FamilyMan wrote:One theory from personal experience. Video clips and music licensing requires unanimity from all the stakeholders (as we know from the oft told Sopranos story). Knowing Perry rarely grants approvals such as these without being able to control the narrative, it's got to be a rights and clearances nightmare, no pun intended.
I think you are talking about synch rights. To explain this, Journey could go out and tour and perform "Oh, Sherry" without Perry's permission. They could even release a live version on CD...as long as they pay all the fees. But, they can NOT release it on DVD or any other video unless they buy the synch rights from whatever publisher holds the copyright. So, yes, the creators of Soprano's had to get Perry's publisher's permission, or Perry himself if he still controls the copyright to his songs, in order to use DSB in a video...any video of a song is like this. In addition, I think there are rights to how your public images are used. So, any video of band members probably needs permission from those band member.
But, yes, this would be a bit of a headache...or they could not have any videos of songs or band members who refused to have their picture shown...could be a bit of a bore if that happened.