Plenty of budding composers have answered CBC's call to compose the new theme for Hockey Night in Canada. The contest will help CBC replace the legendary anthem lost to CTV in a flurry of recent licensing problems.
The winner will get "bragging rights" for the broadcast, which will be used for the 2008-09 hockey season and "potentially beyond." They'll also get a nice $100,000, and half of the royalties for the song's public performance (the other half will be donated to minor league hockey).
Currently, Manitobans have submitted 166 entries to the contest. If my calculator is correct, that's out if a nationwide 5782. Click here to peruse the Manitoba entries. A cursory glance at the submitters shows some familiar names including some of Manitoba top artists. Site visitors can comment on and rate the submissions, which the panel of judges will take into consideration when making its decision.
And if you're thinking of submitting, you have until August 31.
A high profile music licensing deal has captured Canadians' attention in the past several days. The story weaves together Canada's national broadcaster, Canada's "national game," and a ubiquitous melodic cultural artifact, and in an era of free music and rampant digital reproduction, has put the business of song licensing on the national stage... or ice.
I'm sure you've heard the gist of this story, but just in case. The writer of the Hockey Night in Canada theme song, Dolores Claman, a Canadian jingle writer who now lives in London, England, retained the ownership and copyright of the song and has licensed it the CBC since 1968. Her and the song's publisher, Copyright Music & Visuals, have been upset with the CBC recently for their alleged use of the song in ways that went beyond the license agreement, and there is an unsettled court battle over this. It seems that when the license came up for renewal this year, the bad blood over the lawsuit hampered negotiations. CBC wanted to get more use from the song, but didn't want to pay the cost of an outright 'all uses in perpetuity' deal.
This is where it gets really interesting. Last Friday, after the CBC announced the that...