Copyright of the Gods: The Music Licensing Saga

or ... The Birth of the Bigger Than Jesus House Band

The decision to use a live band in the film was not made lightly. It was the conclusion drawn after nearly a year of deliberation.

See, we'd made the mistake of filming the Clinton Street performance ... and THEN talking to our lawyer. Between fits of choking laughter, he informed us that there was no way on God's green Earth we could sell or distribute in any way a film containing other people's songs. Not unless we wanted Lars Ulrich or Courtney Love to sue our pants off (rule of thumb -- never violate the copyrights of the greedy and the desperate).

"Are you sure?" we asked. "Can't we sell, like, a totebag or something, and call the DVD a 'free bonus gift with purchase'?"

"No," he said. "You can't even GIVE it away."

So we were screwed.

Music licensing is a deeply complex matter that, quite frankly, makes my head hurt. All I know is that -- to use a recorded version of, for example, Led Zeppelin's "Black Dog" -- we'd need their permission and approval, and would have to pay whatever insane fee they felt like charging. But we're not Cameron Crowe (or Cadillac), so it seemed unlikely that they'd ever even agree, let alone charge a reasonable rate. And what of Metallica? Musicians consider the context in which a song is used in a film before deciding whether or not they'll license it to the filmmaker, and there was no way Metallica would ever approve.

So, a few months ago, when we decided to (finally) shoot the Bigger Than Jesus movie, the question once again arose of how to handle the music. I called my lawyer for advice, and he said, "Why not use cover bands? Then you won't need permission and could just pay the flat statutory mechanical royalty rate."

As Courtney Taylor once said ... hot diggety dog!

And so the decision to use cover bands was made.

Then Rick had a vision -- what if we used a live house band during the taping?

"NO!" I said. "No, no, no, fuck you, no. Live band = audio nightmare = heaps more gear = more people = more shit that can go wrong = more drama = more stress for Joni. NO!"

But Rick was so in love with his vision and wanted it so badly, and he got all hyper and excited and shiny-eyed in that way that I just can't say no to.

So I embraced the idea of a live band, which grew into the idea of trolling the listening audience for vocal talent, which grew into the idea of auditioning them on the air, which turned out to be wildly entertaining for all concerned.

After hearing some of the talent out there ... and after metal geek Christopher Morris came on board as Musical Director ... I started thinking that the Bigger Than Jesus house band was maybe ... just maybe ... crazy enough to work.


Then Aaron the Geek came up with the house band's name but I'm not sure if I'm allowed to say what it is yet ...