This is topic Why all the "Movietunes" hate?? in forum Film Handlers' Forum at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.


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Posted by Nathan Wade (Member # 1622) on 11-18-2004, 06:18 PM:
 
I've just recently went back to work at the theater for a couple of months (extra christmas money) and learned that they were playing Movietunes. I got ready to hear teen-pop . That's not what I heard. I heard The Greatful Dead's "A Touch Of Grey", two Mannhiem Steamroller christmas tracks, Circus De Sol, a track from Polar Express, Regis Filbern(sp) singing the standard "It Had To Be You" and others. I've found older shows and listened to them and heard two Seal tracks, Simply Red, Peter Paul & Mary, Wyonna Judd, The Eagles, Chicago, Gregory Jones, and other good tracks. Are ya'll getting different formats?
 

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Posted by James R. Hammonds, Jr (Member # 673) on 11-18-2004, 06:38 PM:
 
I've been out of the theatre business for only a little over a month now, but I can guarantee you that the current playlist is an exception rather than the rule.
The other tracks you listed may or may not have been on the same playlist either but whether they are good or not is subject to personal opinion.
I personally don't care for any of thm except the Simply Red song.

Most of the time it's total crap with maybe one or two decent songs thrown in at best.
 

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Posted by Mark J. Marshall (Member # 1409) on 11-18-2004, 09:18 PM:
 
Oh boy, this again. I could go on and on about this, as I'm sure everyone else can. But I'll keep it to one paragraph for now, and I reserve the right to revise and extend my remarks.

Well, for me it mainly has to do with the fact that the entire movie going experience is being over commercialized to the point that customers are being turned off by it all. People don't go to the movies to listen to the pre-show music, watch commercials, or listen to Geico ads. They come to the theater to watch a film. Period. And what the suits in this industry don't understand is that everything else in the theater should SUPPORT that experience. Movietunes distracts from it because the point of Movietunes is to promote music. "Why don't you run right out and buy all of his albums right after the movie? They're on sale everywhere." Distracting! I don't want to listen to Chris Eric Stevens talk... I want to listen to my date talk. She has a much nicer voice.
 

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Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 11-19-2004, 03:08 AM:
 
When we first started getting MovieTunes, the playlist was heavily skewed toward r&b-flavored pop -- basically, soul ballads, slow jam type of things. So they have improved the variety.

What sucks now is, the whole program is a series of train wrecks. Dissimilar musics crashing into one another, with bland Chris Stevens droning on between the songs. And occasionally they throw in a "medley" of songs, which is always horribly produced.

The whole idea of ASCAP and BMI requireing huge license fees for theatres, where the music really isn't a "performance" because the people aren't really "listening to" the music anyway, is stupid. If not for that crap, we wouldn't even have MovieTunes to kick around.
 

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Posted by Michael Rourke (Member # 1142) on 11-19-2004, 03:15 AM:
 
My theater chain ditched the MovieTunes . but then picked up the NCN preshow countdown rolling stock like there aren't enough trailers on the print already.
 

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Posted by Greg Davis (Member # 2687) on 11-19-2004, 03:29 AM:
 
things that movie tunes played that i hated

Tatu
Polyphonic spree (any of the 2)
madonna
(insert pop icon) new single and only one for their career
big n rich
ANY R&B because it sounds terrible when your waiting for a movie
there were like 3 in a row that had jay Z and that one high pitch guy

I liked eagles, i liked trapt. that was it
 

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Posted by Dustin Mitchell (Member # 372) on 11-19-2004, 04:01 AM:
 
Movietunes, I believe, is free to the theatres that play it. How do the people at Movietunes make their money then you might ask? Payola. Everything you hear on Movietunes is pay to play. Hence the lack of any coherent theme and also the abundance of crap (good songs get played enough that they don't need to use 'pay to play').
 

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Posted by Dave Macaulay (Member # 813) on 11-19-2004, 02:04 PM:
 
This sin't a forum for patron complaints. Screw what they think of movietunes, they'll rarely hear much of the whole program and hardly ever get repeats.
There are crappy pop songs that torture me. There are very few tunes I want to hear repeatedly. Movietunes almost always has at least one of the former, and I get to be subjected to it over and over and over...
At least with self-programmed music I can "accidentally" scratch out all the madonna discs so they won't be playing again.
 

