In an article published yesterday at the
Video Business online site (registration required), Universal Studios Home Entertainment has answered fans' questions about the reasons for music replacements on 2nd Season DVD box sets of
Quantum Leap and
Northern Exposure, and declared that it won't be an issue with the music-heavy episodes of
Miami Vice - Season 1.
Video Business writer Eliza Gallo quotes a Universal spokesperson about the reason for the recent releases' music changes:
Universal senior VP publicity Vivian Mayer said the music replacements on the second season DVDs were due to a combination of things, including clearance issues and timing.
"There's a momentum," Mayer said. "After the first sets were released, the audience response was so overwhelming that we really wanted to satisfy everyone. Timing issues were a strong influencing factor."
Mayer denied the replacements were made in order to cut costs as the franchises continued.
"No, we maintain the quality," she said. "We would rather not put something out. We maintain a consistent quality for all our products."
Gallo's story went on to mention that
"Fans of both series complain that the box sets were not labeled to indicate that they contained music replacements. The first season DVDs did have complete music, fans note." The spokesperson for Universal did not respond to that issue, but TVShowsOnDVD owner Gord Lacey mentioned in his
review of Las Vegas - Season 1: Uncut & Uncensored that such a notice was included on that more recent release: "
Universal has placed a disclaimer in the bottom-left corner of the package which reads, 'Music may differ from televised version.' " Lacey had talked to Universal after complaints surfaced about changes to the previous releases, and given his input that the on-box warning was something the fans would expect. We assume that Universal received similar feedback from other sources as well, leading to the change.
The
Video Business story concludes by addressing fan concerns about upcoming title
Miami Vice - Season 1, and whether or not music changes would appear on it. Gallo's write-up quotes Universal senior VP publicity Vivian Mayer as saying that it definitely won't happen with Season 1, but she won't predict the future beyond that:
A few fans say they are now wary of future Universal releases--particularly the music-driven Miami Vice, which bows Feb. 8.
"I have a feeling that Miami Vice will either have a lot of replacement music or be complete in season one to rope us in, only to be cut in subsequent sets," (Quantum Leap fan David) Farley said.
Mayer said the first season Miami Vice set will contain every piece of original music but couldn't say yet what plans for the following seasons will be.
She added that Miami Vice was a prime example of the rights and contractual negotiations that the studio has to go through in order to get a series out. In 2003, Universal vowed not to bring the show out until it could resolve all the music issues (DVD Exclusive, October 2003), and it stayed true to its word.
It is understandable that Mayer would not make public promises about sets that are yet to be produced, because it is unforseeable what every issue could be down the road. For example, let's look at this hypothetical situation: if she had "guaranteed" original music on every season of
Miami Vice, and then in the last season a single song from a transitional scene that lasted just 30 seconds had to be changed because the rights to that music would be tied up in legal issues for years to come, then her "promise" would be broken. No, she's smart not to speak to the unknowns of the future, but fans shouldn't take that as an assumption Universal is already planning to make a switch. Right now it's an unknown.
On the other hand, it is good to see this issue aired so publicly, and that it's being talked about in a trade magazine as well-known as
Video Business, which is a sister publication of
Variety (let's hope the DVD music replacement issue gets raised there as well!). Once the studios become more and more aware of negative feelings from consumers about music replacement, we hope it will persuade them to take more time to get the music rights than they seem to have taken with
Quantum Leap - The Complete 2nd Season and
Northern Exposure - The Complete 2nd Season. Note that complaining fans feel that, given the music changes, it is highly ironic for these releases to be called "Complete" in the title! And it's not like these were the first sets from Universal to see a switch made. For instance, fans complained bitterly that the theme song "For The Love Of Money" by the O'Jays was changed on the DVD release for
The Apprentice - The Complete 1st Season to a song with much less bite and edge to it.
On the third hand, we're not suggesting either that studios should let themselves be held hostage to demands for too-high music costs. TVShowsOnDVD
supported Columbia/ Tristar (now renamed Sony Pictures Home Entertainment) in their decision to make a theme song change to
Married...with Children - The Complete 3rd Season due to an asking price so high it would add noticable cost to the consumer. From what we've learned, Universal faced a similar situation with
Las Vegas - Season 1: Uncut & Uncensored, and decided to pay a smaller fee to only include the theme song with the Pilot episode on the DVD set, and use the international theme song for all the other included episodes. Universal labeled the change on their
Las Vegas box, but frankly the wording - especially the use of the word "may" ("Music may differ...") - was so vague that we felt a bit let down. Going back to the example of
Married...with Children, we'll say that we were more impressed with
how Sony marked the box.
We're sure that there will be a LOT more to say on the subject in the future. TV-on-DVD fans at online discussion websites like
The Home Theater Forum are going so far as to say that the issue of music changes is ruining the experience of TV-on-DVD releases for them so much, that they are holding off on such purchases in general. TVShowsonDVD intends,
as we've said, to add in the new year here a form that our readers can use to report changes to original show content, such as music changes. This way we hope to help consumers decide just how far they want to go when they decide to make a purchase. Stay tuned, because site owner and webmaster Gord Lacey has been full of great ideas on how to implement this new feature, and we hope to bring it to you in the not-too-distant future.
