Ozone Entertainment RBN Releases

[Tom Imp]

Ozone - any chance of Robert Tepper ("No Easy Way Out"), John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band ("Hearts On Fire", "On The Dark Side", "Tender Years"), or Vince DiCola (some stuff from "Rocky IV" and "Transformers: The Movie")? Or are they completely off-limits?

Since we're on a movie soundtrack kick here, I'd like to add a request as well.

How about Joe Esposito's "You're the Best" from The Karate Kid?

[TheOzone]

All I will say is I've already been looking into everything mentioned here, and 1) finding the right people to talk to is hard, and 2) music licensing is even harder. But never say never.

Ozone Fact: When my licensing partner mentioned attempting 80's music, the first thing I said to him was Rock IV.

[samjjones]

All I will say is I've already been looking into everything mentioned here, and 1) finding the right people to talk to is hard, and 2) music licensing is even harder. But never say never.

Ozone Fact: When my licensing partner mentioned attempting 80's music, the first thing I said to him was Rocky IV.

Perfect. Good luck.

[leslienielsenvoice] We're all counting on you. [/leslienielsenvoice]

[Afrobean]

I was watching a video the other day. A video where a certain person named Linkara reviews comic books on That Guy With The Glasses. In the middle of the video was an advertisement for a new album.

By Ron Wasserman. Called Power Rangers Redux.

The album contains 11 songs originally from Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers, including the very popular opening theme. Each song is amazing, though, and they're all new mixes.

I understand Ron Wasserman has worked with this group before for the songs he has available in RBN at present and I also understand that despite considerable demand, there were problems keeping the Power Rangers theme from getting released in RBN. If I recall correctly, Wasserman and Saban were both on board, but I think I heard it had something about Warner Music Group or something. I believe I also read that there were technical limitations because master tracks weren't available. Well, I think these new versions of the tracks may well answer both of those problems, and I just wanted to be sure that Ron Wasserman was still being worked with where possible.

[LuigiHann]

I was watching a video the other day. A video where a certain person named Linkara reviews comic books on That Guy With The Glasses. In the middle of the video was an advertisement for a new album.

By Ron Wasserman. Called Power Rangers Redux.

The album contains 11 songs originally from Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers, including the very popular opening theme. Each song is amazing, though, and they're all new mixes.

I understand Ron Wasserman has worked with this group before for the songs he has available in RBN at present and I also understand that despite considerable demand, there were problems keeping the Power Rangers theme from getting released in RBN. If I recall correctly, Wasserman and Saban were both on board, but I think I heard it had something about Warner Music Group or something. I believe I also read that there were technical limitations because master tracks weren't available. Well, I think these new versions of the tracks may well answer both of those problems, and I just wanted to be sure that Ron Wasserman was still being worked with where possible.

I've gotta assume that Ozone is all over this behind the scenes, whether it'll work out or not, but I do agree that it's a very good sign that the album is released under Rawfish Records, Wasserman's own private label, and not anybody else

I would bet though that the re-record here is likely to be the very same re-record that Ozone oversaw when the master tapes weren't available, though it's possible that he re-re-recorded it for this

[TheOzone]

Unlike some of the larger authoring groups, I work very closely with most of my artists. That's why Ozone isn't cranking out 1000 songs, beside the fact that I'm the only one working in the RBN department of the company.

I've been aware of the Power Rangers Redux since Ron first conceived the idea a long time ago. And we've discussed the possibility of an RBN release, and it's just not possible. The process to even be able to do these songs and release them on digital music stores was a nightmare with tons of restrictions, but he wanted to do it for the fans. The composition rights are still held by the labels/publishers, and they're not fans of the RBN or licensing these songs, especially re-records.

So, what I'm saying is it's not happening. Am I still trying to find a way? Of course, I never quit when trying to deliver the best music for you all in the RBN. But it is slim-to-none as it stands.

Does this mean no more songs from Ron? The community constantly asking for the Power Rangers stuff has made him think that people only want his Power Rangers stuff and don't care about new original songs, so it's making things really difficult. But maybe I can convince him to go back into the studio one day...

[DragoonXD]

Does this mean no more songs from Ron? The community constantly asking for the Power Rangers stuff has made him think that people only want his Power Rangers stuff and don't care about new original songs, so it's making things really difficult. But maybe I can convince him to go back into the studio one day...

I'd just like to say I'm not in the group that only wants Power Rangers. I like the Power Rangers stuff and all, but I really enjoy the two songs he has on RBN already and would love more, no matter what it is.

[Afrobean]

Yeah, I'd buy anything from him as long as it has "that sound" that he's known for. I just know that tons of people want the opening theme and I know that I personally would love the other tracks used through Season 2 of MMPR. But that's not all I'd want. I even bought that mash-up that was released just because "American Hero" was part of it... even though I already had "American Hero" on its own.

I'm not sure I understand why the rights would still be an issue though. New recordings would fall under different copyrights. I would think that Saban/Wasserman would hold the rights to the songs themselves even if they sold off the distribution rights to the previous recordings. Sort of like how some other bands have released new recordings of past hits on RBN because the original recordings were copyrighted to an old label while the new recordings belonged to a new label. Also, my understanding is that for a while, they couldn't get the early Saban Power Rangers music out AT ALL. I remember back during the Disney years, they released a CD but couldn't even use Wasserman's original recording and instead used a terrible cover that sounded nothing like the original. But Ron has this independently released, which suggests that HE has the distribution rights on these instances of the songs. Or did he talk some nebulous other copyright owner into letting him distribute these independently on the Internet? I just don't see how he'd be legally able to distribute the Redux album online when the songs couldn't be released at all before, and then still not be able to sign off on distributing it in another medium because of being stopped. If another company owned distribution rights of the music in the past and that stopped it from happening in the past, how could the same company be blocking the distribution when they're not blocking the release of this album? The only thing I can imagine is that he did it without permission just so the fans could have it, since the original CD featuring the songs has been out of print for years and the original distributor isn't doing anything with it. But that can't be right.

But yeah, I'd definitely be interested in anything from Wasserman. Anything. Except "Hot in Cleveland".

[TheOzone]

Let me make it more clear: When Ron did the songs, Saban did not put him on the credits for the compositions. Ron doesn't own the compositions, the label controls it. So what you're saying about him being able to release them on RBN because he owns these recordings is like saying he should be able to release Beatles songs because he recorded his own version of them. You still need to license the composition, and the label is refusing to.

[samjjones]

Just wanted Ozone to know that I've played "St. Elmo's Fire" about a dozen times in Blitz the past week, and I'm still kinda amazed that it came through RBN.

Keep up the great work (and the 80's hits!)