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Posted by Chase Hanson (Member # 2779) on 11-19-2004, 02:47 PM:
 
We have Breaking Benjamin on our disc
 

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Posted by James R. Hammonds, Jr (Member # 673) on 11-19-2004, 05:59 PM:
 
"We have Breaking Benjamin on our disc"

WHY?
 

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Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 11-19-2004, 06:35 PM:
 
I _love_ Movie Tunes!


 

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Posted by Chase Hanson (Member # 2779) on 11-20-2004, 01:47 AM:
 

quote: James R. Hammonds, Jr was the last to post

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WHY?

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quote: Michael Rourke

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NCN preshow countdown rolling stock

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You know, I've found that thing never really "counts down" anything. If it was a TRUE pre-show countdown they'd have that clown or dancing hot dog letting us know, "Five Minutes to Showtime!!"

Or at least put SOMETHING between those two Hershey's Caramel commercials. Last few times I went to a theater, they played them BACK-TO-BACK, yes, the same commercial!

=TMP=
 

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Posted by Jeffrey Korns (Member # 2791) on 11-20-2004, 08:19 PM:
 
Get a theatre organ!
 

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Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 11-20-2004, 10:12 PM:
 
If I wanted to listen to a radio I would be listening to a radio, not sitting in the theatre WANTING TO SEE A MOVIE! Would anyone tollerate this blatant in-your-face (ears)if you were sitting in a resturaunt? Or would you get up and walk out the minute you heard Chris Eric Stevens begin to babble or as soon as the first note of any Madonna song (that goes doubley for Oooh Town, or ANYONE from American Idol).

Mark put it best -- all that crap is innane, crass and a freakin insult, to say nothing of a distracting mood killer. I say insulting because if the theatre wants to use me as a marketing subject and it is making money off my ass in the seat, then it better damn well give me a free popcorn or a discount on the ticket price for asking me to endure that 15min of pure drivel.

So what was that Nathan? You detect a tad bit of MovieTune hatred? Damn straight you do. Now you know why. It's trailer park trash (no offense to any good people on the forum who live in a trailer park -- I'll bet down to a person, they wouldn't listen to Chris Eric Stevens prattle, even if they got PAID to. MovieTunes is about as classy as a toilet seat.
 

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Posted by Lisa Cook (Member # 2718) on 11-21-2004, 12:42 AM:
 
"Mark put it best -- all that crap is innane, crass and a freakin insult, to say nothing of a distracting mood killer. I say insulting because if the theatre wants to use me as a marketing subject and it is making money off my ass in the seat, then it better damn well give me a free popcorn or a discount on the ticket price for asking me to endure that 15min of pure drivel."

It is the same with the slides and pre-show ads...personally I'd prefer to deal with the music instead extra 15 minutes of pre-show ads. They seem to me big screen television ads (we don't go to the movies to see TV). I do feel sorry for the usher types that have to hear the music over, and over, and over, etc. I doubt most patrons put much thought into what music is playing...they probably notice the slides more. I hardly acknowledge it when I'm shopping for groceries and they always have music playing. Everything is a marketing scheme it seems (sigh).
 

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Posted by Jesse Skeen (Member # 586) on 11-21-2004, 03:55 PM:
 
I think it wouldn't be quite as bad if they didn't have the damn announcer at all between songs. There really shouldn't be any talking on any pre-show music, plus it's awkward if the start time comes up when he's in the middle of talking. If we had slides with trivia questions I'd usually delay the start time of the show a few seconds until the "Answer" slide came up if it was in the middle of a question, but if Movietunes guy was talking at start time he'd get cut off mid-sentence.
Movietunes kills your chance to be creative; before the place I worked at got it I'd pick CDs to match the movie that was playing, like Danny Elfman's "Music For A Darkened Theatre" for any movie that featured his music, or the "Best of the Brady Bunch" CD for The Brady Bunch Movie.
 

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Posted by Ken Lackner (Member # 1002) on 11-21-2004, 06:42 PM:
 
Jesse: Most theaters I've seen have a single CD player with a distribution amplifier so all houses play the same music. How were you able to play a different CD in each house?
 

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Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 11-21-2004, 07:48 PM:
 
Playing appropriate music for the film is easy in a single-screen theatre!

I've actually worked at one multiplex (a 6-plex) that had a separate CD player for each screen, too. In this age of $50 CD players, there's really no reason not to to do this. And I agree that Movie Tunes just kills this opportunity for showmanship.

Q on ASCAP licenses (an area with which I have no experience): do they charge "per screen" or "per location"? Would a single-screen pay the same as a 30-plex?
 

