WDW park music not original scores?

[jmani56]

I've been hearing the Soarin' queue loop music on tv commercials, movie credits, etc. I thought that this was an original score that Disney created for the attraction, but it doesn't look that way.

I have also heard the music for Illuminations at the Hard Rock Casino when I was down in Ft. Lauderdale, it was played during their water/fountain show. Are these not Disney created music tracks owned by Disney? Does anybody know what the deal is?

 

[unkadug]

Music is owned by the composer/arranger/publisher. Royalties are paid to the composer by the end user through their paying of ASCAP/BMI rights.

So basically, anyone is free to use music as long as your rights are paid up.

 

[jmani56]

So Disney doesn't own the music played in their parks? That doesn't seem like the smartest move, especially for tracks like Illuminations. Did Disney commission these scores to be composed, or were they previously created and they just paid to use them?

 

[tnemgif]

I'm fairly certain that both the music for Illuminations and the music for Soarin' was composed exclusively for Disney. I am not too sure as to whether Disney has exclusive rights to the compositions, but, as music licenses normally go, I assume Disney does.

 

[unkadug]

So Disney doesn't own the music played in their parks? That doesn't seem like the smartest move, especially for tracks like Illuminations. Did Disney commission these scores to be composed, or were they previously created and they just paid to use them?

Disney owns their arrangement of the music, but not the music itself.

Does that make sense?

Music rights are a tricky business.

 

[Horizonstta]

Illuminations and the attraction score to Soarin were composed for Disney. However, the music heard in the queue to Soarin, as well as the preshow music for Illuminations, are comprised of commercially available tunes. In fact, Disney uses a lot of commercially available music (know as "needle drop" tracks) throughout the WDW resort. For example, a vast majority of the area loops at the Animal Kingdom and DHS are all needle drop tracks, as is most, if not all, of the music at the various resorts. All of the parks, at one time or another, have used needle drop loops.

The difficult thing, for those that like to reconstruct the loops, is identifying the track and artist information.

 

[EPCOT Explorer]

So the Hard Rock does IllumiNations?I live about 30 mins away...I'll have to check that out.

 

[dragongirl]

The music I heard played over and over in Soarin's queue (maybe it changes after awhile or day to day?) was from The Rescuers Down Under during the eagle flying scenes. Despite standing there for some time, it never changed to something else, so I thought that the whole loop was comprised of The Rescuers Down Under score.

I think, like other movie scores, that this is one of those pieces that are used for trailers and commercials often. Like the Legends of the Fall score and Requiem for a Dream score.

But at least this time it is Disney music, just not original new music. Specifically the part from this scene was prominent:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=lItsFbelsDU

 

[Captain Hank]

Here's a list of the Soarin' queue music at Epcot: http://disneymusicloops.com/wdw/wdwepcot-fw-soarin.html

It, along with most of the ambient "BGM" music, is not actually owned by Disney, but is used via an agreement with ACAP and BMI. However, the actual attraction soundtracks (anything that is played inside an attraction or synchronized to animation, singing or dancing) are owned by Disney or in the case of third-party music, are used via special permission/payment of royalties (Block Party Bash).

Also, Disney will allow others to play their music, as long as the appropriate royalties are paid.