Tintin Forums

Hi, I'm new here and was wondering if anyone knew if it was possible to purchase the theme song from the Ellipse-Nelvana series anywhere?

I've looked but have been unsuccessful in locating it.

Also, if it is available to purchase, would it violate any copyright issues to use it for figure skating program music? Thanks and hope to hear back!

It’s been made available on at least two CDs of Tintin-related soundtrack music, the first being a collection based on the Ellipse-Nelvana music by the original artists (arranged as proper pieces, not as individual cues); the second was a compilation which had music from various screen projects, including the Ellipse-Nelvana series. Both have the theme music as a track.

They are both out of print, but second-hand copies do turn up on eBay and elsewhere.

Have you tried approaching Ellipse-Nelvana directly?


At the very least you need to see about public performing rights for that; don’t know how it works where you are, but in the U.K. venues tend to have a license permitting them to re-play copyright music, but I don’t have a clue what happens elsewhere. Try asking the ice-rink where you will be skating what they usually do, and they may have the answers.

Over and above that, I don’t know if you need specific permission to use music when it is being utilised for a specific performance piece; there may be conditions – for example, it appears to be possible for bands to object if their music is used by a person or organization of which they themselves might be critical (a political candidate using a tune when the artists themselves don’t endorse those politics comes to mind).
Likewise, it may be seen that a composer or artist might want to adapt their work for dance or a musical themselves, so they might be able to object. Again, I’d ask at the rink, and get advice there.

Thank you very much! I appreciate your help and will look for a copy of the CDs you mentioned. I'm in the states so I don't know if we have the same rules as you or not but I can ask around. Thanks again for your helpful response :)

There are similar rules in the States, yes; organizations such as ASCAP, BMI and others collect money on behalf of the rights holders for using music in public – but I don’t know how they do it (stand outside ice-rinks with a bucket, taking up a collection, perhaps? ;-)), or how you get their permission.

Good luck!

I work at a radio station in the United States. We pay an annual flat fee to BMI for unlimited use of music. Once a month we have to provide BMI with a list of all the songs we played that month.
They then pay all the artists accordingly.

This is what I've been wondering too. I have been thinking about performing this theme with my college orchestra club. I must admit I don't know much about copyright rules in Indonesia, so I am not sure if I must ask permission to play this theme before performing it (or to whom I must ask permission).

I know performing it for a closed audience (newly-admitted college students and the rest of civitas academica participated in the admission assembly) without any commercial profit and performing it in a concert (which definitely means you got some money for it) for public audience are two different cases.

This gives me some questions: what would be the differences between these two cases, looking at the copyright terms?

I know that the second case might have more complicated procedure on the permission for performing and such, but how complicated can it be? What must I do for the permission procedure, if I need to do it?

Nothing as far as can be told - you still would have to get permission. It keeps coming up, but the notion that doing something for free is different from doing something for money is neither here nor there; you still have to ask permission to perform the piece. It’s then up to the copyright holder to decide if they will charge for the use of the music or not.

The best thing is to actually ask at your college – they are bound to have procedures in place for such events.