Not again…music controversy

[moonvine]

I thought they had to get permission before the Olympics?

Winter Olympics 2026: Figure skating's first controversy arises from … music copyright law

Licensing issues in figure skating are a relatively new phenomenon, and now before the Olympics have even begun they have claimed their first victim.

sports.yahoo.com

 

[yuumagical]

You'll be happy to know that all of Tomás' Minions music has been cleared recently and he will be ready to compete with it.

 

[moonvine]

You'll be happy to know that all of Tomas' Minions music has been cleared recently and he will be ready to compete with it.

Yes I was happy to hear that. Love my Tomas.
This is too weird though. I swear I read that someone had been contacted by an artist after the Team Event and told them they didn’t have permission to use the music. I must be losing it.

 

[DemTuppesSeine]

The guy who composed the music for Amber's free is on a rant on X about how they didn't even ask for his permission to use the music. And that he has to check with his label.

 

[figureskatingandrainbows]

...we have another artist to add to the Figure Skating Angry Music Artist Hall of Fame. In a world of Heavy Young Heathens, be a Christopher Tin, Sarah Brightman, or Elton John and celebrate the skaters who use your music. These skaters are not financially benefiting from using your music, they are giving you free publicity on an international stage and are doing their best to get licensing clearances for the music to avoid these very issues. Plus, Amber has been using this music for TWO seasons so why is it now a problem?

edit: people are saying he's now backed down a little bit and is following Amber on Instagram, I wonder if he checked with his record label and saw that he did get some sort of compensation either via Click & Clear or USFS or Amber herself a while ago because she has been using this piece for two seasons now

 

[4everchan]

...we have another artist to add to the Figure Skating Angry Music Artist Hall of Fame. In a world of Heavy Young Heathens, be a Christopher Tin, Sarah Brightman, or Elton John and celebrate the skaters who use your music. These skaters are not financially benefiting from using your music, they are giving you free publicity on an international stage and are doing their best to get licensing clearances for the music to avoid these very issues. Plus, Amber has been using this music for TWO seasons so why is it now a problem?

edit: people are saying he's now backed down a little bit and is following Amber on Instagram, I wonder if he checked with his record label and saw that he did get some sort of compensation either via Click & Clear or USFS or Amber herself a while ago because she has been using this piece for two seasons now

two things :
free publicity doesn't pay the bills. You have no idea how little money artists make out of licensing. I think the anger seen is just the tip of the iceberg on how hard it is to make a living out of music. Composers/song writers and performers, not unlike figure skaters, pay of their own pocket often to fund their career. Some stars are super rich but most are very poor, just living from month to month.

If he's backing down it's a good sign. I won't speculate but indeed, it's likely they realized afterwards that their music is licensed and that Amber ticked all the boxes there. Let me remind people : Blanket licensing can be tricky to navigate through, both for the skaters and the artists. Not all artists agree to these blanket licenses. In that case, skaters will indeed need to ask permission and pay rights. So, there can be confusion from both sides.

In any case, I think things will settle down, not just for this case but in general.

Let's also be fair to the artists concerned. A skater may have had their music used without their knowledge (happened to me more than once) for two years by a figure skater.... but it's only on the biggest world stage, the Olympics, that they will find out. So of course, then they would react.

Finally, a figure skater can make money with a successful program. There are some pieces of music that are iconically linked to some skaters and they end up touring with these programs. So yeah, that's why licensing is important. There could even be arguments about prize money won by any skater at worlds or grand prix. etc. So the venue, the occasion, can mean different things financially.

 

[Mathman]

This problem has an easy solution. Stop skating to music by living artists and go back to the great classics that have stood the test of time.

 

[yuumagical]

This problem has an easy solution. Stop skating to music by living artists and go back to the great classics that have stood the test of time.

And I just noticed this story about the Armenian pairs' music-- not even classical music is safe from disputes (though this is a geopolitical dispute, not an artist compensation dispute).

 

[noskates]

I am of the opinion that to NOT check out the whys and wherefores BEFORE the season starts is just incomprehensible. But at the same time, a living artist who hears their music being played at the Olympics has to understand that the exposure just might prompt someone to pursue additional music of theirs. It's free publicity. And it's positive publicity instead of the petty stuff that's going on now. Amber and others have been skating to their music for how many months now and how many times have their programs been televised? They're just finding now for their outrage? Wow.

 

[4everchan]

I am of the opinion that to NOT check out the whys and wherefores BEFORE the season starts is just incomprehensible. But at the same time, a living artist who hears their music being played at the Olympics has to understand that the exposure just might prompt someone to pursue additional music of theirs. It's free publicity. And it's positive publicity instead of the petty stuff that's going on now. Amber and others have been skating to their music for how many months now and how many times have their programs been televised? They're just finding now for their outrage? Wow.

