Nova On How ECW Got Away With Using Licensed Music For Theme Songs Without Royalties

Nova is best known for his run in ECW where his theme song was Beastie Boys’ “Intergalactic,” and he recently talked about how that came about and how ECW didn’t pay royalties on the songs. The ECW alumnus spoke with Fightful’s Sean Ross Sapp for a new interview and you can see some highlights below:

On his appearance in RetroMania: “A gentleman named Mike—who’s a great guy, by the way—he put the whole game together. He got the whole thing together for us. Mike is great. He put it together. He reached out. We talk about it. A friend of mine, Mike Archer—who used to work in WWE, worked in Acclaim, too—he was the middleman for it. He reached out. We helped put the whole thing together. We could not have been happier to be a part of that game. We’re on the cabinet. We’re showcased in the game. People loved it. I think he’s working on a sequel. I’m pretty sure. I hope that he does. It’s gonna be cool, man. I was flattered to be a part of it.”

On ECW not paying royalties for licensed music: “Because nobody in ECW ever thought that deeply into it. I mean, looking back, I know how we did it. We just played the music over the PA and the house system. So it wasn’t piped through certain channels. That’s how I was told, years later, how we did it. But there was no royalties paid or anything like that ‘cause I think we just piped it in. It’d be the same as if an audience was sitting there and chanting. You don’t capture them through a certain channel. So I think that was kind of the same gimmick, I guess. But that’s why all the stuff on the Network and all that other stuff has been changed over the years, because we didn’t have the rights to use any of that music. But when you’re watching the Sandman enter the ring and it’s not Enter Sandman playing, it doesn’t have the same effect.”

On using “Intergalactic” for his theme song: “I loved it. My friend Randy, he was the sound guy of ECW, he’s the one who actually came up with that. We were done with B.W.O. and I was on my own and we needed a new song, he came up with Intergalactic. That whole ‘intergalactic planetary,’ people loved it. It started catching on towards the end where when that music would hit and I’d come out, people knew stuff was about to happen. So it was cool. I had a great time in ECW. I loved every minute of being there.”