Yes, I've been working like a madman on JJP#4. See you at Expo.

I can't speak to the licensing process as I don't do that. I am subject to what my client gets and doesn't get.
I know what the market wants. I will not violate copyright to get there. However there are lots of properties rhythm, orchestration, genre that are not copyrightable. So I call what I do 'channeling' where I create a new original piece that evokes the same kind of feeling as the work that inspired it.
This is my second rodeo on this genre. I did a lot of research the first time around. It is eleven years since I created that body of work. I am a much better writer and orchestrator than I was then.

The other thing to take into consideration is that the music is being created with pinball in mind. From any given soundtrack there are a lot of evocative tracks which are not suitable to be used behind pinball action or in an arcade.

It is just a little frustrating that no matter what I do it will be rejected because it is not the music from the film. I get it. I am a big fan of several of the Klaus Badelt music cues from the first movie.

JPOTC is turning out to be a great pinball game and I am trying to do it justice. I hope lots of players will have many enjoyable hours playing it.

ddt

I wouldn't ever be motivated to comment on matters of taste. You like pirates or you don't. But gross matters of fact....

Every chapter (and there are 125 of them) has an introduction featuring video footage extracted from the five films. Five multiball intros, five wizard mode intros (and their successful completions) feature video footage from the five films. And there is more than that.

Over 200 lines spoke by Gibbs in the five movies were re-recorded by Kevin McNalley (the original actor featured in all five films).

Technically, 65% of the pin's music is original music written specifically for playing a Pirates of the Caribbean pinball by myself. The remainder came from Disney Studios, original custom music written for an unpublished Pirates of the Caribbean video game. Most of the Disney music assets feature live orchestra (which pinball companies cannot afford in custom music). I am a huge fan of the Klaus Badelt score for the first film and I would have liked to adapted his themes for the JJP POTC pinball. JJP tried very hard to license them but it was impossible. What I have written is working so give it a chance.

22 Characters from the film have been artfully woven into the fabric of the game by the team. 22 characters are on the playfield, they are featured in the game modifiers, they are linked to all the shots.

If you pay attention JJP's Pirates of the Caribbean Pinball machine is very far from a generic Pirate pinball.

ddt

Here is how it works: Every character has their own musical theme. When a chapter starts the music will be the character tune of one of the characters involved in the chapter. We keep track of when the character tunes were last used and we choose the one least recently played. If you play enough games eventually you will hear all the character tunes.

Each movie's multiball has its own music, each movie's Wizard mode has its own music. There is a background for Tortuga enabled as well a multiball enabled. There is a tune for Arrrrr Frenzy.

It is safe to say that there is a fair amount of custom pirate music in JJP's Pirates of the Caribbean.

ddt