Licenses For DDR

[MystifiedBulb]

Quick question that I have been very curious about
How on Earth do Konami choose the songs they wish to license, I mean, looking at the rubbish selection that X has to offer, why aren't they actually giving the public what they want by licensing songs that we have actually heard of...
Do you find it strange too? This is the one kind of strange I don't like...

[ranatalus]

From DDR Extreme and back, Konami had an agreement with Toshiba-EMI. Konami could use any of the songs it wanted to from its "DANCEMANIA" series in DDR exchange for Toshiba-EMI getting free advertisement.

From there, it seems the songs have been picked with a little different mindset. This might have to do with the focus of the games shifting from japanese audiences to american.

Out of curiousity, what are some songs you think should be in DDR/what are some of the songs you think DDR could've done without?

[Pie-kun]

^ Read above.

Since then they've been kind of sliding from place to place. SuperNOVA used almost exclusively Dancemania tracks, with a few covers and 'mainstream' licenses thrown in. SuperNOVA2's licenses are mostly Konami covers, with a few actual licenses thrown in, even a couple from Dancemania.

X used a lot of things from a lot of places. A sizable portion came from the "A Different Drum" label, a label used liberally within the Xbox series of DDR games. There were some J-Pop licenses, 'revival' licenses, a few mainstream American licenses, and a couple of covers as well.

Furu Furu Party and IIDX Empress may show a budding relationship with Konami music games and Avex's "House Nation" series of CDs.

[Morning Blue]

IIDX has almost always used Avex for their licenses for the most part, dating back to the Dance Express Hi-Speed songs from 3rd. There's no "relationship" at all.

[Pie-kun]

I didn't say relationship with Avex, I said relationship with Avex's "House Nation" albums.

[Silph Co.]

if supernova still had dancemania tracks, then how come all the old licenses were removed?

[Only One Jops]

licensing issues I guess...

The 2008 X-Edit versions of the old DDR classics were licensed under a different label.

Correct me if I'm wrong.

[Pie-kun]

Originally Posted by Silph Co.

if supernova still had dancemania tracks, then how come all the old licenses were removed?

Simple. Konami and Toshiba no longer had their Dancemania deal. Konami would have to pay to license those old songs. So, rather than doing that, they decided they would just license some new Dancemania tracks.

[ctc43f]

Originally Posted by piepiepie75

Simple. Konami and Toshiba no longer had their Dancemania deal. Konami would have to pay to license those old songs. So, rather than doing that, they decided they would just license some new Dancemania tracks.

Which is unfortunate. For me, it was the licensed tracks of second and third mixes that got me into the game, and, up until Extreme, they almost always made solid choices. The main and speed series were great sources of fun songs and the charts they came up with for them were generally fun.

Supernova2's choices were mediocre at best (the charts didn't help things) and X brought back some fan favorites but they feel dated and should have been complements to a new set of licenses instead of replacing other licensed content.

[MystifiedBulb]

Originally Posted by ctc43f

Supernova2's choices were mediocre at best (the charts didn't help things) and X brought back some fan favorites but they feel dated and should have been complements to a new set of licenses instead of replacing other licensed content.

I know how you feel about SuperNova2 but I do like Ozomatli's "Here We Go" for X. Unfortunately, apart from the X edits, the rest are a bit meh...I think they should pay attention to what songs would actually be good rather than choosing from a limited source.

[Silph Co.]

Originally Posted by piepiepie75

Simple. Konami and Toshiba no longer had their Dancemania deal. Konami would have to pay to license those old songs. So, rather than doing that, they decided they would just license some new Dancemania tracks.

wasnt there a deal or something though where they could use them if they advertised dancemania? and also, how come theres no ads on newer games? is that why there are so much less dancemania tracks?

[Pie-kun]

Originally Posted by Silph Co.

wasnt there a deal or something though where they could use them if they advertised dancemania? and also, how come theres no ads on newer games? is that why there are so much less dancemania tracks?

The last Dancemania advertisements I remember seeing on a DDR game was DDR STR!KE. My guess is that the deal just got dissolved (Probably by Toshiba, but who knows) and Konami was just licensing the Dancemania songs directly.

[ctc43f]

Originally Posted by Silph Co.

wasnt there a deal or something though where they could use them if they advertised dancemania? and also, how come theres no ads on newer games? is that why there are so much less dancemania tracks?

As far as I know, they aren't releasing new Dancemania albums any longer. The last one was EX10 Treasure, which wasn't stellar. There was plenty of unused content on existing Dancemania, but my guess is they think the songs are too old to get people's attention. I think Konami should set up deals with the Dancemania lables, like Saifam and Almighty, and start using some of their tracks. I think dance tracks fit better in DDR than some of what showed up in X.

[John Jorell]

I agree in that. However, licensing issue and limits has blocked Konami actually to get the most well-known licensed musics. Just all of the licensed musics that we hear do have those damn copyrights but we can't do anything about it.

[Wan]

To put it simply:

The deal between Konami and Toshiba-Emi ended, so now if Konami wants to use Dancemania tracks in the game, they have to license them individually.
That's why now there isn't the amount of Dancemania songs in DDR as it was in Extreme and earlier.