There are a few different reasons why a song might not appear on one of the GaMetal album releases on these services, but I’ll break it down as simply and quickly as I can: Since it’s required that you purchase the songs released on these platforms (or the subscription for streaming services like Spotify), mechanical licenses have to be obtained for each composition so that the original composers get their share of the royalties. It costs money to get these licenses via a distributor, such as Soundrop.
One of the requirements to obtain a mechanical license (and the one that causes issues the most often) is that the song/composition must have been officially released in the US (since that’s where I am located) for purchase, be it on an album, iTunes release, streaming service (Spotify), etc. If not, then mechanical licenses can not be obtained for those songs, therefore they can’t be properly distributed to these services.
When I say each composition, I literally mean each composition, so that poses a big issue for medleys. Because they contain multiple compositions, we have to pay for the licenses of each song featured, plus each composition earns some of the profit. However, this is a set number, and it can be exceeded, meaning if we were to submit say… an NES Medley, we’d actually end up owing/losing money each time it were to be purchased. Which, as you could imagine, would not bode well in the long run! UPDATE 2022: Medleys have now been thrown into further peril by requiring explicit permission to combine multiple songs from the original composers.
Beginning in 2018, I’ve been trying to get as many GaMetal remixes licensed and distributed to these platforms as I can for you all. For your convenience, I’ve compiled a list of songs that I have submitted but was unable to obtain licenses for here.
Always remember that the songs that don’t show up on these platforms are still available for free here on the site and also on the BandCamp releases!
Bonus FAQ: [Cover song] by [artist] got it up, so why can’t you?
Some distributors will push through a license regardless, or it was submitted as an original song (not a cover), but this is incredibly risky because it’s…. well, illegal. 🥴
PS: You can help not only me, but VGM remixers across the planet by giving polite feedback to the composers and/or companies that own the original songs that you’d like to have official releases of their game soundtracks, be it on streaming services, digitally or physically, so that we can both enjoy the originals and obtain mechanical licenses for covers/fan arrangements of these songs in the future!