I realized something was up after a few hours. I have heard songs from Justus but not sure I have even heard a song from the first 8 LP's. I heard Ticket as well , I think yesterday. It has been good if you like covers and their solo efforts as several of us do but they need to mix in the original recordings from their most popular LP's and singles or there will only be the few that post here that would listen regularly or perhaps at all.
I feel like Rhino is cutting their nose to spite their face so to speak when it comes to licensing. They can’t come up with a reasonable deal to allow streaming the show and with their songs. That’s only going to hurt them and the Monkees in the long run instead of gaining a whole new audience.
I would like a better understanding of all this if someone has it. The Monkees songs have been played on the radio airwaves for 55 years. Today beside AM and FM radio which I believe still play Monkees songs if that is the format; Sirius 60's plays the Monkees hits and Underground Garage regularly plays cuts like You and I and other non-single tracks from the original releases. Why or how can they play these tracks when someone else, such as this MonkeeMania venture can not or will not?
This explanation was given by Alan Williams on Facebook: "As the owner of MMR, to formally answer Chris’s question…thanks to a burgeoning new Payola scandal in the late 90’s, along with Napster and Limewire, the Congress of the W. Bush administration passed the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. One of the statues in that law prohibits ALL radio stations from playing more than 4 songs by any group or artist in a 3 hour time span. However, there is a provision that allows us the bypass that if we obtain broadcast rights waivers from the rights holders. So far, we have obtained these waivers from Davy’s estate, from Micky directly for four albums he owns, from 7a Records for all their solo Monkee projects, and from James Lee Stanley, for the Two Man Band stuff and one Shoe Suede Blues albums. And for the Here No Evil 1992 tribute album. We are waiting to hear back from Peter’s widow on the other three SSB albums, and I’m confident they will come on board. With regards to the group songs, Rhino turned us down flat, not once, but twice! Simply because we are one single station, and not Sirius/XM. Nez’s camp (read into that whatever you want to) also turned us down for a waiver on the PAC Arts catalog. I will not approach Sony about the Nez RCA stuff, because they would want lump sum money. So…legally we can only play group songs once an hour. Also, I am doing my best to limit the “connected” songs to 4 songs per hour. Im sorry if that doesn’t suit your needs Chris, or anyone else. You are hearing stuff no other radio station has or will ever play. It’s always your choice to listen or not. Hope this helps."
Regarding Monkee Mania Radio, the Monkees hits are getting airplay, just different versions of them either, live solo performances, redone tracks, or covers by other artists. Eventually when the licensing issues are ironed out with Rhino, the familiar Monkees hits, album tracks and deep cuts will be given proper airtime.
Record Store Day Strikes Again – Another Link in the Collector’s Chain – The Monkees “Missing Links” Volume 2 and 3
The real shame with this MMR station is that none of the rights issues were announced prior to the station going on the air. Now, if anyone expresses any negative comment in the Zilch Facebook page, they get the comment removed and possibly banned. I personally do not have an iron in the fire, as I wasn't really planning on listening anyway, but this station really is not what was originally advertised. If I was one of the people who donated to getting the station on air, I would feel a bit cheated. Just my unbiased opinion FWIW.
To be fair, I don't think those working on the station had anticipated the licensing issues that came up. The station was originally going to begin in March on Micky's birthday and they got delayed by almost a month before they did the first preview. I'm hoping that the licensing issues with all parties will be resolved by the time Monkee Mania Radio officially launches on September 12th, the 55th anniversary of The Monkees TV show debut.
Thanks for the information, it helps explain some things. I still am enjoying the station but waiting for the time when all music can be played similar to the Beatles Channel on Sirius. Even so, if you can play 4 songs without additional licensing, I would be sure to put 4 original Monkees tunes in every 3 hour block, that is of course, if I am understanding the law correctly. They may be doing that but I have had it up on my computer whenever I am around and still have not heard an original from the 66-67 era. One other question, since the knowledge base out there is vast: What is Stan Freberg's connection to the Monkees that we would be regaled with long skits from him? A comedic precursor to the Monkees is the only thing I can come up with.
Thanks, they play the machine and Peter part a lot, which is appropriate and funny but most of the stuff I have heard from Stan F is just random. So random stuff from Julie Newmar, Vic Tayback and the Penguin is in the offing?
Again, just my opinion... If I was setting up this project, I would have done some basic research on Internet stations. I have seen other Monkees stations come and go over the years for the same reason. I sure hope it works out,but I suspect that without a lot more funds, the original premise will not come to fruition, and the station will just end up like the others. The only difference is this one was hyped up a lot, and quite a lot of people put funds into it. More people will gripe and complain. The people that set this up might just not do any more Monkees stuff, and that would be the greatest shame...
Don't get me wrong, I am already a fan of the station. We have reviewed all the Monkees and solo work on the related thread and there was some really bad music. This station so far that I have heard, has played the best of solo Davy and the best of Peter's different incarnations. Micky and Mike's stuff is so good to me that I don't think they can go wrong. But just because Stan Freberg was in a show and released records, does not mean it is the correct choice for this station. The last bit of his lasted nearly 10 minutes and there seems to be a lot of this in the regular rotation. It would make more sense to put Micky's views on Spock, not remembering the 60's and his other standards, at least they are from a Monkee.
About 1:24:28 into that interview, Andrew makes an interesting comment regarding some things that he's discovered in the last few weeks.....
Wow, what it that bad? I had them on the 30 day Facebook snooze because I was sick of most of the posts.. but then I missed out on all this!
