When people across the internet freaked out over thousands of music videos becoming unavailable on Youtube due to a copyright dispute, one question popped into my mind: How is anyone surprised?
Despite digital media allowing for convenient, widespread access to large amounts of information that many North students in particular rely on, the phenomenon of altering or losing availability to content is far from unheard of in this day and age. It is about time we remember the importance that comes with keeping physical copies of our favorite TV shows, movies, songs and more.
What fully ignited my passion for TV was “Supernatural.” Yes — that 15-season-long show about two brothers fighting paranormal and biblical entities. Do not judge me! I watched the whole show on Netflix with my older sibling, and I remember watching the season one episode “Faith” and constantly complaining about how much I wished the song “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper” by Blue Öyster Cult played over a certain scene. Not only would the song perfectly fit the classic rock-themed soundtrack of the show, but the scene also involved a literal reaper chasing someone.
It was not until over a year after I finished the entire show that I discovered the astonishing truth: “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper” did, in fact, play during that scene. Well, it did originally.
Unfortunately, almost the entire season one soundtrack for “Supernatural” was altered due to issues with keeping legal music rights.
“We didn’t know this…we only had the rights to the music in year one for DVDs and television broadcast,” said “Supernatural” producer Phil Sgriccia on the “Supernatural Then and Now” podcast. “But anything that was streaming and later got re-done.”
Music choice is critical for myself and others to decide if we like a show or movie. By changing the soundtrack, certain scenes no longer hit as hard anymore.
Movies and shows specifically also face other possible editing detriments; for instance, “Community” — a popular 2009 sitcom — has several versions of the pilot episode differing from streaming service to streaming service. Yet again, fans are robbed of what the showrunners, producers and writers originally intended to present to their audience. It is a disappointing feeling to know that there are several “Community” scenes floating around out there that I have never watched before despite loving the show.
Buying physical forms of media — such as DVDs — prevents this common occurrence of programs reworking already-finished film, as part of what makes physical copies special is that, once they are out, they are out. They cannot later be modified from their previous state.
True to fashion, streaming services bring another dilemma for us to battle with on top of alterations: While convenient, they constantly switch whose content is whose and what they have available.
I understand that a couple streaming services cannot possibly provide us with every song, movie or show in existence; however, the relentless swapping makes it hard to decide on which to commit to. In early 2024, 45% of streaming service users in America canceled one or more of their subscriptions because of high, increasing prices, and I do not blame them whatsoever. It is far too expensive nowadays to pay for so many at once without any content guarantees. One day “Fried Green Tomatoes” is on Netflix, and then it is suddenly gone the next! How am I supposed to rewatch movies in this economy?!
With music-specific streaming services, sometimes songs also lose their availability in certain countries. Even after I downloaded “These Dreams” by Heart onto my Apple Music account, I could not listen to it there until it eventually — after months — became accessible again.
Owning DVDs, cassette tapes, CDs, vinyl records and more ensures this reliability that is missing from the online universe. But while CDs and and records luckily gained popularity again amongst Gen Z, DVDs are still dying. In 2007 when Netflix shifted from mailing DVDs to streaming and the rental store Blockbuster Video later filed for bankruptcy in 2010, everyone mistakenly abandoned the old completely for the new. I vividly recall seeing large DVD displays in stores like Target, but now most are only for sale online or in donation shops. We need them brought back into the mainstream.
Sure, my family subscribes to several streaming services, but owning the physical versions of my favorite media feels so indescribably special. I love flipping through my small collections of CDs and records along with my parents’, and I love knowing that if I ever lose access to streaming, I still have some of my favorites with me to enjoy. I currently lack modern DVDs like many people, but if stores made them more accessible, myself and many others would jump on the opportunity. It is normal for books to be in their physical forms, so why not other media, too? Movies? TV shows? Songs? Even photos?
While the music videos that got temporarily removed from Youtube are now being restored, I do hope that more people prepare for similar circumstances in the future. I am definitely no apocalypse prepper, but if anyone thinks that I will be caught in any “The Last of Us” situation — a world of zombies, chaos and no internet — without my Queen “Greatest Hits,” they are dead mistaken.
