News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:Disney backs down from 'Steamboat Willie' YouTube copyrig... by GuB-42 on Sunday January 07, 2024 @07:43PM (#38906854)
I know someone who did a translation for a game, a "doujin" Japanese visual novel. He got in touch with the author in order to license the game, and that went well. He then considered doing another game by the same author.

Problem for the next game was the music. The original author commissioned about a dozen of artists, problem is, he didn't own the rights, only a licence for having the music in the original game. So the translator had to find a way to get in touch with all of the rights-holders and negotiate a license for the translation with each one. Because he is just one man, it was simply too much work and he abandoned the project.

It is actually a rather common situation. It may result in cancelled projects, changing the music with a varying level of success or just removing it altogether.

Re:Disney backs down from 'Steamboat Willie' YouTube copyrig... by johnnyo on Sunday January 07, 2024 @09:10PM (#38907477)
My understanding is this is why some old TV shows aren’t streaming despite interest.

“WKRP in Cincinnati” has so much music in the episodes that the licensing costs to stream it today would be prohibitive.

Re:Disney backs down from 'Steamboat Willie' YouTube copyrig... by fbdab103 on Sunday January 07, 2024 @09:18PM (#38907536)
Some shows have aired with the music replaced. I recently re-watched Neon Genesis Evangelion, and the iconic closing music (Fly Me to the Moon) was replaced with something else entirely.

We have entered 1984 where history is mutable.

Re:Disney backs down from 'Steamboat Willie' YouTube copyrig... by brokenmachine on Monday January 08, 2024 @12:41AM (#38908701)
Dawson's Creek is the canonical example for me.

The music was such a part of the show. Now it seems impossible to get the original series as it aired at the time.

Even the pirates have failed me in this instance.

>We have entered 1984 where history is mutable.

It's terrible. I worry about the same thing for children playing online games nowadays as well.

Once the servers inevitably go offline, they will never be able to replay their childhood games.

This is our cultural heritage, our shared memory. Gone.

Re:Disney backs down from 'Steamboat Willie' YouTube copyrig... by przemub on Sunday January 07, 2024 @09:37PM (#38907632)
May you dm me the novel? I'm curious if I've had a chance to read it!
Re:Disney backs down from 'Steamboat Willie' YouTube copyrig... by GuB-42 on Sunday January 07, 2024 @10:06PM (#38907783)
It was a french translation of the visual novel "Higurashi no Naku Koro ni" by 07th Expansion. The other one that didn't complete was "Umineko no Naku Koro ni".

That's the one: https://www.senscritique.com/contact/Saffran_Prod/507351

Note that an English translation of both games exist under the name "When they Cry", available on Steam, among others. It is actually a reedition of the game and not translated by the same person.