Such a NERD!

Hi, guys! Wassup!

So, seminggu sudah hidup gw diacak-acak Stranger Things. Thank you, Netflix. Lo bikin gw menghilang dari peradaban. Literally ngomongin ST melulu baik di kehidupan nyata maupun di internet. Setiap malem binge-watching diulang2. Mulai dari Joyce-Will focus, Mike-Eleven focus, Hopper focus, Demodogs-Mind Flayer Focus, Dustin-Steve focus, Hawkins Lab focus, etc.. Diulang2 terus sampai gw bener2 dapet konteksnya sehingga bisa memahami jalur cerita dengan baik dan benar.

Sekarang sudah mencapai level menuju bosan, tapi insya auloh khatam luar dalam dari segi cerita, dan siap di-argue dari segala angle. So, shoot! :D

Anyway, yang mau gw omongin sekarang bukan itu. Postingan ini juga bukan untuk review Stranger Things 2, karena kalo udah masuk review gw bisa nulis essay panjang lebar that nobody will read, so I keep it simple, mau ambil satu angle aja.

So, gw baru selesai semester 3 alias semester terakhir gw di dunia perkuliahan yang fana ini. Yes, I did it, guys! But no need to congratulate me coz it wasn’t anything special. Just prepare yourself to see me next month. We gon have fun!

Anywaaay~~ 

So yeah I just finished semester 3 and all the assignments, meaning otak gw sekarang lagi fresh2-nya mengingat dan mengerti semua materi kuliah Semester 3. Stranger Things 2 dirilis pas banget barengan sama berakhirnya Semester 3 itu, meaning ketika gw nonton, otak gw lagi dalam posisi super nerd, so I can’t help but connecting some of the show materials to what I have learned during Semester 3.

So I studied this subject called Managing Creative Content that is basically the continuation of Arts Law which I studied in Semester 2 (wrote about it here). Deskripsi resmi matakuliah itu sebagai berikut:

This subject examines the practical legal aspects of the management of intellectual property in the area of creative production. The focus is on contracts and copyright in a range of specific arts and cultural contexts. These include film and multimedia production and distribution, fashion and design, the commissioning and production of public art, the creation and presentation of performing arts; the management of museum and gallery collections and the administration of artistic and literary estates. (Unimelb Handbook, 2017)

Kata kuncinya:

-       Legal

-       Intellectual Property

-       Contracts

-       Copyrights

Assignment untuk matakuliah ini adalah 5000-words case study essay, dimana kita diminta untuk memilih salah satu bentuk creative practice dan menganalisis peran intellectual property di dalamnya:

Drawing on the readings and additional research, analyse the role that intellectual property rights play in one or more areas of creative practice referred to in the course.

For that assignment, or for my every case study assignment to be exact, I always use my favorite things approach to do it. Meaning gw akan memilih hal-hal yang gw suka untuk gw analisis. Kenapa? 1) Supaya proses mengerjakannya lebih menyenangkan, 2) Supaya along the way gw bisa discover awesome things yang bisa jadi bekal pengetahuan kalo gw berkarier di dunia yang berhubungan dengan my favorite things someday (amien~~), 3) Supaya gw ngerjainnya ga cuma pake otak, tapi juga pake hati.

Doing things that you love simply gives you no pressure, only motivation. #SeetaTheWise

So what’s my favorite things? That’s easy, it’s music and movie. So for that assignment, I decided to include both of them and named my essay:

Intellectual Property Rights for Music and

How They Help Musicians Explore Their Works Commercially in Films

I basically talk about any kinds of music exploitation (it’s good term in law by the way) in a movie, for example as a soundtrack, scoring, adaptation (cover song), and how the musicians got paid for those, and how if they decide to make an album off, how’s the royalties, how’s the license, what rights each party has, such as what rights the musicians have, what rights the record labels have, how copyrights works, which area copyrights don’t protect, etc…

Sounds epic, right? Well, it’s epic for me and my lecturer at least, coz I got a freaking 90 from that! H FUCKING 1, BABY!!!! So I don’t care if you think my essay sounds lame~ I was certified H1 from Australian #1 University, your opinion doesn’t deserve me giving fucks~ LOLOLOLOL~~

So, what does it have anything to do with Stranger Things?

Here’s the thing, I am referring to this one particular scene.

The Snowball.

Let’s just not focus on the kids or the ball. I know they were cute as hell. But instead, let’s pay attention to the underlying music that accompanied the scene a.k.a the song.

If you recognize the song as The Police’s Every Breath You Take, congratulation! You can conquer two generations within two decades! :D

I don’t mean you’re old, but more like your knowledge is so extensive that you can recognize the original version of the song!

I mean, me, myself was failing so hard in this department. When I first heard the song on the show, I recognized the tune and I was like… “Whoa, wait, what is Puff Daddy’s I’ll Be Missing You doing over here?”

LOL~ I know~ So embarrassing, right? I don’t even know that song was The Police’s at the first place~ I was like, this can’t be happening, they seriously can’t make this huge mistake~ I mean, how come they didn’t know I’ll Be Missing You was released in 1997, while the event in Stranger Things took place in 1984???

