Is Nothing Sacred Anymore...

[CelineHayatiAna]

i love this song too

[Dionesque]

I've been listening to this song again today, I really love it a lot!

I may be of an old school, I'm just sooo much into all those 90s power ballads...

 

On this occasion it came to my mind that soon after this song leaked, somewhere around October 2002 (if I remember well), I saved this press article that elaborates on the story behind the issues of "LTAL" (un)releases.

Enjoy!

 

Celine: Let's talk about greed

Cinemania/Music Central

By Roger Friedman

 

When Celine Dion sings "It's All Coming Back to Me Now," she really means it: The bestselling superstar is collecting a hefty percentage of the publishing rights of songs she herself did not write but performs on her new album. The album, "Let's Talk About Love," has sold about 12 million copies worldwide in its two months of release and is currently No. 2 on the Billboard Top 200. Dion does not write her own songs; she depends on professional songwriters to craft her hits. But on "Let's Talk About Love," Dion and her husband/manager, René Angelil, asked the writers of all the songs submitted to them for up to 20 percent of the publishing money. Some writers whose songs had been on previous Dion albums declined, and their songs were not used. But six songs by lesser-known writers, or writers without clout in the music industry, succumbed to Dion's demands. In one case — a song called "The Reason," co-written by Carole King, Mark Hudson and Greg Wells — the last two writers agreed to Dion's terms but were vetoed at the last minute by the veteran King, who refused to give in.

 

The song was still included on the album but not used — as it had been advertised prior to release — as the album's title. King's objections, however, are not reflected on the album's credits: Dion's music-publishing company, Duffield Music, is still listed as the co-publisher of "The Reason." Paul Farberman, a spokesman for Celine Dion, says that will be corrected in future printings of the album. King's manager, Lorna Guess, says, "They asked, and we said no. We never give publishing away." Guess says that King, who co-writes with many artists, has "never" been asked to do such a thing in the past by anyone.

 

Celine: Let's talk about greed, part 2:

If That's What It Takes

(Mixed reception, plus the official line)

 

Duffield Music's name is affixed to five more songs Celine Dion did not write, including two by Canadian pop singer Corey Hart. In this way Duffield collects royalties on songs Dion did not write; she exacted a tariff on the writers, whose songs then appear on a bestselling album. The tariff can be as much as 25 percent of the royalties. "Basically we were told it was the only way we could get on the album," says one songwriter. All the writers declined to be interviewed for this story, fearing that Sony Music or Dion and Angelil would have them blackballed. "I have never, ever, been asked to give up publishing before this," says one writer. Bruce Brault, who manages Corey Hart, acknowledged that Duffield was collecting royalties on his client's songs, but refused to comment further. A spokesman for Sony ATV Music Publishing in Canada said that Duffield was "a company controlled by Celine Dion" and referred all questions to her office.

 

Interestingly, Dion's demand did not work with established writers such as David Foster, the Bee Gees or Bryan Adams. "Giving away publishing" has long been a tradition in the music business, as writers have had to make compromises to get their songs recorded. Elvis Presley, Celine's defenders point out, "did it all the time." But it's not such a common practice these days: Indeed, divas like Barbra Streisand, Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey are not in the business of charging a fee to their songwriters. But Dion's hefty take on "Let's Talk About Love" is unusually high for one album. Sources claim that Angelil received "an enormous amount of money to sign artists to the label, but he hasn't done so, so this is his way of paying it back." Because Angelil demanded publishing fees, some writers of hit songs from Dion's previous, Grammy-award-winning album, "Falling Into You," declined to be included. "I know for a fact that Jim Steinman and Billy Steinberg refused to give up their publishing. I consider it extortion or blackmail," says a source. "It's tacky," says one songwriter, who recalled the singer's royal-like wedding to Angelil, which was filmed by Lifetime Television. "How much money can Celine need?"

