At least they didn't use "Biker Like An Icon."

A BBC chap once mentioned to me there was some problem with using Beatles music on TV. I'm not sure of the details though.

Aye, that occured to me about three seconds after I posted it.

>some problem

That'd be tight wallets, then. Considering Beatles songs have been used in everything from shoe commercials to hospital dramas to Saturday morning cartoons the problem is likely to be cost rather than content.

Well it'll be less of a problem now that SONY will own most of the catalogue. Prior to this the Beatles have always been really strict about letting their songs go onto adverts and things (they were really annoyed that Michael Jackson allowed the song "Revolution" to be used in a Nike advert). Many documentaries about the Beatles use remakes of their more generic songs, rather than the actual songs themselves.

Nestle to buy up McCartney frozen foods:
http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/food_and_drink/news/article358202.ece

>(they were really annoyed that Michael Jackson allowed the song "Revolution" to be used in a Nike advert)

Yeah, I remember that. There was also a parody of that commercial on Saturday Night Live soon afterward that used the Beatles version of "Revolution." I wonder if that upset them less, seeing that it was poking fun at the absurdity of it, or more, because it drew attention to the advert in the first place.

Considering Beatles songs have been used in everything from shoe commercials to hospital dramas to Saturday morning cartoons the problem is likely to be cost rather than content.

I was referring to the UK where, despite the blanket PRS agreement, the Beatles apparently have greater control over the use of their material. I'll try and find out the details of this.

I understand Beatles material is also unclearable for commercial release, so maybe there's also a general hands-off approach to using their stuff.

Hmm, I see the HTML tags aren't working. The first bit of my message above was originally in italics, as a sort of clever quoting device.

Hmm, tags should be working...

Odd, it seems 'i' doesn;t work. In future try 'em'. Like this.

> A BBC chap once mentioned to me there was some problem with using Beatles music on TV. I'm not sure of the details though.

On an episode of Charlie Brooker's Screen Wipe, he did a short bit about how much it costs to produce a TV programme. If I remember correctly (and I might not), he mentioned that the BBC can use any music in TV programmes, thanks to their TV broadcasts being covered by the same licencing that applies to their radio stations, but if they wanted to *show* the album cover of Sgt. Pepper, that's what they'd have to pay for.

Yes, I saw that and was surprised to hear them playing a bit of Sgt. Pepper. Brooker explained about how the BBC's blanket PRS agreement means "there's a lot of tunes that don't cost us anything", but I thought the Beatles were one of a few exceptions to this. Maybe not, then. I'll report back if I find out anything more.

Other than this, I can't think of any instances of Beatles material being used on UK TV, apart from in shows about the Beatles.

"I can't think of any instances of Beatles material being used on UK TV, apart from in shows about the Beatles."

But like I say, you'd be surprised how many shows about the Beatles don't use the real songs. I was watching something on BBC4 I think about their Hamburg days, and all the songs were some horrible jangly guitar group doing early Beatles tunes (or perhaps it was just rock and roll songs the Beatles covered) with the lead vocalist doing a *nasty* exaggeration of Lennon, even when Paul sang the lead (not that most people can tell the difference, admittedly). It was really grating and made the programme unwatchable actually. It wasn't a unique case, either. So there have to be clearance issues of a type. Take the example of the DVD of A Hard Day's Night having shitty audio (muddy tracks turned echoey and horrible with fake stereo/surround effect) for the songs, as well, because EMI/Apple wouldn't let United Artists (or whoever owns the film now) have access to the original audio masters, neither the mono or stereo versions.

"he mentioned that the BBC can use any music in TV programmes, thanks to their TV broadcasts being covered by the same licencing that applies to their radio stations, but if they wanted to *show* the album cover of Sgt. Pepper, that's what they'd have to pay for."

This is interesting and reminds me that a lot of programmes have to have their soundtracks revisited when it comes to the DVD release. Maybe the BBC have clearance to use a particular song or music from a particular album a certain number of times only, and according to the type of programme. There must be limitations, like the control Terry Nation's estate have over the daleks. They stopped the BBC using daleks in general because so many programmes were undermining their potential horror value with things like "ex-sperm-inate". They can now only use them for certain things.

And I'm *sure* adverts are another matter entirely.