Post in thread 'Not again…music controversy' https://www.goldenskate.com/forum/threads/not-again…music-controversy.102913/post-3547766

 

[noskates]

Not sure why my post required an angry face from you! What about it isn't true or real? Why would an artist wait until the skater was in the Olympics to put up a fuss about that skater using their music? It doesn't make sense to me.

 

[4everchan]

Not sure why my post required an angry face from you! What about it isn't true or real? Why would an artist wait until the skater was in the Olympics to put up a fuss about that skater using their music? It doesn't make sense to me.

It did because it gets frustrating to read the non-sense about "musicians should be happy, it gets them publicity"

It's been explained time after time that publicity doesn't pay the bills in a very difficult world to just get by.

And to answer your question : do you think musicians are always aware that their music has been used for a challenger or a Series B ? Some react only when it comes to the Olympics because they find out about it then... and yes, it's infuriating if their music has been used for a couple years without proper rights acquisition. It's not like they are waiting to pounce on the athletes for the big games.. it's because there is no way they can know about it unless they come to this forum and scrutinized the programs/skaters thread.

I am all for making it easier for skaters to get access to the music they want but the reality is that it's not their intellectual property and they need to check the boxes required to abide by the copyright laws.

You have seen enough of my posts to know that I am a musician and I can tell you two things

Even with proper copyrights, musicians make about 3 dollars a month on licensing "royalties"

Publicity doesn't translate in paying rent/groceries.

It angers me to see how very little understanding and empathy there is, as if it were the fault of musicians if skaters do not get organized in time and properly to secure access to their music. At this point in time, it's an old topic and skaters and coaches and federations are well aware of what they need to do.

The discussion should no longer center around musicians being so evil but skaters and their teams lacking responsibility.

Some humour :

Looking for solo musicians to play in our restaurant (Vancouver) We are a small & casual restaurant in downtown Vancouver and we are looking for solo musicians to play in our restaurant to promote their work and sell their CD. This is not a daily job, but only for special events which will eventually turn into a nightly event if we get positive response. More Jazz, Rock, & smooth type music, around the world and mixed cultural music. Are you interested to
promote your work? Please reply back ASAP.
Reply: Happy new year! I am a musician with a big house looking for a restauranteur to promote their restaurant and come to my house to make dinner for my friends and I. This is not a daily job, but only for special events which will eventually turn into a nightly event if we get positive response. More fine dining & exotic meals and mixed Ethnic Fusion cuisine. Are you interested to promote your
restaurant? Please reply back ASAP

 

[noskates]

I did not know or paid attention to the fact that you are a musician, which accounts for your sensitivity to this issue. I doubt very much that Amber or anyone else skating to XYZ's music in a skating competition is going to have that much of an affect on a musician's bottom line! I believe it's the skater's fault for not clearing the music but still find it a little hard to believe that a musician doesn't know his or her music is being used 8-9 months after a program has been choreographed. And these skaters aren't challenger series or B skaters - most of them are internationally known. It isn't a lack of empathy or understanding as much as a "what the heck" moment. I would also imagine - underline imagine because I don't know but I'm sure you'll enlighten me - that for a choreographer or skater to hear a piece of music that it's been recorded and distributed and even possibly used in a concert. So "royalties" aren't their only source of income! And I want to enjoy the Olys so will stop posting in this thread.

 

[reneerose]

The guy who composed the music for Amber's free is on a rant on X about how they didn't even ask for his permission to use the music. And that he has to check with his label.

I read some of his later tweets and I think he just isn't educated on the different rights and licensing that don't necessarily require HIS personal permission to have his music used. There's so many different contracts and rights, lots of the lower tiered artists really don't get how it all works which I think is the case with him.

 

[gkelly]

Why would an artist wait until the skater was in the Olympics to put up a fuss about that skater using their music?

Because they don't follow figure skating and don't know that a skater is using their music until it is broadcast in a context that the musicians themselves or people they know are paying their once-every-four-years attention to the sport.

 

[DizzyFrenchie]

two things :
free publicity doesn't pay the bills. You have no idea how little money artists make out of licensing. I think the anger seen is just the tip of the iceberg on how hard it is to make a living out of music. Composers/song writers and performers, not unlike figure skaters, pay of their own pocket often to fund their career. Some stars are super rich but most are very poor, just living from month to month.

If he's backing down it's a good sign. I won't speculate but indeed, it's likely they realized afterwards that their music is licensed and that Amber ticked all the boxes there. Let me remind people : Blanket licensing can be tricky to navigate through, both for the skaters and the artists. Not all artists agree to these blanket licenses. In that case, skaters will indeed need to ask permission and pay rights. So, there can be confusion from both sides.

In any case, I think things will settle down, not just for this case but in general.

Let's also be fair to the artists concerned. A skater may have had their music used without their knowledge (happened to me more than once) for two years by a figure skater.... but it's only on the biggest world stage, the Olympics, that they will find out. So of course, then they would react.

