Jazzy 'Charlie Brown Christmas' swings on after 57 years

[oldbrownhat]

Story here.

The Mendelson family would love to find the envelope where their father, Lee, scribbled some lyrics to jazz musician Vince Guaraldi's composition "Christmas Time is Here" for an animated TV special featuring the "Peanuts" gang in 1965.

The producer always said it had taken less than half an hour to write, and he likely tossed the scrap of paper away. He was in a rush. Everything was rushed. No one even knew, once the special aired, whether it would ever be seen again...

... "A Charlie Brown Christmas" has aired every year since 1965, although that tradition is about to change.

The special's run on broadcast television ended last year. Apple TV+ bought the rights, and streams it exclusively starting this year. While a recognition of television's new direction, will that reduce the chances of new generations of children happening upon the story and music?...

...The St. Paul's Church Choir from San Rafael, California, was hired to sing "Christmas Time is Here" and "Hark, the Herald Angels Sing." Producers infuriated the choir director by choosing a slightly out-of-tune version of the carol; they thought it captured an innocence they were seeking, said Bang, who wrote liner notes for the box set....

"I just remember, back in the days of three channels and scheduled programming, that was one of those things we were excited about because we knew it was coming on and we were familiar with it," said Harry Connick Jr., who covered "Christmas Time is Here" for his own holiday disc just out...
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"Apple TV+ bought the rights, and streams it exclusively starting this year." That's just not right!

 

[NFrameFred]

Just another sad "sign of the times". The 'entertainment industry' unapologetically steals or co-opts the work of writers, musicians and composers and laughs all the way to the bank with the help and blessings of the gooberment.

Streaming content is only one of the newer vehicles for the legalized theft of intellectual property. Especially music. And with their successes at that, the "industry" has branched out to include things such as this.

The current generations have come to believe music should be free and the governments have tacitly signed off on the concept by allowing ridiculously minuscule rates of compensation for writers and copyright holders.
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[from HEADPHONESTY.COM]
Apple Music is the second most popular music streaming platform in the U.S., with over 72 million active users in 2020, just behind Spotify. The company has publicly stated that its average payout per stream is $0.01.

While one-tenth of a cent doesn’t seem much, Apple actually has one of the biggest per-stream pay compared to other platforms. (SPOTIFY's per-stream rate is $0.0033 - yeah, that's just over three thousandths of ONE CENT)
​

But that portion of one cent doesn’t immediately go to the artists’ pockets. Like other major streaming platforms, Apple Music runs a pro-rated model that distributes 52% of the platform’s ad revenue to music labels indiscriminately.

___________________________________________________

(Which means if you are an independent you are paying for that and getting NOTHING)

Small time independent songwriters and composers that do not have the luxury of an agent/organization to diligently continually go after what they are owed are literally shut out, and what paltry royalties they are rightfully owed are NEVER paid, and platforms like SPOTIFY get obscenely rich stealing their music.BMI, ASCAP and other organizations are supposed to hold the thieves feet to the fire to collect these royalties, but in reality, they tacitly collude with the industry so that only the artists that have big money behind them are regularly compensated.

If you're Taylor Swift and have a mega-million organization of lawyers, producers, record companies, etc., etc., etc. . . . . you will get paid. Independent Joe Blow whose music is stolen by the streamers and racks up thousands and tens of thousands of streams gets NOTHING.

Now they've figured a way to steal something that the masses did receive for free for decades (through network advertising revenues) by paying relatively small sums to Charles Schultz's estate to have exclusive rights to control who sees it.

By "legally" compensating creators of intellectual property such as music with such infinitesimal amounts, they guarantee they can steal the fruits of their labor and get away with it because the vast majority of us do not have the resources to go after them and hold them accountable, and I'm quite sure they line enough pockets in congress to keep it that way.

As Charlie Brown would dejectedly say, "Good grief !"

 

[oldbrownhat]

Just another sad "sign of the times"...

Spot on. You could say "the apple has fallen far from the tree."

Fortunately there may be enough "copies" of this classic in peoples homes that they can show it to friends and family.

As Charlie Brown would dejectedly say, "Good grief !"

Thanks for pointing out my obvious omission:

 

[Rudi]

It could never be improved upon. Perfection.

 

[Rustyt1953]

I have it on DVD.

By 1966 I had figured out how to play the left hand piano part on bass. Every bass player in the country had as well. It is still used as a test demo when trying out basses in music shops today. Like this:

[ame]https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dFKUHWURrnM[/ame]

It is a memory jogger and instant ear worm.

A fun song.

[ame]https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pMiDBWklv1Q[/ame]

 

[NFrameFred]

Post apocalyptic Charles Brown - survivor