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Posted by Dean Kollet (Member # 1789) on 11-21-2004, 11:58 PM:
 
I can tell periods of time by Movietunes songs, not dates....Someone asks me, "hey dean, when did Mike quit?" and I could tell them...."well, that was the second month in a row that Convoy was playing in 2003"

the new one isn't too bad though
 

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Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 11-22-2004, 02:04 AM:
 
Just curious, how much are those ASCAP and BMI fees? Are they based on ticket sales or something?
 

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Posted by Anslem Rayburn (Member # 1267) on 11-22-2004, 06:12 AM:
 
"Mark put it best -- all that crap is innane, crass and a freakin insult, to say nothing of a distracting mood killer. I say insulting because if the theatre wants to use me as a marketing subject and it is making money off my ass in the seat, then it better damn well give me a free popcorn or a discount on the ticket price for asking me to endure that 15min of pure drivel."

If people were really willing to pay a theater enough per ticket to operate and make a profit, then these types of businesses wouldn't be in existence. We avoid paying an insane fee for background music, get free music to play for our patrons to listen to (rather than crickets chirping), and manage to stay open for business. Most people would rather listen to MovieTunes than pay an extra 50 cents to one dollar per ticket...

When I contacted ASCAP about licensing music, it was on a per seat basis, no matter if it was sold or not. That meant that our 8-plex had to pay for 1400 seats (even though we usually run at half capacity). On top of that, we would have to pay for our coffee house (another business with about 35 more seats). It was not cheap, and that's why we play MovieTunes. We have never heard a bad word about MovieTunes, except from staff. Our patrons never hear a repeat on the same visit, our music changes once per month, and we don't have to raise prices to get it. Sure, I get sick and tired of hearing Regis sing, but I am getting paid to be here! I can live with it, and it keeps us from paying more money to operate (and subsequently raise prices). We have even had guests ask how they can get a copy of the CD! Get over it.
 

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Posted by Carl Martin (Member # 1146) on 11-22-2004, 06:54 AM:
 
silence don't cost a thing. make 'em bring a damn book. i'd much rather hear nothing at all than movietunes. and i don't intend to get over it.

carl
 

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Posted by Thomas Procyk (Member # 1170) on 11-22-2004, 09:07 AM:
 
Anslem -- It's good that you like movietunes and it works for you, but I see a few problems with your praises:

Sure, you don't have to pay a license and they give you free music, yadda yadda... but how much does movietunes PAY a theater to play that? I've never seen a quote. That would determine if it's really worth it or not. Sometimes, you don't even hear the whole song, just a clip and then the dumb guy telling you it's "IN STORES NOW!" Well, to hell with the movie then, let's go buy the CD!

I also can't stand movietunes in the bathroom. I can't even have peace from it when I take a .

One thing I don't understand is everyone in a panic over getting an ASCAP/BMI license to be able to play your own CDs. That practice seems absurd, especially if they charge per-seat and some have said that can get expensive. It's the sign of pure greed. The bastard record companies want every cent, even if someone *may* hear a *portion* of the song in the *background* while waiting for a movie!! To hell with this. Let them catch me first! By the time the goofballs in the ASCAP suits make it to the booth, the downloaded and burned CD of unlicensed music will be gone. HAHAHA!

=TMP=
 

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Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 11-22-2004, 12:45 PM:
 
Thomas: The record companies are not to blame here...it's the publishing companies.
 

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Posted by Jesse Skeen (Member # 586) on 11-22-2004, 01:39 PM:
 
The place I worked at was a 6-screen that had a CD player for each auditorium, they started breaking around the time they started using Movietunes though so they ended up running 1 player to all 6. I don't know what they had set up regarding royalties, I just heard they were paying ASCAP fees and that they were thinking about stopping that and switching to some generic royalty-free music but went with Movietunes instead.
Personally I would have picked music from the smaller classical labels since I think there's little or no public clearance needed for those, and it makes for a more classy atmosphere. Doesn't really seem right to play classical for a "House Party" movie though.
 

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Posted by Mark J. Marshall (Member # 1409) on 11-22-2004, 03:35 PM:
 
Why doesn't the contract to exhibit the feature itself also include the rights to play the soundtrack? Then, include a clause that says "from the time the film is realeased, and for up to six months after the film leaves the theater." That should give theaters a nice library of stuff to choose from.

I like that idea.
 

