Sam Spence

Spence had long been involved in a controversial situation with the NFL regarding the rights to perform or use his music in any media outlets. The case was first reported by musicologist Alexander Klein in a 2013 article published by Film Score Monthly magazine. Through personal conversations with the composer, Klein reported that Spence was convinced to sign a contract that relinquished all of the rights to his music to NFL Films under the promise that the enterprise would return the document to the composer. After allegedly receiving a phone call in which NFL Films claimed that his music had been stolen and illicitly used, Spence said, "They would send me a paper to sign to the effect that NFL Films was empowered to protect the music in a court of law. In all sincerity, I did not see a possible 'plot' here at all. However, I unwittingly 'punctured their balloon' by explaining that they didn't have to bother with this at all because GEMA (a German state-authorized performance rights organization) would protect my music and legally proceed after anyone who used it without permission." As Klein reported, "soon afterwards, GEMA sent Spence a video copy of the film and asked him to make a list of "where and how long" his music appeared in it. Thus, the composer dutifully watched the film in order to find possible fragments of his music in it. Yet, the outcome was unexpected." In Spence's own words: "I was surprised to find not one note of my music in the film. Naïve, trusting person that I was, it never dawned on me it could possibly be a hoax to get me to sign a forthcoming document." According to Spence, "the next 'trick' came several months later. I received a phone call in which I was told that NFL Films had a court case in two days against someone who had illegally used some of my music. Their lawyer had sent me a paper via FedEx, which they said would be arriving shortly (in that same afternoon) for my signature. After signed, the FedEx courier would immediately send it back to them so they would have it in time for the court case." According to Klein's report, the composer received the paper in the afternoon and read it but, in Spence's words, "after reading the paper, I called them and said that I could not sign a document with that wording. But they assured me that as soon as the case was over, they would send it back to me." Still unsuspecting, and trusting in the company's words, Spence signed the document and sent it to NFL Films. He never got the paper back and, to this day, the late composer's family is not receiving royalties for the many uses of Spence's music in American television shows and commercials.

One of the hallmarks of Spence's music is its intangible familiarity. Two film score enthusiasts have pointed out the similarity of his more popular themes to several contemporary film scores; one has criticized them of "get[ting] too close to their obvious film inspiration". They have lauded some of his compositions as "cool homage[s]", while describing others as "barely disguised" "knock-offs".

• 1970: "Wie ein Blitz" – Main theme for the Durbridge series on German network TV (Single, Kuckuck Schallplatten) • 1971: The Art of the Synthesizer – Interesting, Unusual and Melodic Moog Sounds (LP, Kuckuck Schallplatten) • 1972: Fantastic Sounds: TV Themes and Pop Covers (LP, Kuckuck Schallplatten) • 1998: The Power And The Glory: The Original Music & Voices of NFL Films • 2007: Sam Spence: Our Man in Munich (Allscore – Indigo) • 2009: Autumn Thunder: 40 Years of NFL Films Music