LOS ANGELES, July 21 — As soundtracks go, music from the Shrek movie is up there with the best. Now, the Royalty Exchange platform is offering Shrek fans the chance to acquire a slice of the rights to songs from the popular animated film franchise. But they don’t come cheap...
Fans will have to shell out more than US$2.25 million (RM9.5 million) to become the new owner of a portion of the rights to the famous Shrek movie soundtracks. In exchange, the buyer will receive royalties for the 643 tracks featured on the soundtracks of the franchise’s four movies, plus the short film, Shrek the Halls.
According to Royalty Exchange, the new owner of the rights will receive royalties whenever any of the movies in the franchise are shown on television or online, or when the soundtracks are used in rides inspired by Shrek and his pals. And they’re worth their weight in gold, according to the US company’s data. The songs featuring in the movie franchise generated US$235,003 in royalties over the last 12 months.
A standout soundtrack
This certainly tells us something about the popularity of the Shrek soundtrack, even 20 years after the franchise’s first movie was released in theatres. Two months after its US premiere, the album Shrek (Music from the Original Motion Picture) reached No. 28 in the prestigious Billboard 200 chart, and was even nominated for a Grammy. Since then, it has earned a place in the pop culture zeitgeist with covers of Hallelujah by Rufus Wainwright, I’m A Believer by Smash Mouth and Bad Reputation by Halfcocked.
When the debut Shrek movie was released, it was the first time that an animated feature film had opted for contemporary music rather than the original songs favored by Disney. “The movie was taking cliches and tropes and turning them on their ear and reexamining [audience] expectations of characters,” director Vicky Jenson told The Ringer. “We couldn’t just score it in a traditional way. It wouldn’t make sense. Everything about the movie had to pull you out of your expectations.”
This original approach and lasting appeal explain why DreamWorks Animation Studios decided to release the Shrek soundtrack on vinyl for the first time in 2019. A special green vinyl version was also released in June for the latest edition of Record Store Day. — ETX Studio
