Legality of Song Usages?

Cantus Rock

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I was thinking today; being that the vast majority of the songs sung on the Muppet Show were other people's music, did JHC have to license the rights to use the songs? Like all the Beatles songs used, etc.., what was the arrangement made for those songs and their usage on the show?

And, carrying over into today, what legal issues do these songs pose for the release to DVD? Does Disney have to shell out some cash in royalties, or what?

Just curious...legality and usage rights have been a constant staple of gripe in the MST3K community, and is the main reason why more episodes of that show are limited to tape trades rather than on DVD. So, I was just wondering if some one in the know could tell me what's what.
 

Whatever

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I don't really know the answer, but there were issues with song royalties for Mupppet Family Xmas.
 

Vic Romano

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I know that at a concert, you can perform any song you want as long as it's not being recorded for sale purposes. The JHC would have to at the very least fill out some sort of paperwork, unless the laws have changed since then, or maybe because it wasn't filmed in the US, the law worked differently and the network had to cover all the legal issues... I guess I don't know :confused:
 
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