Viki

What is going on with songs disappearing from episodes?

#1

I used to work on a drama called Defendant and a few days ago I decided to casually check the subtitles. In episode 12 at the end there used to be the song ‘I love you baby’ by Frankie Vailli. Back then I had subbed it, but this time the song had disappeared and instead someone was listening to a Korean song.
I went into the sub editor to remove the lyrics, because they wouldn’t make sense anymore if there is no audio for them in the episode. But when I was in the subtitle editor, the audio of Vailli’s song was there and not the Korean song. You can see it here, starting from 56:10: Defendant ep 12
I had to go into the sub editor again and I got this message: Before subtitles can be added, this video needs segments. Learn how or start segmenting.
This is strange because the series is on viki since 2018 and has been translated into 15 languages.

Anyway, why do songs disappear/get replaced with other songs in the episode, but they stay as they are in the subtitle editor? Is this a problem with my device or do other people notice it too?. Isn’t this very confusing for viewers and translators? I just like to know what is happening and why it’s like this.

#2

The same as when some dramas are no longer available … The content owners of the dramas, pay for a certain music or a certain song - for a certain time - when this time is up, then this music/song is no longer allowed to be used and must be taken off the drama.

It’s another issue that Viki seems to replace the video with the new audio and synchronizes it to the subtitles but does not inform anyone of the teams of the change (at least I didn’t hear of a case that it happened, if anyone got a notice, feel free to let us know). So, it will stay the same until someone notices it and makes changes.

Apparently not.

It can because sometimes the story does even mention it, so it can, but that doesn’t change a thing of the working habits of the license holders, if they had to re-new a license for a song and actually did it, we wouldn’t know anyway.

#3

It’s too bad this can randomly happen just because of licenses. In another episode, they even removed two different audio versions of people singing themselves. One sentence you hear them singing, the next you don’t and only see the lyrics appear. This shouldn’t have problems with copyright/licensing

#4

Yes it’s a license restriction. In Doctor Romantic 2 there are different songs depending on the region in some episodes. Lucky they are instrumental so no lyrics involved. And a little while ago I watched a Kdrama elsewhere and then saw Viki had it licensed and all of a sudden I noticed a song was a totally different song as well.

#5

the irony of no communication of course is the fact viki is owned yes, by an alleged communication giant.

songs being replaced and no warning? dramas go we aren’t told - etc.

but we are supposed to gleefully and merrily communicate back with them on demand…lol. surveys…beta testing…for free…well…

if anything less useful communication is the unfortunate trend…and I guess we’ll all just need to deal with this one as well. thanks for posting.

#6

So we should delete the segments. Do you need any of us to do that for you? I still have AL, I used to be the CM because current CM was on hiatus.

#7

Can these segments be removed? I thought it’s no longer possible once they are subtitled. If it’s possible I’ll send you a private message tomorrow. I’m not sure if all episodes have removed audio now and where, but I’ll tell the you the ones that I know

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