 

Paul Farberman, speaking for Dion, says that he personally negotiated all the deals on the album, and adds, "I made it clear that giving us publishing was not a prerequisite to being on the album." Farberman says that when about 25 songs were chosen from demo tapes, he called each writer's representative and told them Dion was asking them to "relinquish their rights," he says. Writers who objected or declined were not omitted, he insists, from the final selection process. "And some songs were recorded anyway," he observes. But songs by Jim Steinman, Diane Warren and Billy Steinberg — all of whom had hits on previous Dion albums but refused to give up a percentage of their publishing rights — were deemed by Dion and Angelil "not among the best 14 or 15 songs. In the end it was about having the best songs." Ultimately, counters Farberman, "anyone who says we told them they couldn't be on the album otherwise is not telling the truth. It may just be a songwriter who was disappointed that they didn't make it." This is not the first time such a problem has arisen for Dion: on "Falling Into You," several songs are co-published by CRB Music, another one of her subsidiaries.

Edited February 7, 2011 at 01:54 AM by Dionesque

[RLAAMJR.]

I have one care of youtube.

[Dionesque]

Anyone has the alternate (first?) version (without "oooohs" at the beginning) and can pretty please share???

 

Never knew there were two versions of this song!!

Read details below:

 

I think it should be noted that there are TWO different versions of "Is Nothing Sacred" out there. I had both at one point but in the process of moving files to my new computer I seem to have lost the first version I found... The first version I had didn't have the "ooooohs" when the piano part comes in around the 0:17 mark, Céline started with the first verse immediately. It was not as high quality as this version, so I'm not sure where it was from, but I like it a lot more than this version. It's probably on my external hard-drive, so when I get back home I'll do some searching and see if I can't find it.

[CelinesDIVO5]

I don't believe that article about the publishing rights to the songs...IF these allegations were true, Carole King would not have performed with Celine at DIVA'S LIVE 98, The Bee Gees would not have asked her to perform at their "ONE NIGHT ONLY" special, and David Foster would probably not have worked with Celine again as it is rather insulting to ask for a song writers money.

[Ray]

It's still one of my favorite songs!

[stone]

They know Celine doesn't handle the business side of things. She listens to 100 or so songs (as she has stated) and selects about 50 that she likes, and records about 25-30 songs that she and Sony loves. I'm sure after the massive sales of Falling Into You, Celine's team felt that they had the upper hand and Celine should have some percentage of the songs, because at that time, a song sung by Celine would make a songwriter a multi-millionaire. But hey, it was a one time thing. They knew LTAL was going to be a guarenteed massive blockbuster, so they took advantage of it.

[wjd]

I believe those stories - it has long been documented that Celine engaged in this practice, the money writers lost through forfeiting publishing was regained thrice by their share of royalties.

 

Celine continues to this day to command 25% of royalties, the highest of any non songwriter in the business

[CelineDork14]

I love this song sooo much ...when I first heard it I listened to it like 101 times..lol

[chocolatechip15]

I found this old post from the Google Groups archive of alt.music.celine-dion [old Celine newsgroup from the pre-forum days]. Someone posted a message from Jim Steinman's production manager, explaining why this song never made it onto a Celine album. Who knows if it's legit, but it sounds plausible.

 

Below is a message from Don Ketteler (Jim Steinman's production manager)

explaining more about why "Is Nothing Sacred" failed to appear on Celine's latest

release:

"Don again. This is what happened with "Is Nothing Sacred." It

was a total debacle. They didn't like our mix, and demanded a remix…and

then another. In between all of these mixes were days (which we were paying

studio time for because we had to leave the mix up) that dragged into weeks

while we waited for replies. Then they decided to do a mix with their

"team," which turned out to be more than just a remix, as they added

production elements and made changes in the arrangement. We waited and

waited to hear back, again. After a week or so we heard, through Jim's

attorney, that no one (including us) was happy with the work they'd done,

and the song wasn't going to be on the album. It is clear that Celine adored

the song, but politics got in the way.

