Music rights clearance issues (policy being implemented by the ISU starting in 2024)

[MacMadame]

Just to be clear, this is not 100% always the case because of AI technology scoping everything out to begin with. We talked over a lot of videos on YouTube and still got copyright that blocked them even if they were 5 seconds long.

And these are clearly fair use but it's not worth the lawsuit to get them to change their policies and reporting systems most of the time. I wonder if creators could band together for a class action suit?

Another creator I watch on Nebula had a video yesterday about why he doesn't use music in his videos. And it was about this. Another creator at the time he was starting his channel suddenly got a copyright strike on every video on his channel due to his intro music. He hired someone to write it which would mean he owns the copyright but the person he contracted with sampled something. And when the people who owned that piece uploaded it to YouTube's copyright system, it found all his videos and struck them.

 

[Bunny Hop]

The IOC have always been hot on protecting Olympic copyright, long before YouTube even existed. Broadcasting rights used to revert back to the IOC quite quickly after each Games - something like 3 months. Not sure what it is now, but I'm positive it's still a very short licence.

My husband once you got a YouTube copyright strike on a video of him playing classical music on the piano, so definitely out of copyright. Wasn't even an automated strike. It was some guy who trawls YouTube for videos of people playing classical music and claims they copied his own videos. The appeal was unsuccessful.

 

[Sylvia]

Musician/composer Jennifer Thomas:

JENNIFER THOMAS | Composer, Pianist, Violinist, Recording Artist on Instagram: "In case you missed this new video about how music is used in the Olympics, full video is on my channel. Lots of questions answered in this one! ⛸️ #olympics2026"

62 likes, 1 comments - jenniferthomasofficial on February 21, 2026: "In case you missed this new video about how music is used in the Olympics, full video is on my channel. Lots of questions answered in this one! ⛸️ #olympics2026".

www.instagram.com

Watch her 9-minute video (Feb. 19, 2026; 9.5 mins.): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pR043r4O0EQ

 

[Sylvia]

Follow-up article by Sportico's Sara Germano (Feb. 23):

Alysa Liu’s Olympic Gold Skate Sends Donna Summer Streams Soaring

Alysa Liu's gold medal-winning Olympic skate to Donna Summer's MacArthur Park led to a surge of U.S. streams of the 1978 disco hit

www.sportico.com

The streaming success of the ["MacArthur Park"] song on the back of Liu’s gold-medal skate underscores the potential commercial impact of music choice in figure skating, at a time when licensing issues within the sport have received unprecedented attention. Several skaters in Milan had to alter or create entirely new programs just before the Games due to licensing complications, highlighted by Spanish men’s skater Tomas Guarino’s last-minute struggles to clear music from Minions.

Four years later, executives from figure skating governing bodies as well as entertainment agencies say there is heightened interest in potential collaboration between musical artists and athletes whose competitions require song usage.
“Music rights are something that the global figure skating community is going to need to address over the next couple of years,” U.S. Figure Skating chief commercial officer Annie White said, adding that the sport’s national governing body is looking to form partnerships with music labels in the future.
“The music business is changing so much each and every day, but some of these artists I think would probably love to have their music featured” in skating programs, Nick Thimm, agent and board member at CAA, said in an interview shortly before the women’s figure skating competition. “It’s a new landscape that no one’s really thought of, and I always find those things really fun, because it obviously can lead to new business for our clients but also opportunity for shared storytelling.”

 

[Karen-W]

Jimmy Webb posted another congratulations and thank you to Alysa for using "MacArthur Park" and bringing it to public attention again, saying he could feel her energy, youth & optimism as she skated.

https://x.com/i/status/2026002326251598052

Two songs used during the Gala have also been climbing the charts in the wake of the performances. The Pink Pantheress/Zara Larsson song "Stateside" which Alysa skated has hit the top 10 on US charts - first time for either artist. And NF's FEAR which Ilia skated to was the #1 most searched song on Shazam after the exhibition.

Hopefully this will encourage more artists to work with skaters.

