The issue is not so much the contract.
It's confirmed in the tweet in the OP that they can't use the tracks. They don't say explicitly why.
Brad Buxer was a member of Jackson's production team on Sonic 3, along with a few other people.
I know. And that's why I was clarifying exactly what was said.
The opposite.
It's putting me firmly in "wait and see mode" to be honest. I mean, I would just use Deflemask to compose for the Genesis these days, since that's the tool the folks I know that compose for it use, but I'm sure Senoue has his ways and we'll see how it goes.
It was from other Sonic games, not the games in the colllection.
Luckily we don't know what the polished final versions will sound like yet.
IMO, Ice Cap would need a significant makeover. It barely fits the stage (again, imo).
But it's one of the easiest, breeziest stages of the game lol, in comparison I've always been bothered by the MJ track being so hardcore for a stage that was just happy to be there for the most part.
Well I was there near day 1 for Sonic 3, so my attachment to the stage (and song) is quite strong.
You cannot simply "just" license whatever you want. Sometimes, it can even be outright impossible if the copyright is split between multiple parties who aren't communicating (or outright cannot communicate). And yes, licensing music into a game for commercial distribution is different to having enough existing distribution rights to publish the music on youtube, just because you can do one, it doesn't give you the power to do the other.