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Posted by Anslem Rayburn (Member # 1267) on 11-22-2004, 07:49 PM:
 

quote:

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Sure, you don't have to pay a license and they give you free music, yadda yadda... but how much does movietunes PAY a theater to play that? I've never seen a quote. That would determine if it's really worth it or not. Sometimes, you don't even hear the whole song, just a clip and then the dumb guy telling you it's "IN STORES NOW!" Well, to hell with the movie then, let's go buy the CD!

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quote: Anslem Rayburn

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I can't recall ever hearing just part of a song.

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Most MovieTunes CDs these days contain at least one "medley" of tunes by a single artist, usually from some "Greatest Hits" type of album. It's pretty irritating -- just when you get into a song, it train-wrecks into another song by the same artist, and happens about 5 or 6 times.
 

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Posted by Dean Kollet (Member # 1789) on 11-23-2004, 10:46 AM:
 
they are doing that right now with 'selections of songs' from the Spongebob movie.
 

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Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 11-23-2004, 01:41 PM:
 
If your theatre would have to raise ticket prices or possibly even go out of business if it stopped playing MovieTunes, then, heads up, it's either got really poor management that doesn't know much about the business or the demographics, or the operation is simply being used to grind out as much profit as it can to then be thrown away after it's been run into the ground. Thing is, if MovieTunes is the turning point by which a theatre is keeping afloat or even keeping the ticket price competitive, then that theatre is in big trouble and it shouldn't be operating at all, or it won't be very soon. Believe me, contracting MovieTunes is not keeping any theatre from going under.

And just for the record, I am a customer, and like Mark, I DISPISE MOVIETUNES!, so now you've heard TWO patrons complain about it, and I bet if you took the time to ask, you'd find a lot more who hate it too. Like I said, if I wanted to listen to a radio with a droning, half-wit DJ, there are a dozen stations I could turn on; I don't need to be subjected to it when I go to the movies. What makes anyone think people prefer to sit there and listen to 15 min of one continuous ad? Does management actually believe that the theatres that play this crap are more attractive....that a patron might choose the one that has MovieTunes over one that doesn't? So if it is not a marketing device, then why?....expecially if it has the potential to annoy at least some patrons? Or perhaps management thinks if they play something really obnoxious before the movie, it would drive me out to the concessions stand. Possibly. At least on the radio I can turn to another station or turn it off if I don't like what I am hearing. MovieTunes HAS NO FREAKIN OFF SWITCH!

What MovieTunes has the potential to do, unfortunately, is to simply add another nail in the coffin and give moviegoers one more reason why they'd rather wait for the DVD and see the movie in the comfort of their own home theatre where THERE IS NO MOVIETUNES PLAYING!
 

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Posted by Chase Hanson (Member # 2779) on 11-25-2004, 04:31 AM:
 
I wonder if anyone would notice if I made a completely custom play disk with appropriate Rick Allen douchebag voice overs and tried to pass it off as Movietunes.
 

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Posted by Ever Gonzalez (Member # 2794) on 11-26-2004, 01:41 AM:
 
I have been reading stuff on Film-Tech for a long time now. Never did register till recently. Anywayz...

Back when I was just a projectionist we programmed the CD changer to play that song "Gonna Make Your Body Scream" by Busta Rymes featuring Janet Jackson, then a song or two of Destiney's Child, then the Movie Tunes CD played (one track only CD) and then two more songs from the Destiney's Child CD. Nobody noticed for a month. Good times! Anybody remember Billy Gilman on Movie Tunes? Awfule.
 

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Posted by Jason Gazaille (Member # 2846) on 11-26-2004, 01:47 AM:
 
What really bugs me about Movietunes is that we never get them on time, so the Christmas music plays until the middle of January. Our last disc wasn't even mailed until 1 day before the playdate. I guess since we don't have commercials on ours, they don't care if we get them on time.

And no, I didn't go to the movies when Billy Gilman was on there. That was before I started working with you guys, Ever
 

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Posted by Brent Neal Jones (Member # 1048) on 11-26-2004, 07:34 AM:
 
Sponge Bob...SPONGE BOB! YES!!! I love it....

"Are you ready kids" "Yeh!!" "I can't heer yoooo!"
 

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Posted by Eric Webb (Member # 2772) on 12-18-2004, 01:10 PM:
 
Most of the time they have good songs on movie tunes its just that working at a 16-plex you just hear it over and over every hour
 

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