 

[Sylvia]

Jimmy Webb posted another congratulations and thank you to Alysa for using "MacArthur Park" and bringing it to public attention again, saying he could feel her energy, youth & optimism as she skated.

Direct link to Jimmy Webb's Instagram video:

Jimmy Webb on Instagram: "A special message to @alysaxliu from @jimmywebbmusic 🏅🎂🌧️⛸️"

127 likes, 24 comments - jimmywebbmusic on February 23, 2026: "A special message to @alysaxliu from @jimmywebbmusic 🏅🎂🌧️⛸️".

www.instagram.com

 

[Skate Talker]

Somewhat off topic? I have been wondering how Mrazeks recently-AI-created music meets the requirement of using 90's music, especially if it is considered new enough music to not trigger copyright violations. Shouldn't it be consider 2020's music? I must have missed something so please help me make sense of this.

 

[Capt. DeSoto]

Somewhat off topic? I have been wondering how Mrazeks recently-AI-created music meets the requirement of using 90's music, especially if it is considered new enough music to not trigger copyright violations. Shouldn't it be consider 2020's music? I must have missed something so please help me make sense of this.

It’s explicitly laid out in the music rules for the season.

From ISU Communication No. 2704: “Music created via AI in the ‘Style of 1990’s’ is also permitted.”

 

[Skate Talker]

It’s explicitly laid out in the music rules for the season.

From ISU Communication No. 2704: “Music created via AI in the ‘Style of 1990’s’ is also permitted.”

Thank you for responding - I've really been wondering about it.

 

[Sylvia]

The National Law Review article Copyright on Ice- The Intellectual Property Issues that Put the Milano-Cortina Olympic Figure Skating into Flutz by Jonathan Mason (Feb. 27, 2026) :

Copyright on Ice- The Intellectual Property Issues that Put the Milano-Cortina Olympic Figure Skating into Flutz

The Winter Olympics certainly generated its fair share of headline-grabbing stories over the last few weeks. In the figure skating, one of those stories was that surrounding Spanish skater, Tomas-Llorenc Guarino Sabate, and his now famed Minions-inspired routine.

natlawreview.com

Excerpts:

The intricacies of music licensing for public performance can differ from jurisdiction to jurisdiction and, when tracks are included in public performances at events of such a scale and appeal as the Winter Olympics, the full array of commercial licensing considerations need to be factored in when obtaining appropriate clearances from the relevant rightsholders. Such considerations, include, for example, the scope of the event’s international broadcasting arrangements taking into account the jurisdictions in which those broadcasts are aired and the nature of the platforms and channels through which they are made available. This is one of the reasons why platforms such as ClicknClear advise securing global sports performance licenses rather than domestic-only clearances.

It is also worth noting that using AI-generated music will not necessarily circumvent the requirement to obtain a licence. When he first encountered issues with his choice of music, Sabate was contacted by people who suggested that he consider using AI-generated alternative tracks. However, whether and to what extent AI music attracts copyright protection can be a complex matter, requiring careful consideration on a jurisdiction-to-jurisdiction basis. Furthermore, having performed to an AC/DC remix that was generated using AI in the rhythm dance segment, press reports highlighted that Czech figure skaters Katerina Mrázková and Daneil Mrázek met a negative reception from fans.[6] As such, using AI-generated music is not necessarily as plain sailing as some may think.
Finally, whatever copyright work competitors do decide to use, it is crucial that any applications for permission are submitted in a timely manner and to regularly review the status of submitted applications. This is because the earlier that applications are submitted, the more time performers have to source and train to alternative music for their performances should they encounter issues in obtaining the relevant clearances. Leaving copyright clearance applications to the last minute only heightens the potentially damaging consequences should clearance issues be encountered at the eleventh hour.

 

[Sasha'sSpins]

Apparently Murphy Brown will never be released on DVD or streamed because the music rights (the songs that Murphy would sing so badly) are either too expensive or impossible to license. Which is a huge loss IMO with how popular and influential that show was.

