I’m sure he was surprised they played Space Dye Vest and Don’t Look Past Me - aside from You Or Me, those are probably the rarest and most unlikely songs of the entire first MP era to appear in a live set. I’d love that level of depth to continue, with FII b-sides or more obscure songs being brought out.
Raw Dog!
Raw Dog!
Raw Dog!
Not only obscure and often forgotten, but it's an instrumental, so James can use it as a vocal break between other songs!
-Marc.
I don't know how contracts and ownership works all that much when it comes to the music industry, but would DT be able to play that? Or does the gaming studio have the rights to it?
I'll preface this by saying that we don't know what contracts DT might have signed, and that could change things.
According to the copyright registration -
https://cocatalog.loc.gov/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?v1=6&ti=1,6&Search%5FArg=raw%20dog&Search%5FCode=TALL&CNT=25&PID=BQCOFUVdcNuj8I9b8MbiQHc9JmtGT&SEQ=20240301112720&SID=3 - Raw Dog was written by JM, JP and MP (not JR). They were the authors under the U.S. Copyright Act and, therefore, owned the copyright. The copyright registration indicates that they transferred the copyright to Ytse Jams Inc. (as they do with all of their musical compositions) and WB Music Corp. As you might expect, Ytse Jams Inc. is corporation owned and controlled by the members of Dream Theater.
Because DT retained co-ownership of the copyright, it has the right under section 106 of the Copyright Act to perform the work publicly, UNLESS there is a contract that says otherwise. Even if they did not retain co-ownership, they could perform it publicly at any venue that has a blanket license from whichever of ASCAP or BMI that administers the copyright on behalf of Ytse Jams Inc. That's why cover bands can legally play cover songs. Legitimate music venues have blanket licenses from ASCAP and BMI in exchange for royalty payments.
Tl;dr: Unless they signed a contract with the video game company agreeing never to play the song live, they have the legal right to do so.