It was inevitable I would become a James Bond fan when my parents and my brother took me to the cinema to watch the 1981 Roger Moore classic For Your Eyes Only. I was one. So, I jumped at the opportunity to interview Bond composer David Arnold’s lawyer Howard Ricklow.

Ricklow, a partner at law firm Spencer West, has represented Arnold throughout his career and most recently advised the composer on 007 First Light - not a Bond film but a Bond game.

Bond fans fell in love with Arnold after he released Shaken Not Stirred: The David Arnold James Bond Project, an album of cover versions of 007 theme songs. He then went on to compose the music for Tomorrow Never Dies, The World Is Not Enough, Die Another Day, Casino Royale (the Daniel Caig version) and Quantum of Solace.

Arnold was engaged to compose 007 First Light's theme song. It was Arnold's first video game and there were new players involved: not just the video game company but Amazon, which had just taken over creative control of the Bond franchise and 'silently supervising'.

First Light wasn't Arnold's first Bond song - he worked with the late Chris Cornell on one of my favourites, You Know My Name, from Casino Royale. For the video game, he worked with singer-songwriter Lana Del Rey. ‘First thing I was cognisant of was that that she was probably signed to a recording label,' Ricklow recalls. 'Now we get into rights.’ For instance, Del Rey might have an exclusive publisher. Arnold, on the other hand, is not signed to a record company ‘so he is very much free to do what he wants’.

I learn that lyrics and tunes are protected separately under legislation. Lyrics will often be written by a different person. Here, there would be no separate lyricist - the song was a joint effort between Arnold and Del Rey. Ricklow was dealing not only with Del Rey's lawyers but also lawyers for the video game. Who wrote what? Who owns the composition? Let's not forget about Amazon, who were 'extremely conscious of the iconic legacy of Bond'. Unsurprisingly, there were ‘long negotiations’ that resulted in a very detailed contract.

Just like the missions Bond is sent on, dealing with music rights is a delicate operation. It's well worth reading Ricklow's thought leadership piece for NODE magazine on how music rights have evolved as major entertainment franchises expand beyond film into interactive media.

I’m not sure what I was expecting when I headed to YouTube to listen to First Light. I certainly wasn’t expecting a full-blown title sequence that wouldn't look out of place in an actual Bond film. Video games have come a long way since I played GoldenEye on my brother’s Nintendo 64 in the late 90s.

 

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