Who owns Rock the Dragon?

[Cure Dragon 255]

Saban? Or Funimation? I think that's the reason the GBA Legacy Of Goku didnt use it. LOL

[VegettoEX]

FUNimation. It was used beyond the original syndication broadcast / Saban's involvement: throughout the English dub of the Freeza arc on VHS, as the replacement intro on the American edition of the first "Budokai" game, and it was even licensed for "Taiko Drum Master".

See also: FUNimation's ability to release the "Rock the Dragon" box set, and while we never heard anything one way or the other about needing permission from anyone else to do so, by all accounts (and from my own interview with Lance Heiskell), it seemed like a thing they could have just dropped out there at any time.

[dragonballhero]

Huh, really? All this time, I thought it was copyright and whatnot that kept them from using the song often. But if that's the case, I wonder why the song hasn't made any appearances in recent years.

I mean, I understand FUNi's desire to be more closer to Dragon Ball's Japanese material than ever before, but still...

[VegettoEX]

I'm sure there are still some types of royalties to pay, be they composition or performance (not an expert on music law). Combined with that and other shenanigans they ran into with later outsourced replacement composers, I can see why they'd shy away from it unless there's a compelling reason to invoke it (see: the "Rock the Dragon" DVD set).

It's far easier/better for them to stick with the franchise's actual music, and for promotional videos they can have their own internal composer(s) take care of that.