kansas666 wrote:Ash wrote:Nothing to do with any settlement. It has to do with copyright law. Under copyright law you need contractual agreement of the creator of a work to make changes and re-release it.
Oh let's have some fun with this. It could indeed have something to do with the settlement. We don't know what they agreed upon. Perhaps Denny signed away the rights to his songs.

For that matter, does Denny even own the rights to his songs? Wooden Nickel wouldn't let them use Lady in the Greatest Hits compilation so they re-recorded it. A&M wouldn't let them use Roboto in the VW commercial so they re-recorded it.
Why do you think STYX recorded Regenerations?

Wrong.
What Wooden Nickle (RCA) wouldn't allow them to use is the master recording. That means they couldn't use that version of the song they originally recorded back in 1975 or whenever it was. They could re-record the song and make any arrangement changes they wanted because DDY was the one doing it, but what Wooden Nickle refused to let them use was the original master recording of the original song. RCA owns that and they can allow/deny access to it because they own it.
By the same token, Volkswagen likely paid DDY and JY to re-record it because it was *cheaper* than licensing the original song from A&M. That's why you see so many re-recorded versions of pop songs in tv commercials. It's cheaper to pay some cover band to play the song and pay the royalty on it than it is to license the mechanical royalty on the original recording.
it's all about the money and the business. don't be fooled into thinking otherwise.
I've seen where artists make a change to a line or two, rename the song and re-release it on their own label to get around publishing deals and what not. It's kinda shady, but the whole music business tends to be. Imagine if they had renamed "Lady" to "Love Shines" or some other part of the song. Then it would be considered a whole new song with a new copyright. Shady but I've seen it done.