
It’s funny you use the example of Wayne’s World, because for the home video release of the movie, they had to edit out the notes of Stairway to Heaven in the “NO STAIRWAY” scene. This is because the owners of the rights for stairway wanted $100,000 for just those few notes, and the Wayne’s world people didn’t want to pay it.
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