But don’t worry, instead of quickly roasting and calling out The Duffer Brothers or Shawn Levy on social media, I decided to do the right thing. I jumped on the curiosity voyage (GOD WHAT A BEAUTIFUL TERM I LOVE YOU DUFFER BROTHERS!) and googled it up.

There I had it. Finally. The truth revealed.

I’m just gonna go fuck myself now.

LOL~

Anyway, just a bit about the song, Every Breath You Take by The Police. It was released in 1983, so it was contextual, very relevant, and perfect for the 1984 snowball scene. It was written by Sting and it is about him cheating on his wife with her best friend who lived next door to them~ What the fuck? LOL~

So now that I know the provenance of the song, my nerdy post-assignment self kicks in. I am curious about what’s gonna happen to Sting after the song being played in Stranger Things 2. Moreover, Wikipedia says Sting owns the publishing royalties, which means 100% royalty-nya adalah milik dia, ga dibagi ke performing rights organization yang biasa berfungsi untuk ngumpulin royalty, seperti ASCAP (The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers) atau BMI (Broadcast Music, Inc), and… (kalau dugaan gw benar) ga dibagi ke record label-nya juga.

Start to feel your head spinnin? Well if you’re not into music and movie, don’t continue reading coz I’m gonna spin you even faster!

Technically, kalo sebuah lagu dijadikan soundtrack film atau TV show, produser harus punya master use license atau master license lagu tersebut. Master license memberikan produser hak untuk menggunakan versi original sound recording lagu itu (versi rekaman asli yang biasa ada di CD atau iTunes).

Untuk mendapatkan license ini, ada license fee yang harus dibayar. On top of that ada juga royalty yang harus dibayar sesuai dengan berapa kali lagu itu disiarkan. Well, ga cuma itu sih, royalty juga ditentukan oleh beberapa faktor lain, seperti:

1) The length of the song that is being aired

2) Whether it is vocal or instrument or vocal+instrument (harganya lain)

3) When the TV show airs (what day, prime time or not)

4) Which TV station airs the TV show (bigger station higher royalty payment)

Just FYI, those points only apply if the production airs on TV or is shown in movie theatres OUTSIDE THE U.S. For example, My Heart Will Go On-nya Celine Dion, kalau filmnya ditayangin di TV Amrik, TV Amrik ga usah bayar royalty. Tapi kalau Titanic ditayangin di RCTI, maka RCTI harus bayar royalty.

Balik lagi ke Stranger Things. If Stranger Things is aired on TV, it is easy to determine how much the royalty will cost if we refer to those points. The thing is Stranger Things is aired on Netflix, yang adalah global streaming service. Bisa ditonton berkali-kali di belahan dunia manapun.

So how much will Sting earn from licensing his song to a Netflix show?

Mungkin beliau ga dapet royalty dari orang2 yang binge-watch Stranger Things di US, but how about worldwide? Gimana perhitungannya?

There’s no air-time limitation. There’s no prime time. There’s no advertisement.

So how do they decide on the royalty cost?

And I heard that they made a soundtrack album off the show as well, which mean labelnya Sting, atau maybe Sting sendiri harus mengeluarkan mechanical license. But if that’s the case, how about the album that is being streamed on Spotify? I know Spotify has created Stranger Things gimmick for people who stream Stranger Things OST. How is the scheme giving back royalties to Sting?

Interesting, isn’t it?

This is hella interesting for me~ I wish I could just fly to the UK and ask Sting personally~ But I can’t~

But I already jumped on the curiosity voyage, there’s no turning back, this thirst for knowledge needs to be satisfied~ I NEED MY GODDAMN PADDLE~ LOL~

So, bertanyalah gw ke teman2 sejurusan di Whatsapp Chat. Kira-kira percakapannya begini:

Gw: Guys, udah pada nonton Stranger Things 2 belum?

Friend 1 (F1): Belum.

Friend 2 (F2): Belum.

Friend 3 (F3): Udah, kenape?

*japri F3*

Gw: Have you finished all the episodes?

F3: Yeah~

Gw: Did you catch The Police’s song in the last episode?

F3: Err.. Yeah I think so~

Gw: Do you think Sting gets royalties off that?

F3: Huh?

Gw: I mean he owns the whole publishing rights and he licensed his song.

F3: Oh yeah.. then.. maybe~

Gw: How much do you think he gets?

F3: Err.. Millions of dollar..

Gw: But this isn’t a television, it’s a streaming service~ There’s no air-time limitation. There’s no prime time. There’s no advertisement. How do they decide on the number?

F3: I have no idea, man~ Honestly, I won’t bother to think about that shit~

Gw: But you really do think he will get royalties?

F3: Yeah that’s what I said~

Gw: Like every single time the show being streamed he will get royalties?

F3: Yeah..

Gw: Including rerun? Like if I watch the show again..

F3: Yeah.. maybe~

Gw: So if I watch the show three times, technically I give him the royalty three times as well?

F3: Maybe, dude~ I don’t know~

Gw: But how do they count on that royalty? I only pay $10 per month~

F3: I don’t know, man~ I don’t work for Netflix~ Gosh~

Gw: Do you think within my $10, there is 0,0000000000001% Sting’s royalty?

F3: I DON’T KNOW, MAN~ OH MY GOD~ YOU ARE SUCH A NERD~

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HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA OKAY~

~THE END~