Why Are so Many Classic Soundtrack Songs Missing From Streaming Services?

The ’90s and 2000s were a great time for movie marketing. Studios had hefty budgets and plenty of room to experiment, which translated to classic soundtracks. Think Above the Rim, Bulworth, or even the live-action Scooby-Doo (no one said every movie they were tied to was also a classic).

So why is it that so many soundtrack cuts from the time are absent from streaming services? According to music licensing experts, the reason for these missing songs is simple: The contracts behind them didn’t anticipate a world in which music would be available on demand, digitally, via streaming.

A studio could drop a song into a movie, but that didn’t mean it could hit the soundtrack—or a streaming service years later. According to ThinkSync Music, soundtracks require entirely separate negotiations for the master recording and underlying composition, a process that is often too expensive or complicated to complete for every song on a compilation. 

In the streaming era, this turns into a headache for songs performed by artists who were under contract with one label when a soundtrack they appear on was released through another. Missy was signed to Warner Music Group subsidiaries throughout her career, while the Shark Tale soundtrack was released under the Universal Music Group umbrella.

Other fan-favorite songs to suffer the same fate include OutKast, Killer Mike, and Sleepy Brown’s “Land of a Million Drums” (Scooby-Doo); B-Real, Busta Rhymes, LL Cool J, Method Man, and Coolio’s “Hit ‘Em High (The Monstars’ Anthem”) (Space Jam); and Snoop Dogg and Jermain Dupri’s “We Just Wanna Party with You” (Men in Black)

So what can artists do to get these songs on streaming? Missy Elliott has the right idea in tweeting to the labels, an effort that simultaneously encourages fans to join in pleading and petitioning. 

In other instances, artists have acquired the rights to soundtrack cuts for their own releases. Case in point: OutKast’s recent Stankonia 25th anniversary re-release featured the soundtrack songs "Speed Ballin'” (Lara Croft: Tomb Raider) and “Sole Sunday” (Any Given Sunday).

We’re still waiting for “Land of a Million Drums,” though. Maybe the 30th anniversary re-release will be the one.