Some information concerning this loop (taken from MagicMusic.net):
Re:Tomorrowland Area Music (old)
´ Reply #4 on: August 4, 2004, 07:22:14 AM ª
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Ciar_j:
The "New Age" version of the Tomorrowland BGM was one of the last loops assembled by the late great Jack Wagner and was probably introduced no later than 1990 and no earlier than late 1989. It was temporarily replaced for the 1994 rehab by a pair of new loops -- first, a set of 1940s-era recordings by the Raymond Scott Quintette and then a newly-recorded Scott soundalike before reverting to the "New Age" loop (roughly 1996 - 2003). The original poster does ask a very good question: namely, what the Tomorrowland BGM was during the 1970s and 1980s... anyone?
Steve
General Disney Music Discussion / General Discussion / Re:Tomorrowland BGM ala Raymond Scott? on: March 22, 2003, 11:49:49 AM
Started by dtats, Post by sds910
Mike:
Some months back, the music you describe was posted to one of the Usenet newsgroups. Unfortunately, I've lost the name of the individual who posted, but I did retain his text file along with the music.
Here's the text file -- which sounds to my ears as if it's been written by Jim Hill -- and this should NOT be construed as an argument that *he* posted the music to Usenet:
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About the music...
As you wander through "new" Tomorrowland, does it strike you odd that the soundtrack to the boiler-plate and rivited "Future That Never Was" is the same sleepy New Age music that park has been playing since the 1980s?
It wasn't always this way.
When the rehabed Tomorrowland first opened, it moved to the quirky beat of original Raymond Scott recordings. Scott was the prolific composer of jazz music that would later be remembered by most as being the underscore of several Warner Brothers cartoons. The "B" section of his masterpiece "Powerhouse" usually accompanied cartoon visuals of any assembly-line process or factory.
After a number of months, the scratchy original recordings of Scott's work gave way to newly recorded music which sounded exactly like Raymond Scott songs but were in fact close approximations of the tunes, changed enough it would seem to avoid having to pay royalties. This music cheerily played for several months more, until it too suddenly disappeared, only to be replaced once again by the New Age loop which was played in the "old" Tomorrowland.
I was baffled, as Scott's tunes were the perfect aural counterpart to Tomorrowland's new look. And Esquivel's take on "Harlem Nocturne" was still blaring away in Space Mountain's exit tunnel.
Several years later I discovered the raymond scott website (raymondscott.com) and on a page detailing public performances of Scott's works, found this entry:
Tomorrowland - DisneyWorld[sic]: (Orlando, FL) six Scott Quintette compositions and recordings blatantly used as musical template for constantly-running soundtrack loop at renovated theme park attraction; infringement settled out of court (1995-96) So there it was -- Disney was too cheap to pay for Scott's songs and was busted for it.
And it turns out this wasn't the first time the Mouse had tried to rip off Raymond -- the score for "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids" also illegaly used elements of Scott's "Powerhouse," forcing a lawsuit and ultimately a settlement.
So here, presented for your enjoyment, is the mysterious, Raymond Scott-like second "New" Tomorrowland Area Loop.
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Having repeated all that, I can tell you the following:
1) The Scott soundalikes were composed by George Wilkins.
2) Disneyís use of raymond scottís original recordings was NOT illegal, as their agreement with ASCAP/BMI allows for unlimited use of 3rd-party music, provided that the music cannot be *synchronized* to anything, and used for background ambience only.
3) Having Wilkins write and record the soundalikes, however, may have treaded heavily into the immoral -- and *dangerously* into the realm of plagiarism. As the original writer above notes, Scott's widow *won* a lawsuit against the ripoff music used for "Honey I Shrunk The Kids".
4) The curious fact that you heard the Scott soundalikes as late as August 2001 suggests a temporary substitution was made for some reason by Media Design, as the New-Age loop is still in general use there.
Hope this helps,
Steve
