RUMOR MILL
"There are just so many people involved, so much turnover, and so many licenses and contracts, at least two different parties for every song, the label and the publisher.”
——Denny Tedesco
Thursday, April 26, 2012
WILL THE WRECKING CREW EVER SEE THE LIGHT OF DAY?
David Vs. Goliath Story Pits an Indie Filmmaker Against the Major Labels and Big Publishers
Illuminating piece in this morning’s N.Y. Times on The Wrecking Crew, a documentary about the legendary group of L.A. session musicians who played on hundreds of classic records in the 1960s. The doc, directed by Denny Tedesco (the son of Wrecking Crew guitarist Tommy Tedesco), premiered in 2008 at SXSW but still hasn’t been released because of the difficulty of clearing the music it contains.
The film includes dozens of snippets from songs the Wrecking Crew played on, writes Larry Rohter, but the labels that own the masters want so much money from Tedesco, whose total budget was less than $1 million, that he’s been conducting a fund-raising campaign to meet their demands. At various points, Tedesco has mortgaged his house and maxed out his credit cards in order to get his film released.
“There are 132 music cues in this film, and you’ll know 99.9% of them,” Tedesco told Rohter. “But when I asked one record company for a quote, they said it was going to cost $2.5 million.”
Tedesco has managed to bargain the labels down, but, he still has about 25 songs left to pay off to the tune of $175k. “The reality is that I want to pay,” he said. “But the problem is this business. There are just so many people involved, so much turnover, and so many licenses and contracts, at least two different parties for every song, the label and the publisher.” He said there were more than 400 different rights holders to be dealt with.
“No one is gouging here, and on a song-by-song basis these are really low fees,” said Pamela Lillig, VP of Film and TV Licensing at BMG Chrysalis. “But with 132 cues the body of work is enormous, formidable. Most projects are not this intense with the rights in them, or, like Martin Scorsese on the blues or Ken Burns on jazz, are very well funded. So we are trying to help in any way we can, because we want these musicians to get their due and have a light shined on their work.”
In theory, Rohter points out, Tedesco could argue that as a documentary his film has a journalistic and educational function and is therefore entitled to the fair use exemption to copyright that news organizations routinely invoke. But he would then run the risk of lawsuits, and “that’s too scary,” said Claire Scanlon, who edited the film and is one of its producers. “This is a one-man show and a labor of love, and Denny has already been wiped out financially by this film.”
Kent Hartman, author of the recently published book The Wrecking Crew, told Rohter he was puzzled by what he sees as the shortsightedness of the Big Four. “The Wrecking Crew made these songs hits and made the record companies a ton of money,” he said. “It’s to their advantage to let this thing come out. Here’s this beautifully crafted marketing vehicle that could sell so many more copies of these great songs. It’s free money for the labels, with no cost for them. But here comes Denny to reinvigorate their catalog, and he has to pay to do it.”
The film includes dozens of snippets from songs the Wrecking Crew played on, writes Larry Rohter, but the labels that own the masters want so much money from Tedesco, whose total budget was less than $1 million, that he’s been conducting a fund-raising campaign to meet their demands. At various points, Tedesco has mortgaged his house and maxed out his credit cards in order to get his film released.
“There are 132 music cues in this film, and you’ll know 99.9% of them,” Tedesco told Rohter. “But when I asked one record company for a quote, they said it was going to cost $2.5 million.”
Tedesco has managed to bargain the labels down, but, he still has about 25 songs left to pay off to the tune of $175k. “The reality is that I want to pay,” he said. “But the problem is this business. There are just so many people involved, so much turnover, and so many licenses and contracts, at least two different parties for every song, the label and the publisher.” He said there were more than 400 different rights holders to be dealt with.
“No one is gouging here, and on a song-by-song basis these are really low fees,” said Pamela Lillig, VP of Film and TV Licensing at BMG Chrysalis. “But with 132 cues the body of work is enormous, formidable. Most projects are not this intense with the rights in them, or, like Martin Scorsese on the blues or Ken Burns on jazz, are very well funded. So we are trying to help in any way we can, because we want these musicians to get their due and have a light shined on their work.”
In theory, Rohter points out, Tedesco could argue that as a documentary his film has a journalistic and educational function and is therefore entitled to the fair use exemption to copyright that news organizations routinely invoke. But he would then run the risk of lawsuits, and “that’s too scary,” said Claire Scanlon, who edited the film and is one of its producers. “This is a one-man show and a labor of love, and Denny has already been wiped out financially by this film.”
Kent Hartman, author of the recently published book The Wrecking Crew, told Rohter he was puzzled by what he sees as the shortsightedness of the Big Four. “The Wrecking Crew made these songs hits and made the record companies a ton of money,” he said. “It’s to their advantage to let this thing come out. Here’s this beautifully crafted marketing vehicle that could sell so many more copies of these great songs. It’s free money for the labels, with no cost for them. But here comes Denny to reinvigorate their catalog, and he has to pay to do it.”
