On the season 13 episodes, the classic songs aren’t credited to Mike , Kevin, etc where applicable. They are only credited to Storm and Paul. It’s strange to hear a rendition of the United Servo Chorus, and not see Kevin Murphy’s name anywhere.
It’s a union show now. Credits on union shows are tightly controlled by rules created during secret negotiations by hollywood big wigs and if you break them you have to pay a fine.
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Is it a union show? I thought I remembered reading that it wasn’t.
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I don’t know if there’s a technicality going on, but MST3K certainly didn’t get any recognition as a puppet show until they used union puppeteers in the revival.
The classic songs that appear in the credits were also used in seasons 11 and 12 on Netflix. The soundtrack album they appear on includes credits for the original songwriters. The “Additional Music” credit in season 13 is only for music that appear in an episode’s host segments.
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How dare you use facts to make a point on the internet. I’m shocked. Shocked , I tell you. Well, not that shocked.
So why no credit in for “the Skeleton Crew” songs in the new episodes? The one that says, “Arranged by Charlie “Chuck Love” Erickson and Brian Usifer, Original music by Bill Corbett, Kevin Murphy, Michael J. Nelson, Satellite of Love LLC.”
Is it a Netflix stipulation?
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I was just going to ask that. They’re using music over the end credits without providing any credit or acknowledgement to the composers, writers, and performers of that music. I know that Har Mar is now someone whose connection with the show is supposed to be memory-holed, but he and his band of professional musicians performed that music and I wonder if it’s legally allowed to be used without credit.
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Couldn’t answer the why or why not, I’m afraid; that’s a little out of my purview. But the songs are owned by SOL, LLC and have been used during various livestreams and Turkey Day marathons in the past.
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This is the key here. If the songs are owned by Joel/his company or the company that runs MST3K now, then they can do whatever they want with them and don’t have to credit anybody, unless something was in writing that they still need to adhere to with the song writer.
There are so many issues when it comes to music rights on broadcasts (I am a broadcast editor). If you own a piece of music, royalty free, the license can say that you don’t need to show any credits at all. There are many, many possibilities and it all depends on how you acquired the music and what the license is. There is no “law” which says you need to show a music credit. Heck on many shows we don’t have time to do credits at all.
But just like the work I do for my company is ultimately theirs and they can do whatever they want with it without crediting me in the future, if we pay someone to write music and the contract says it’s ours to do with as we please in perpetuity, we can use that music forever without showing a credit.
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Thank you. I kind of figured it was something like that.
So why credit them the past two seasons, and not now? It seems like either someone forgot, or they just don’t want to. Both are plausible.
BTW, Shout Factory owns the songs, as far as I can tell from the soundtrack album release. Satellite of Love, LLC is a subsidiary of Shout for legal purposes.
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