Some copyrights eventually end after 50 or even 100 years, unless the respective artists' estate extends said copyright. It depends on the countries too of course. I remember watching a Doors documentary some years ago. Doors guitarist Robby Krieger apparently borrowed a riff from a Spanish composer's work. He had lived over 50+ years before and the Doors assumed that the copyright had long run out (by then this was in late 1968). The riff in question was "Asturias" by Isaac Albeniz of Spain who died in 1909. Krieger used the riff in "Spanish Caravan". Anyway, after the Doors album dropped, the DESCENDANTS of the long dead composer sued - and won! They won because apparently in Spain (at least in the 1960s), the copyright never runs out!

 

[Bunny Hop]

If I recall correctly that changed in the 1990s, and now all European countries have the same copyright expiry which is 70 years after the death of the creator. That's also when Britain changed from 50 years after death to 70 years, so some works actually went back into copyright. A number of other countries follow the same rule. The U.S. is different and more complicated (often creates issues for TV/movie adaptations of books which are to be released internationally).

The problem with music is that there can be many rights holders involved, composer, performer, lyricist, music label.

 

[MacMadame]

I am sick and tired of all these articles saying that before lyrics were allowed, everyone used classical music so music rights were not an issue. This is such revisionist history. Yes, classical music was used, but that doesn't mean there were no performance rights that had to be obtained. But also, people skated to all sorts of music without lyrics that was much more modern. Like movie soundtracks. Which have multiple copyright issues, as Tomàs Guarino Sabaté found out.

I think what changed is the internet. Routines get posted to the internet and go viral. And that brought attention to them and that caused more artists to look into how their music was being used and if they were going to get paid due to it. Before that, most skaters just ignored issues with rights and most of the time got away with it. Then the situation with Knierim/Frazer brought even more attention to the issue and now no one is willing to take the risk.

 

[jmtfti]

Yeah, that theory also overlooks the fact that ice dance has been using contemporary music with lyrics for decades, and singles and pairs used plenty of vocal music in exhibitions -- and even in the 2010s, programs would get zapped from YouTube right away for using artists whose music would typically get automatically copyright claimed, like Prince, Beatles, Led Zeppelin, etc. (Sometimes videos would even get claimed for arena music in the background of a K&C, not the program itself.) And then there was a stretch of nearly a decade between vocals being introduced into singles and pairs and the onset of the new concerns. I think the combo of the Heavy Young Heathens lawsuit and explosion of apps like TikTok have been the driving factors here.

 

[Sasha'sSpins]

At this rate, it may end up becoming the norm.

And more musically inclined skaters might just end up playing and recording their own music to whatever is in the public domain or their own compositions!

 

[DORISPULASKI]

This has been done! Eric Radford composed for himself & Duhamel.

Big Read: Eric Radford on coming out, pushing for Olympic gold

www.sportsnet.ca

 

[Sasha'sSpins]

Direct link to Jimmy Webb's Instagram video:

Jimmy Webb on Instagram: "A special message to @alysaxliu from @jimmywebbmusic 🏅🎂🌧️⛸️"

127 likes, 24 comments - jimmywebbmusic on February 23, 2026: "A special message to @alysaxliu from @jimmywebbmusic 🏅🎂🌧️⛸️".

www.instagram.com

Aww that is awesome that Jimmy Webb the songwriter and composer of MacArthur Park Suite gave Alysa a special shout out! I hope that she sees it, if she hasn't already, and acknowledges it!

Late Disco Queen Donna Summer's loved ones have also given Alysa a shout out through the official Donna Summer estate Instagram account! They've now posted a few times about Alysa's magical Olympic performance in their stories and throughout their account! They are obviously very pleased with Alysa's Olympic FS! They also added Jimmy's video message to Alysa on their account!

As previously mentioned, the epic song has soared on numerous music platforms thanks to Alysa's Olympic gold skate!

From the official Donna Summer Instagram account:

Donna Summer on Instagram: "@alysaxliu x @officialdonnasummer 🩵"

3,086 likes, 68 comments - officialdonnasummer on February 25, 2026: "@alysaxliu x @officialdonnasummer 🩵".

www.instagram.com