On Youtube Music, Starship released a sped up version and slowed down version of their hit We Built This City. Everclear released a sped up/slowed down Santa Monica as well. Yes, it is their music, but an interesting use of it.
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Sped Up Songs (for TikTok) - Spread to Radio?
- Thread starter kfbkfb
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OK, so this goes back to another thread that's already started on this subject. From what I can see, the current owner of the license to the original recording has released a sped up version of this song.
I doubt the artists had anything to do with this. A couple members of the band are dead. I'm only aware of maybe one original member being a part of the current band. The label just took the master tape, sped up certain tracks and then remixed it to the original length. So I doubt it's for TikTok, since this version is 4 minutes. Too long for Tik Tok.
Here is an earlier thread on the same subject:
And here is my original thread on this subject from March:
https://www.radiodiscussions.com/threads/labels-speed-up-songs.761469/
The article in the OP of my thread talks about why this is happening and who is doing it. Yes record labels see this as a way to reinvigorate their catalog and make some money.
I knew there was discussion at one point but forgot about the previous threads. Yes, it could well be the labels. A lot of times fans of the original do not like the sped up versions, but unsure how the artists feel about these versions.
Back when the Chipmunks movie was out in like 2007, songs got sped up on Youtube in a similar fashion, but actually sung by the Chipmunks (unofficially). There are "offficial" covers by the Chipmunks though.
Since everyone on this site is apparently 80 years old, here's an article that explains the sped-up songs. The remix style is known as "nightcore" and it works best with dance music.
If I were a retired recording artist and suddenly found myself with additional cash flow from a song I recorded nearly 40 years ago, I wouldn't care if I sounded like William Shatner or Tiny Tim on it.
Kids today ...
The unfortunate part about this particular song is the band didn't write it. Bernie Taupin was one of the writers. As if he needs a few more bucks. The original band might see a portion of the digital royalty. But you're right. Its the gift that keeps on gving.
Not only that, but since
Blame the overproducer Peter Wolf, who was also a co-writer. This is a different Peter Wolf from the J Geils Band lead singer. Very different guy. Peter also wrote the band's next single Sara, which he thankfully didn't overproduce.
It didn't help that one of the large Wall Street financial bigshots used the song as in their commercials, circa 2000. I forget the company, but that may be where the "corporate anthem" accusation came from. But Page, Taupin, and Wolf sure couldn't complain.
Similar to what United Airlines did to Rhapsody in Blue in their 1990s TV commercials. George Gershwin had to be spinning in his grave over that corporate bastardization, although his descendants must have loved those royalty checks.
Similar to what United Airlines did to Rhapsody in Blue in their 1990s TV commercials. George Gershwin had to be spinning in his grave over that corporate bastardization, although his descendants must have loved those royalty checks.
Gershwin, Berlin, Porter, Carmichael ... all those guys weren't writing pristine artistic masterpieces, or at least they weren't intending to. They were writing disposable ditties intended to sell records and sheet music in a time when songwriters had to churn out lots and lots of ditties to make a decent living. Yes, Gershwin had his artistic side and indulged it through his unique classical/jazz hybrids like An American in Paris. But most of the songs that bore his name weren't intended to stand the test of time, only to last long enough to ensure a steady flow of money until he could get a popular artist to record his next song.
I think the thing we're seeing is people want to make music without actually making music. They're taking an established song and playing with it, but not really making it different. We Built This City was a bombastic, over produced song when it was released, and it's still overproduced when it's sped up. Nothing changes that without doing something musical to it. Speeding up or slowing down a song doesn't change the music. It changes the tempo. That wasn't what was wrong with this song.
Now, a do-it-yourself app company called Frontdoor is using the song in its commercials: "We fixed this toilet! We fixed this toilet on vid-e-oooo."
🤮
Yeah, but it got *you* to remember the line.Now, a do-it-yourself app company called Frontdoor is using the song in its commercials: "We fixed this toilet! We fixed this toilet on vid-e-oooo."
Advertising that works!
The problem was, the toilet had Audacy stock certificates in it....
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