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Film maker tried, and failed, to get to use 'Stairway' in his film


kenog

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This is taken from the Sydney Morning Herald of 27/04/2012. I have edited the article down just to show you the part where the filmmaker talks about the difficulty in getting the rights to play ‘Stairway To Heaven’ in the film.

http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/movies/sounds-and-sights-of-love-20120426-1xmxr.html

IN 2008, Canadian filmmaker Jean-Marc Vallee found himself obsessing over 19th-century royal etiquette. The director was making The Young Victoria, a period romantic drama with Emily Blunt playing the future Queen Victoria and nearly every scene had to be fastidiously checked for authenticity, whether it was cutlery arrangements or the tightness of corsets.

But at the same time, something else kept percolating through his mind, sometimes as a song he knew that now inspired images and sometimes as an image that suggested certain songs. The vague idea had been with Vallee since 2004, when he was making his breakthrough feature C.R.A.Z.Y., and by the time he finished The Young Victoria he was ready to pursue it.

From his earliest intimations of the movie, he knew they would live in the Montmartre district of Paris, because it's the highest point. Every evening he saw her climbing the steps towards home, and he knew the song he wanted.

''Getting Stairway to Heaven is so complicated,'' Vallee says with a sigh. He kept the images but ultimately had to forgo the song he'd edited them to. ''It's the publishers, it's Jimmy Page, it's Robert Plant. They don't get along, they don't get along with the publishers. The publisher says yes, Jimmy says no. Jimmy says yes, Robert says no. It's a mess. That's one relationship where there's no love to be found.''

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There's still love between Plant and Page, there has to be...A friendship like that just doesn't end. It's known to all of us that Plant doesn't like to sing Stairway anymore, and that he doesn't really want to do Zeppelin or even be a part of it, he wants to move on. Page doesn't just want to lend his songs out to everyone who asks. What about John Paul Jones? Shouldn't he have a say in this as well?

Zeppelin has barely let anyone use their music when compared to other bands of the era. Don't worry though, once they are all gone, you will here every Zeppelin song in every movie and shitty commercial.

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...Don't worry though, once they are all gone, you will here every Zeppelin song in every movie and shitty commercial.

Will their descendants have any say in that for at least a certain number of years? I'd hate to see Led Zeppelin's music ending up on any old movie or commercial. If there are not, I believe that there should be laws written that protect an artists wishes posthumously for some respectful amount of years.

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I'm sure their kids will have control, or whomever they will it to, but who's to say that they will be as reserved as Page is? I believe the rights to usage lie with whomever owns the rights to the music. I guess the surviving members and the publisher, and probably Jason. Hopefully the inheritors of the Zeppelin dynasty attempt to protect the legacy, but they don't need to be as tightly shut as Page seems to be.

I'm not trying to be all doom and gloom but realistically this is the way I see it going.

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I wonder if it is that easy for the two of them, and John Paul Jones, to maintain some sort of friendship yet have differences in a business relationship. I imagine that no consensus might lead to some animosity towards each other, especially concerning Robert's steadfast refusal to participate after the O2 show.

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the guy doesn't know what he is talking about in terms of page plant relationship. i don't think any of the guys really care to let just anyone use the songs. i also think if one or 2 of them are ok with lending it but the other doesn't want to they are all ok with just not doing it unless all 3 agree.

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