Lalo Schifrin/News Series 2000 Question

[Oliverolang 41]

The Cool Hand Luke theme was used by stations, mainly the ABC O&O's for nearly 30 years. Then Lalo Schifrin decides to raise the royalties on the package, and soon none of the stations use the theme. Why did Schifrin do this? Did he get greedy all of a sudden? Did he know that the package would fade out in the U.S. because of this decision? What gave Lalo?

[lazynetjunkie 34]

The Cool Hand Luke theme was used by stations, mainly the ABC O&O's for nearly 30 years. Then Lalo Schifrin decides to raise the royalties on the package, and soon none of the stations use the theme. Why did Schifrin do this? Did he get greedy all of a sudden? Did he know that the package would fade out in the U.S. because of this decision? What gave Lalo?

 

 

Yes, he became greedy all of a sudden.. Especially when more and more stations started using his music. ALOT of musicians, artists, authors, etc. are like that. I've seen it happen so many times. They are happy and content much of their lives and then all of a sudden they become greedy/money hungry for no reason as they get older. Why? I don't know why. It usually turns around and stabs the artists in the back because people aren't going to pay more than the music is worth.

[JimmySand9 0]

Yes, he became greedy all of a sudden.. Especially when more and more stations started using his music. ALOT of musicians, artists, authors, etc. are like that. I've seen it happen so many times. They are happy and content much of their lives and then all of a sudden they become greedy/money hungry for no reason as they get older. Why? I don't know why. It usually turns around and stabs the artists in the back because people aren't going to pay more than the music is worth.

Here's another, non-news music example, Burt Sugarman, owns the rights to Celebrity Sweepstakes and Whew!, two underrated game shows ripe for a comeback. Neither has been remade though mostly because of the exorbitant cost Sugarman expects from would-be packagers. But unlike Sugarman, Schifrin does probably still get royalties from Australia's Nine Network for the theme. That is, unless he only gets royalties from U.S. users, in that case, epic fail. Play him off, keyboard cat.

[lazynetjunkie 34]

It must have been a really sudden thing for Schifrin to demand much higher royalties because Gari made an update to the News Series 2000 package in 1990 and then all of a sudden created the NS2000+ package in 1991 using almost all the exact same cuts from the 1990 update only slightly reworking the tune. I doubt Gari would have wasted his time with that 1990 update if he would have known that Schifrin was going to become more demanding. But then when I look at the NMSA, I see alot of stations did use NS2000 all the way until the mid to late '90s..

 

This now makes me wonder how the royalties worked when his music was being used in the US.. Did he get it off only specific cuts of the package or the whole package itself?

 

I wonder because WLS in Chicago used the same morning theme cuts from the original News Series 2000 package (it's NS2000, audio sample #4 in the NMSA) all the way up until 2001 when they changed to that First News/NS2000+ combination update.. At the time, I was told the reason for an update to a new morning theme was the original music was in tape quality (because the cuts came from the original tape reels) and with TV sound quality improving greatly around that time, all the tape imperfections really became noticeable, which was really true. But was WLS still paying Schifrin royalties all the way up until 2001?

 

 

This all reminds me that the whole tape thing is also the reason why WLS more recently stopped using the NS2000+ daytime bumper they've been using for so many years on the 4PM and 5PM newscasts. Eventhough Gari originally sent WLS the NS2000+ package in CD format back in '91, WLS's daytime bumper was a custom cut done in-house at the station by mending together 2 different cuts and some looping of it. However, when they made their custom cut, they originally recorded it onto tape but never burned it onto CD. When WLS got new audio equipment not too long ago, they somehow lost/deleted that cut from the old system. They tried loading it in to the new machine from their original tape again but it just sounded so bad being that the tape is old. Someone told me it was actually a cassette tape, not reel to reel. They loaded that cut anyways and use it on the 11AM news because the evening bumper just doesn't fit the 11AM at all so I can see them just getting away with a bad sound quality bumper on just one newscast each day.. I don't see why they just don't re-edit those cuts together to recreate their bump cut in a digital format but I guess they're either too lazy to or not skilled enough to. I'm sure Gari doesn't want to touch those old cuts anymore either..

[Jess 1110]

This now makes me wonder how the royalties worked when his music was being used in the US.. Did he get it off only specific cuts of the package or the whole package itself?

I believe it was off of only specific cuts. Not all of NS2000 was based off of the Schifrin theme - it was a mix between those melodies and an original Gari melody in the same style. You can see that in the main cut that's on NMSA - Schifrin at the beginning and end, Gari in the middle.

 

Many of the NS2000 cuts are based on just that Gari part, like that morning melody. The 11pm close that WABC used around 1984/85 was one of them (I need to find it on YouTube or capture it myself) is one of them. That morning cut is another. So I'd guess that anything that just had the Gari melody was still okay to air...

[Ntropolis 593]

I believe it was off of only specific cuts. Not all of NS2000 was based off of the Schifrin theme - it was a mix between those melodies and an original Gari melody in the same style. You can see that in the main cut that's on NMSA - Schifrin at the beginning and end, Gari in the middle.

 

Many of the NS2000 cuts are based on just that Gari part, like that morning melody. The 11pm close that WABC used around 1984/85 was one of them (I need to find it on YouTube or capture it myself) is one of them. That morning cut is another. So I'd guess that anything that just had the Gari melody was still okay to air...

 

There are some NS2000 cuts that are just plain weird... like the KRDO sample on the NMSA. That's a much different sound than the traditional NS2000 theme.

[lazynetjunkie 34]

There are some NS2000 cuts that are just plain weird... like the KRDO sample on the NMSA. That's a much different sound than the traditional NS2000 theme.

 

 

That came from one of Gari's last updates of the original package.. Those cuts weren't meant to be used as the main newscast theme. That's actually just a promo theme. There are some much creepier sounding cuts in the package too..