Music interpolation has become an intriguing trend within the African music industry, showcasing the innovative reuse of classic elements to maintain familiar sonic identities. Notable examples include Zinolesky’s interpolation of Asa’s “My Man” in his track “Loving You,” Burna Boy’s reinterpretation of Toni Braxton’s “He Wasn’t Man Enough” in “Last Last,” and Asake’s creative twist on Sisqo’s “Got to Get It” in “Palazzo.” Interestingly, all three tracks debuted simultaneously, highlighting a fascinating aspect of interpolation. Another prominent aspect of interpolation is cover recordings, which have also garnered significant attention and acclaim. This article delves into the impact of licensed covers in sync projects, using Bridgerton as a case study and exploring the intricacies of the cover licensing process.
The previous edition of this article highlighted the impact of the Euphoria TV series on streaming numbers and promised to delve into the power of “covers” in sync licensing. The charm of cover music lies in its ability to personalize tracks to match specific visuals. This concept isn’t entirely new; for instance, Tiktok users often alter music tempos to fit particular moments, and club DJs frequently adjust music speeds to match the energy of the crowd.
The historical-romance streaming series Bridgerton has effectively employed new covers of pop songs as part of its soundtrack. The series features string quartet versions of popular tracks, creating a beautiful and complementary backdrop to key moments. Noteworthy renditions include “Wrecking Ball” by Miley Cyrus and “Sign of the Times” by Harry Styles. Here are three significant trends from Bridgerton’s cover licensing:
- Covers Rekindle Memories of Original Songs:
- The period setting of a story can influence the style of music chosen for a scene. Bridgerton, set in the early 1800s, incorporates classical chamber music covers to enhance the historical authenticity while also integrating modern pop songs. This method addresses the challenges of clearing older catalogs, which can be complicated due to legacy artists and estates. The use of covers allows the series to blend historical and contemporary musical styles, including tracks like Rihanna’s “Diamonds” and Billie Eilish’s “Bad Guy.”
- Increased Streaming Numbers: Bridgerton has not only sparked interest in period fashion but also significantly boosted streaming numbers for classical covers of contemporary songs. While these covers existed before the series, Bridgerton has played a pivotal role in their increased visibility. The Vitamin String Quartet, known for their classical crossover work, saw a 350% rise in streams and a 50% increase in monthly listeners on Spotify and Amazon Music after the series’ release. Their soundtrack EP also continued to feature prominently in iTunes’ Top 100 Soundtracks.
Despite these successes, clearing covers presents its own set of challenges. Securing rights can be particularly difficult for older catalogs involving legacy artists and estates, especially without clear documentation of ownership and rights. For new catalogs, clearance issues arise when distribution rights are exclusively assigned, complicating negotiations with both master and publishing rights holders. Although covers might appear cheaper to license, the reality is that both sides of the coin need to be negotiated, often resulting in higher publishing fees compared to master fees.
Cover songs are also utilized in other contexts, such as on-camera performances, as seen in the recent Nigerian Netflix series “Blood Sisters,” highlighting their versatility and enduring appeal despite the complexities of the clearance process.
The appeal of music covers lies in their ability to offer a fresh experience while evoking memories of the original tracks. In music licensing, this connection with the audience is crucial. Bridgerton’s classical covers, devoid of lyrics, allow viewers to reinterpret the songs’ meanings in relation to the scenes. This approach can evoke similar emotions to those experienced with the original versions. For example, a cover of Nirvana’s “Stay Away” perfectly aligns with the high-energy scenes involving the main character’s quest for a wife.
- Balancing Different Eras and Settings:
The time period location of a story is capable of impacting the style of music desired for a scene. The Bridgerton series is set in the early 1800s with a certain music style and heritage prevalent in that era, hence the deployment of Classical Chamber Music covers to reinforce the setting of the film. In music licensing, clearing older catalogs can be extremely uneasy to clear particularly when it involves legacy artistes and estates. It may involve a clearance specialist/music supervisor tracking obituaries to find the heirs of the estate, estate approval, deep conviction to the administrators on the significance of the music to the film and other issues that may arise.
An interesting trend deployed by the Music team is the use of covers to retain the music style of the setting of the story but also introduce modern pop songs to fit in the audience watching the series. Hence the license of covers of songs like Rihanna “Diamonds”, Taylor Swift “Wildest Dreams,”Ariana Grade “thank u next”, Billie Eilish “bad guy” etc
3. Another Spike in Streaming Numbers:
The TV series has inspired a lot from people searching the internet for Fashion items peculiar to the time period of the TV series to increase in streams of classical cover versions of contemporary top songs. Covers used in the show were not created for the show as they have always existed but we can see the show being instrumental to the discovery and spike to the streaming numbers of the covers as well as streaming to the original song as well.
Vitamin String Quartet, who has helped establish classical crossover as a force in contemporary music have had a significant increase in the number of people streaming their work since the first season of bridgerton was released. After the first season the group had a 350% increase in streams across streaming music services as well as a 50% increase of monthly listeners on spotify and Amazon music as reported on Variety. Also noteworthy is the six-song soundtrack EP released which is still on iTunes Top 100 Soundtracks after being on the top for a while.
This article won’t be complete without emphasis laid on the challenges of clearing covers. As mentioned earlier clearing older catalogs can be extremely uneasy to clear particularly when it involves legacy artistes and estates and it’s worse where there are no paper works to track ownership and right holders. For new catalogs, clearing may also be difficult in a situation where the distribution right has been assigned exclusively and the mechanical rights as well is exclusive to the label and master owner.
On the face of it, Covers should be cheaper to License but this is impossible as clearance has to be both ways, Master and Publishing, It may not be exciting to pay a little fee for the masters and high fee for the publishing so both sides of the coin are usually “not” negotiated on an MFN basis hence, the publishing fee can be times two of the quote for the masters.
Well, despite the challenges, covers are also exploited in other forms like On-Camera music performances and this was used in the party scene of the Nigerian Netflix series released this month titled “Blood Sisters”.