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<\/a><\/p>\nPlease don't sneeze.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n.<\/span>Blather A: Memories & Perspective<\/strong><\/p>\n Not the best-of, most notable, best soundtrack label stuff, but just an opinion or two on trends from the vantage of someone who started collecting for amusement (buying Jerry Goldsmith\u2019s The Swarm<\/strong> as jokey film memorabilia using bottle money), got hooked on the music (the original Twilight Zone<\/strong> series scores), appreciated and found a need to write about the music (starting with From Silents to Satellites, aka Music from the Movies), and enjoying straight Q&As with composers and music producers about what they do (er, what I\u2019m doing now).<\/p>\n One reason I don\u2019t like best-of lists is because if it\u2019s a tally of the top 5 or 10, even within a category, a lot of good music gets left off. Then there are the albums that aren\u2019t the best but are simply fun to spin, and the guilty pleasures \u2013 flawed scores that still mandate a good listen because they manage to put a smile on the face.<\/p>\n The best example is BT\u2019s Stealth<\/strong>, which may or may not have been written as a tongue-in-cheek send-up of bombastic 80s action scores. It\u2019s not great film music, but there are precious moments where the tragedy is Important<\/em>, where the desperation is Xtreme<\/em>, and the loss of a wingman is Devastating<\/em>, and those wailing, vintage Zimmerish moments \u2013 with tragic vocals – have me laughing and falling off the chair every time. It\u2019s the best guilty pleasure in my eyes, because it also sums up why director Rob Cohen is a goofball. He\u2019s sincere, and approaches his characters with gravitas, but neither Stealth<\/strong> nor Fast and Furious<\/strong> are the commercial art he believed them to be after signing off on his final cut.<\/p>\n In any event, let\u2019s move on, because lingering on Stealth<\/strong> just isn\u2019t healthy if you\u2019re not in the mood for its odeur de fromage extreme<\/em>.<\/p>\n .<\/span><\/p>\n Blather B: Changes, Gambling, and Old Music<\/strong><\/p>\n The biggest change over the past 2 years is how the pressing run of physical CDs being released has dropped among the major and mid-level soundtrack labels.<\/p>\n It\u2019s less affordable to have stock sitting on shelves for years, and the re-use fees for limited runs are more favourable, so the runs average 5000 and 3000 for major names and titles, and 1500-1000 for smaller runs. Then there\u2019s the 750-500 runs that either disappear fast, or actually take a while to disappear from distributor and merchant shelves because people aren\u2019t familiar with the scores, aren\u2019t wholly crazy about the composers, or there\u2019s a genuine generational split among film music and film fans.<\/p>\n New composers are safe from being marginalized because their work is fresh and labels have it easier in the promotion department because trailers, reviews, and home video releases are still available online, keeping a title available in the market\u2019s consciousness as it moves from theatrical to ancillary markets within a few months, now that the window between the two streams keep getting tighter.<\/p>\n A film and its corresponding score maintain a certain saturation level in media outlets, ensuring the music and the composer are easy to find online. If Screen Archives Entertainment lists a new title, just cut and paste the name and label number into Google, and there\u2019s a good chance further info will pop up. It\u2019s easy to research a title, a composer, and get some early feedback before committing $20 on a CD, making it less of a gamble.<\/p>\n Of course, that begs the question: Are people willing to chance an unknown composer instead of the familiar for twenty samolians?<\/p>\n I\u2019d assume \u2013 and maybe I\u2019m wholly wrong \u2013 that Hans Zimmer is gold within the soundtrack market because many of his prot\u00e9g\u00e9s have gone on to solo works, so fans of Zimmer will easily find a similarity of style among John Powell, Steve Jablonsky, Trevor Rabin, Klaus Badelt, and Atli \u00d6rvarsson. They\u2019re all part of a specific sound producers love, and by being embraced by the industry\u2019s most commercially-minded producers, their music is almost guaranteed some kind of commercial release.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s another variant question: How many film music fans are willing to chance cash on a pricey Italian import of a composer they\u2019ve never heard of, nor music to a film that\u2019s never been released in English?<\/p>\n If merchants like iTunes and eMusic, and labels such as MovieScore Media<\/a> or 2M1 Records<\/a> are examples, on average $8.99-$11.99 gets you a digital album of music by (primarily) a new generation of composers. To me it\u2019s akin to flipping through LP bins at Peter Dunne\u2019s Vinyl Museum and trying new names for $7-$4 and enjoying the same discovery process of gems, and the possible favourite composer.<\/p>\n Most of the Golden and Silver Age composers \u2013 music spanning the thirties to the sixties, ideally \u2013 came from the big studios, because few independent films existed outside of the studio system. There were productions aimed at drive-ins and the rare indie production, but the kind of large-scale orchestral scores from the movies playing incessantly on TCM came from Hollywood, via studios who had their own record divisions \u2013 Fox, Warner Bros., Paramount-ABC, Decca, Colpix \/ Colgems, United Artists, MGM \u2013 that are now owned by a mere handful of multinationals.<\/p>\n Some of the scores may have fallen into the public domain realm, although the 75 year limit within the U.S. still puts a strong limit on what can be released outside of the labels who own the master tapes; indie labels still have to be patient, diligent, and stubborn in negotiating with the major labels to get a classic Hollywood film score out there on CD for what\u2019s become an even \u2018nichier\u2019 market.<\/p>\n The bottom line: to get the best source materials, producers still need the cooperation of the studios. They own the physical material if not the current rights, and they\u2019re the ones taking care of them and allowing indie labels and music producers to partake in the music restoration process, which simplistically is good for the studio, the soundtrack label, and the film music fan. The release of an album pushes a catalogue title back into circulation within the media outlets \/ internet and allows for a curious search of an actor or a film to yield a link to an available score.