By re-recording decades-old hits, artists are keeping a much bigger share of licensing proceeds.
By JEFF LEEDS
In 1986, the pop band Wang Chung released the ludicrous but catchy party anthem “Everybody Have Fun Tonight.” Now two of the musicians behind the band have hatched a plan that might seem even more absurd than the lyric “everybody Wang Chung tonight.” More than two decades after the song became a smash hit, they are recording it again.
AudioCompare original songs to new versions recorded by past music stars.
But they have their reasons. In the decade and a half since Wang Chung dissolved, the licensing of music to advertisers, television and movies has become more acceptable — and much more lucrative — for performers from the past. And by remaking their own hits, these artists can keep a much bigger share of the proceeds. “To re-record our back catalog is a way of empowering ourselves,” said Nick Feldman of Wang Chung. “We can be much more selective about where these songs end up and how much we charge for them.”
Under the typical record contract, money paid to license a song is split between the record label that owns the recording and the artist who performed it. But if a band remakes the song after it has ended its contract, it can retain ownership of the new version and license it itself without having to share the rewards with the record label. (Music executives typically insist on contract provisions that prohibit artists from re-recording their work for up to five years after their deal expires.)
Recently, a number of aging pop and rock stars has returned to the studio to recreate their signature tunes and pitch them to Madison Avenue and Hollywood. Attentive fans may notice remakes by bands including Twisted Sister, Foreigner and Simply Red in commercials, movie trailers and television programs.
But for some singers, recapturing the flair of their younger selves is no easy trick. “It’s 22 years on,” said Jack Hues of Wang Chung. “My voice is really quite different. You have to almost get into character, which is an interesting experience.” His partner, Mr. Feldman, wondered, “Should we just mimic and do a literal replica, or should we go for that spirited performance that reflects how we are now?”
In the case of Twisted Sister, a loose plan to recut some songs from the band’s 1984 breakthrough album “Stay Hungry” and package them with a DVD turned into a more serious affair. The band re-recorded the entire album, said the co-founder and guitarist Jay Jay French.
Since 2004 several advertisers, including 7Up and Wendy’s, have licensed the new versions, he said. In one instance, a television program paid $10,000 to use 10 seconds of a musical bridge from one of the newly recorded versions. Licenses for full Twisted Sister songs can be in the “six-figure” range, he said.
While the concept of musicians re-recording their hits is not new, there has been something of a gold rush unfolding in the licensing world since the mid-1990s. Pop songs have replaced jingles or musical scores as the preferred backdrop for commercials and TV shows, particularly those appealing to savvy young adults and baby boomers.
That trend has coincided with a shift in the way some artists view the licensing of their music. While many still consider using their songs to sell products as compromising, a number of rock legends, including Led Zeppelin, have allowed their work to be used in recent years. Indeed, the recent surge of re-recorded hits may have been presaged in 1999 by Aerosmith, which offered a newly re-made version of “Sweet Emotion” for a General Motors ad.
Such efforts spell more trouble for big music companies, which stand to lose licensing money if more artists recreate their best-known songs. These days, the issue of when superstars can begin to re-record their catalog is becoming a frequent bone of contention in contract negotiations. Donald S. Passman, a music lawyer, said that some music companies are trying to rewrite the terms to, in effect, block an artist from any re-recording that sounds similar to the original; other deal-makers say artists are trying to shave years off the usual moratorium on re-making their songs.
Remaking Old Hits to Earn New Money
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That sort of fight is becoming more important as traditional CD sales continue their lengthy slide. A big label with a strong catalog can generate as much as $20 million a year from licensing its recordings before paying the artists their share, music executives estimate.
AudioCompare original songs to new versions recorded by past music stars.
Recently, some artists’ plans to re-record have been encouraged by music publishers, who represent songwriters and who control separate copyrights that must be licensed when an advertiser or TV show wants to use a particular tune. Publishers say they can strike deals more efficiently when they can represent songwriters with their own recordings and avoid waiting for an advertiser to negotiate separately with the label that controls the original.
Still, advertisers caution that they are wary of shoddy attempts at recapturing the past. “I’ve heard a lot of really bad re-creations on the air. It just makes my hair stand up,” said Ira Antelis, director of music for the ad agency Leo Burnett.
At the other end of the spectrum are solo artists who produced their own original recordings. Prince, for example, has re-recorded significant portions of his catalog that — thanks partly to technological advances — may rival the original versions, according to one person close to him. A handful of artists have tried to package their new versions as a CD, in effect competing against their old record label and their own songs. Twisted Sister’s “Still Hungry,” a re-recording of 1984’s “Stay Hungry,” has sold an estimated 25,000 copies since it came out three years ago, according to Nielsen SoundScan data.
Irving Azoff, the talent manager behind bands like the Eagles and Earth, Wind & Fire, said he is encouraging clients to recreate their biggest hits and perhaps sell the new versions directly to retail chains. Mr. Azoff said that in many cases, these bands “play these songs differently, and I think better, than the original” versions. For fans, the old hits form “the fabric of their memories. These songs have stood the test of time.”
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