Pop Song Themes for Western cartoons . . . why not?

I can't believe no mentioned "Baby Blues" yet.

Could some explain to me how shows like Alvin and the Chipmunks, Daria, etc, use licensed songs , but when when it comes time for a DVD release, there's trouble. I have no idea how that works.
 
To avoid legal issues the songs should be made FOR the show. If they are from budding artists who want to use it as a springboard to gain a foothold in the industry I don't have any problem.

And as for anime songs that are not about the show...I always thought they picked song that, at least, had THEMATIC link to the show. Which I always found more interesting than looping the name of the show over and over again -.- that's what the frickin' title card is for dangit!
 
I believe because when the songs were licensed it covered all existing types of media. But that was before DVDs so they'd have to re-negotiate the songs in order to release them on DVD. Same reason Muppet Babies will never be released on DVD. They'd have to work a deal out to George Lucas for all that Star Wars and Indy footage. Not gonna happen.
 
There's plenty of theme songs that do more than just repeat the title over and over again, so I don't see how that's relevant. I find Metallica more interesting than the Spongebob theme song, but that doesn't mean they should just put "Enter Sandman" as Spongebob's theme song and call it a day. Linking a song to a show thematically is pretty easy, since you could stretch a song's meaning enough to make it fit any show, but that still doesn't make it about the show.
 
Pop Songs are one of my problems with anime. Sure, they are usually fun and catchy but they have little or nothing to do with the show. So there's really no point in having them as theme songs.

Western cartoons don't need them because of how little time they have on broadcast television (about 21 minutes) and because it's probably cheaper to just have their sound team put something together to give viewers a summary of the show's feel. Sometimes it's really awesome, like Batman:TAS which results in an OST release.
 
Finally! I had to wait a week just to reply to this thread. I've never experienced any forum like this before where the admin opens the registration for a limited time only when he's around. (Which is understandable to keep out those spammers, but still...)

Anyways, back to the topic at hand. It's true that some J-pop songs do not correlate with some of their shows but I think most of the songs actually do relate with the shows. The animators make the openings based on the songs.

Example: Black Cat's "Hana no Daia" (Diamond Flower)

The beginning, yes, it always takes place
under the ultramarine blue sky
Making a commitment,
now, I walk along

Yah, in the desert, alight in gold (the burning wind)
Searching for a diamond flower (I continue to wander)
Now, I'm living my life for someone,
for the first time

Explains the main character's change from being an assassin to being a Sweeper. Also, his relationship with the Sweeper who changed him in the first place.

In my opinion, I think having an actual song in the OP could work in English. If an artist wants to promote his/her work, why not? (bleh) 4Kids' OP for Yu-Gi-Oh 5D is having some people actually want a full song just from hearing it since it doesn't say "Yu-gi-oh" repeatedly in it. Of course, it's always been in Western handling of cartoons to have songs just be theme songs. But, why not take a risk one of these days? (Early 4kids Poke'mon days were also an exception where they did record full songs to their openings and are still memorable to some people.)

The Japanese cartoon, Hanada Shounen-shi actually used Backstreet Boys' "The One" in its opening. Those who watched the series said that the song actually related with the cartoon, even if it's in English. The live action Japanese version of Hana Kimi used Avril Lavigne's "Girlfriend".

I'm interested in seeing a 1:30 English made OP one day out of 3-4 min song... Huntik probably came close if it didn't repeat "Huntik" a lot, but the song itself isn't so bad either.
 
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