<\/p>\n .<\/span><\/p>\n Blather C: The \u201cHmmm\u201d Factor<\/strong><\/p>\n I link film and film music reviews to the IMDB so people can get further info, and I provide soundtrack info on the composer and possible soundtrack release (via Soundtrackcollector.com) because if you like the score and composer, I want<\/em> you to know what\u2019s out there, so you can decide whether it\u2019s worth buying the music on CD, MP3, or a beat-up old LP from an online merchant. That\u2019s the ideal.<\/p>\n It\u2019s extra resource information, but it\u2019s also part of the discovery process that for me harkens back to flipping through those record bins. Something catches the eye, you pause and flip back, lift up the object, and inside your brain there\u2019s a noise that goes something like \u201cHmmmmm\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n That experience didn\u2019t disappear when LPs and CDs started to wane in shops; it\u2019s all there in online shops and label \/ distributor websites. You still drool when musical candy goes on for pages and pages, but as vast and as international as the music choices are, those big classic Hollywood scores tend to be missing, and that\u2019s perhaps due to a peculiar holdover from creating the physical product for collectors.<\/p>\n The CD is audiophile, and MP3 or Flac are secondary formats. It\u2019s a perception that probably won\u2019t change because there\u2019s a line of thinking instilled in collectors and audiophiles that says \u2018If I can hold it in my hands and it\u2019s heavy, it\u2019s real.\u2019<\/p>\n If I hold a 180 gram vinyl version of a Charles Mingus album, my brain says \u2018BETTER\u2019 because to an extent it might<\/em> be (warm analogue sound, piped through a vintage amp and turntable does<\/em> sound very, very<\/em> good<\/em>), but it also comes in a big box with a booklet that essentially proclaims \u2018This is special. Hug me. Put me on your shelf, and be proud.\u2019<\/p>\n That\u2019s sort of what comes with buying a CD of any score. The physical thing is part of appreciating the music \u2013 on your end, as the listener; and from the album\u2019s producer, who wants you to know what you just bought is also special to him \/ her.<\/p>\n The problem is the collector angle means limits placed on runs, on availability, on ease of acquisition \u2013 things digital merchants and labels don\u2019t have to worry about because the music is still there<\/em>. There\u2019s no worry it\u2019ll disappear within a few days or weeks or months, and if at some point they consider a CD release, that 500 copy run can\u2019t be perceived as wholly collector-oriented.<\/p>\n I once had a massive CD collection, and sold off the collectibles \u2013 the obvious 10-year old CDs long out of print and very hard to find, in particular. Some were sold for top dollar, others fair market value, and then there was this mass of music you simply couldn\u2019t convince anyone to buy because it just wasn\u2019t within the realm of Rare, or wasn\u2019t remarkable.<\/p>\n That\u2019s the conundrum of collecting anything: some titles will become rare and will accrue in value, but most won\u2019t, which is why in the end when you buy a CD, you buy it because you love the music and the composer. Collecting every kind of soundtrack out there won\u2019t morph into an investment; it\u2019s just a lot of stuff, most of which has little dollar value in a digital age.<\/p>\n Having 5000 CDs is like having 5000 laserdiscs, and when you die, your family will really, really hate you for leaving them with stuff they\u2019ve no idea how to unload in order to give you a decent send-off. They may cremate you, but pour your dusty grey fuzz into a used jam jar just for payback.<\/p>\n .<\/span><\/p>\n Blather D: The Marginalization Has Already Begun<\/strong><\/p>\n Going back to the digital labels who have offered equivalent CDs, I\u2019d buy CDs of Mchel Britsch\u2019s Pandorum <\/strong>and Christopher Gordon\u2019s Daybreakers<\/strong> because those scores will get regular play, and I want the best sound because the music and engineering are superb. However, for those wanting to save space and having no disdain for digital formats, those albums are still available online in non-limited digital formats.<\/p>\n The same can\u2019t be said of the classic Hollywood films, and I\u2019m sure soundtrack album producers have wrestled with the problem of whether to go CD, CD + digital, or just digital.<\/p>\n Perhaps there\u2019s a perception that digital cheapens the importance of a classic score, or perhaps it\u2019s stubbornness in not letting go of that mentality in which one must cater to the collector because it\u2019s the only viable market: it\u2019s specific, and has a history of buying.<\/p>\n The problems: Who is exactly buying those classic scores? And does catering to the collector market marginalize the music of the forties, fifties and sixties to an older or wealthier clientele?<\/p>\n Are younger film music fans losing out because their buying habits are largely digital? Or does a physical product hinder a label\u2019s chances at penetrating different generations of film and film music fans?<\/p>\n In any ideal world, if you punch in \u201cPoltergeist +Jerry Goldsmith\u201d, the home video and soundtrack album should pop up, with links leading towards FSM\u2019s new 2-disc set. Same if you type in \u201cNight of the Living Dead<\/a> +soundtrack album\u201d and yet Zero Day Releasing\u2019s home page to buy the CD.<\/p>\n Taken further, if you punch in \u201cRoy Webb +Enchanted Cottage\u201d, there should be an available digital album of the acetate of this small, lovely score to a forgotten 1945 RKO film, except that\u2019s not the case, and I wish the music of Webb, Paul Sawtell, Albert Glasser, Lyn Murray, or many of the brilliant, classically trained composers of old Hollywood were available digitally because the desire isn\u2019t to have a physical object on the shelf \u2013 it\u2019s to listen to the music.<\/p>\n The same goes for the mass of Italian composers whose work is sometimes limited to 500 or 750 copies. If these albums are in fact available digitally, the labels haven\u2019t properly advertised the alternative resources.<\/p>\n