Finally, a figure skater can make money with a successful program. There are some pieces of music that are iconically linked to some skaters and they end up touring with these programs. So yeah, that's why licensing is important. There could even be arguments about prize money won by any skater at worlds or grand prix. etc. So the venue, the occasion, can mean different things financially.

I don't know how it works in your country, or in Italy, or for international TV rights. I just can tell you how it works in France.
We have the SACEM, the Société des Auteurs et Compositeurs de Musique, in charge of collecting music copyrights, which they do very efficiently to the lowest levels of diffusion, and of distributing the collected amounts to the authors, composers, interprets, producers... which they hardly ever do. There's a huge discrepancy between the collected amounts and the distributed amounts, and when relatively successful independent copyright holders take the pain of checking where and when they hear their music and take note of it, and to check their periodic receipts, there's very little for their wallet. Here's an article, sorry it's in French but as the problem is, as we say, franco-français...

La SACEM : redistribution difficile ou vol organisé?

La SACEM plus prompte à récolter l'argent qu'à le rendre aux ayants droits. A l'heure de l'informatique comment justifier les sommes astronomiques non distribuées, les erreurs de bénéficiaires, et u…

blogs.mediapart.fr

 

[4everchan]

I did not know or paid attention to the fact that you are a musician, which accounts for your sensitivity to this issue. I doubt very much that Amber or anyone else skating to XYZ's music in a skating competition is going to have that much of an affect on a musician's bottom line!

so then, we shouldn't care ? It adds up you know. It's not for Amber or fans to decide for any musician if it's going to have an impact or not on their bottom line.

I believe it's the skater's fault for not clearing the music but still find it a little hard to believe that a musician doesn't know his or her music is being used 8-9 months after a program has been choreographed.

trust me. many musicians do not know their music has been used. that's the whole point of licensing.. Musicians sign up for these because it's the only way they get some minor retribution. If the skater has checked the boxes here, the musicians is getting their dues and that's it. They still may never find out about a figure skating program When they find out, they can check if rights were properly obtained. If they haven't then, yes, it's very frustrating. I have heard my music on national radio and I wasn't even aware of it. There were no issues here in this case other than the surprise of listening to a show and hearing my music played. I had no idea And that my field. I am pretty sure 90% of musicians couldn't care less about figure skating and have absolutely NO CLUE their music is used... unless someone points it out to them, because they heard it at the Olympics.

And these skaters aren't challenger series or B skaters - most of them are internationally known.

that's not the point I was making. Musicians cannot be held responsible to police the use of their music. There are licenses for that. They are responsible to sign up on these... and if they don't well, that's because they do not allow their music to be used without permission. My point was that musicians will NOT go check every dentist office, every skating event, every podcast to find out if their music was used or not... BUT, when it comes to the Olympics, they may notice....

It isn't a lack of empathy or understanding as much as a "what the heck" moment. I would also imagine - underline imagine because I don't know but I'm sure you'll enlighten me - that for a choreographer or skater to hear a piece of music that it's been recorded and distributed and even possibly used in a concert. So "royalties" aren't their only source of income! And I want to enjoy the Olys so will stop posting in this thread.

The person who bought the recording can use it for personal use.... not for making figure skating programs... some of which may end up on Stars on Ice or whatever shows. So no, they haven't been paid.

 

[4everchan]

I don't know how it works in your country, or in Italy, or for international TV rights. I just can tell you how it works in France.
We have the SACEM, the Société des Auteurs et Compositeurs de Musique, in charge of collecting music copyrights, which they do very efficiently to the lowest levels of diffusion, and of distributing the collected amounts to the authors, composers, interprets, producers... which they hardly ever do. There's a huge discrepancy between the collected amounts and the distributed amounts, and when relatively successful independent copyright holders take the pain of checking where and when they hear their music and take note of it, and to check their periodic receipts, there's very little for their wallet. Here's an article, sorry it's in French but as the problem is, as we say, franco-français...

La SACEM : redistribution difficile ou vol organisé?

La SACEM plus prompte à récolter l'argent qu'à le rendre aux ayants droits. A l'heure de l'informatique comment justifier les sommes astronomiques non distribuées, les erreurs de bénéficiaires, et u…

blogs.mediapart.fr

Canada has their own licensing, so do most countries. And yes, the amounts received are already extremely low.

 

[DizzyFrenchie]

Canada has their own licensing, so do most countries. And yes, the amounts received are already extremely low.

If in Canada the amounts paid are that extremely low, with reasonable costs taken by the organisation, it's OK, I mean it's a political choice somehow.
In France it seems that the rights paid by users are high (and recovered) but artists and technicians receive next to nothing...

 

[gkelly]

In France it seems that the rights paid by users are high (and recovered) but artists and technicians receive next to nothing...

In that case, the corporations win and both the musicians and users who have to pay high fees bit don't make a profit off their use (i.e., most skaters) lose out.