 

Don"

 

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topicsearchin/alt.music.celine-dion/article$20AND$20before$3A1997$2F12$2F01|sort:date/alt.music.celine-dion/M5Q0TpmI-HY [you have to click the top bar that says Daniel Meistrup and then scroll down past the list of Jim STeinman releases for '97 to see this message]

Edited November 15, 2014 at 03:48 AM by chocolatechip15

[ryba]

I found this old post from the Google Groups archive of alt.music.celine-dion [old Celine newsgroup from the pre-forum days]. Someone posted a message from Jim Steinman's production manager, explaining why this song never made it onto a Celine album. Who knows if it's legit, but it sounds plausible.

 

Below is a message from Don Ketteler (Jim Steinman's production manager)

explaining more about why "Is Nothing Sacred" failed to appear on Celine's latest

release:

"Don again. This is what happened with "Is Nothing Sacred." It

was a total debacle. They didn't like our mix, and demanded a remix…and

then another. In between all of these mixes were days (which we were paying

studio time for because we had to leave the mix up) that dragged into weeks

while we waited for replies. Then they decided to do a mix with their

"team," which turned out to be more than just a remix, as they added

production elements and made changes in the arrangement. We waited and

waited to hear back, again. After a week or so we heard, through Jim's

attorney, that no one (including us) was happy with the work they'd done,

and the song wasn't going to be on the album. It is clear that Celine adored

the song, but politics got in the way.

 

Don"

 

https://groups.googl...M5Q0TpmI-HY [you have to click the top bar that says Daniel Meistrup and then scroll down past the list of Jim STeinman releases for '97 to see this message]

many thanks for this! This so sad, the song is beautiful and they sould have included it just the way it was.

[celine4evauk]

I found this old post from the Google Groups archive of alt.music.celine-dion [old Celine newsgroup from the pre-forum days]. Someone posted a message from Jim Steinman's production manager, explaining why this song never made it onto a Celine album. Who knows if it's legit, but it sounds plausible.

 

Below is a message from Don Ketteler (Jim Steinman's production manager)

explaining more about why "Is Nothing Sacred" failed to appear on Celine's latest

release:

"Don again. This is what happened with "Is Nothing Sacred." It

was a total debacle. They didn't like our mix, and demanded a remix…and

then another. In between all of these mixes were days (which we were paying

studio time for because we had to leave the mix up) that dragged into weeks

while we waited for replies. Then they decided to do a mix with their

"team," which turned out to be more than just a remix, as they added

production elements and made changes in the arrangement. We waited and

waited to hear back, again. After a week or so we heard, through Jim's

attorney, that no one (including us) was happy with the work they'd done,

and the song wasn't going to be on the album. It is clear that Celine adored

the song, but politics got in the way.

 

Don"

 

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topicsearchin/alt.music.celine-dion/article$20AND$20before$3A1997$2F12$2F01|sort:date/alt.music.celine-dion/M5Q0TpmI-HY [you have to click the top bar that says Daniel Meistrup and then scroll down past the list of Jim STeinman releases for '97 to see this message]

 

If this is true it means there are mixes and remixes galore out there! More gems that could be included on a forthcoming release OMG!

[TiagoFragoso05]

I Totally adore this song <3

i can't even imagine how many unreleased songs they might have... i wonder if one day we'll hear them

[Peppercorn1991]

I Totally adore this song <3

i can't even imagine how many unreleased songs they might have... i wonder if one day we'll hear them

 

I adore this song too but I do wish it was in better quality!

 

Kev x

[TiagoFragoso05]

I adore this song too but I do wish it was in better quality!

 

Kev x

 

yeah me too, but if it was bought from a CD I wonder that it could be possible to extract it in wav or lossless format

Edited November 19, 2014 at 09:30 PM by TiagoFragoso05