So I’m waiting to actually buy spn until the series is over so I can get the entire box set. But I’ve recently become aware that the season 1 music on Netflix is not the original music. If I wait to buy the box set, will the music on the DVDs be the original? Or do I have to find a S1 from before the music licensing expired? I’m really disappointed I’ve never experienced the season how it was actually meant to be. Sorry if you’re not the person to ask this – do you know someone who would know?
You know, it’s weird because it USED to be the right music because I KNOW when I first watched “Salvation” on Netflix it had the right music, as did a lot of the season 1 stuff so I’m guessing the licences were ten years?
I THINK they play the right music on the reruns on TNT and I think the agreement for DVDs is different too so those have the right music?
The physical copies have the original music. From what I’ve been able to tell, ALL digital versions do not have the original music, including all streaming services and versions that you pay for on iTunes, Amazon, GooglePlay, etc.
Only the 1st season has this issue.
It’s definitely something screwy with the licensing, but I don’t think it’s an expiration. (I work in an industry adjacent to music licensing, so I’m not just pulling stuff out of my butt here.) Two possibilities that I’ve theorized:
1. Season 1 was filmed at a time when streaming was not really a thing yet, and licensing music for streaming is actually a separate part of a licensing agreement.
2. It was between the 1st and 2nd seasons that they made the switch from the WB to the CW. Agreements could have been made with the WB but not the CW. Since they’re technically different companies, there would be separate contracts.
Whatever the reason is, it’s a problem that affects more than just S1 of SPN; I’ve heard that all of the music for Charmed is cheap stock music. (And @justanotheridijiton just informed me Daria has the same issue and now I’m really sad. Clarification: the Daria DVDs do not have the original music, which also makes since cuz that show is so old.)
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