Tony Khan Explains Why AEW Is Willing To Pay High Costs Of Licensed Music

AEW has come far since its debut back in 2019, as the company has seen growth in quite a few avenues over the years. AEW President Tony Khan has been working hard to keep fans happy with his booking decisions, but not everything has been received positively by fans. Now it appears Tony Khan explained why AEW is willing to pay high costs of licensed music.

Tony Khan cares about making sure every single detail will add to the overall experience fans get during AEW shows. This includes AEW using licensed music for the likes of RVD, who came out to ‘Walk’ by Pantera.

While speaking to the Battleground Podcast. Tony Khan talked about getting licensed music for RVD. He then explained how sometimes the cost for music isn’t reasonable, which was the case for Bryan Danielson’s ‘Final Countdown.’

That’s why I wanted to pay the extra and go the extra mile to get ‘Walk’ by Pantera,” he admitted. “Pantera was great and worked with us and we worked out a reasonable deal. I compare music licenses and wrestling to trades in pro sports. It’s like, you can do your best, but every trade is its own transaction, it has to be between, at least two willing parties.

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Sometimes people ask for money that I don’t think is reasonable, other times we have gotten deals that I thought were very fair.

Every great moment where we’ve licensed music, we still have that music, I paid for the rights in perpetuity,” he said. “I’ve had a lot of other opportunities to license music and work with a lot of great artists. We’ve done all kinds of great stuff, and hopefully, someday all of that will be available for people to watch in perpetuity on the library forever.”

Tonny Khan also rejected the Insane Clown Posse’s offer to be part of an AEW show in Detroit. Regardless, Tony Khan will do what he thinks is best for the company and that’s all that matters.

What’s your view on this story? Do you think Tony Khan is doing the right thing by purchasing licensed music? Let us know in the comments!