NEW SOUNDTRACK RECORD LABEL LAUNCHES FOR CHRISTMAS

Burbank, 11th December, 2002 – After years of toil and strain, producer Robin Esterhammer is proud to announce the arrival of the Perseverance Records label. Focusing on soundtracks to film and TV works, the label is committed to:

- Seeking out long sought after treasures.
- Championing lesser known scores.
- Providing the best sound quality possible from available sources.
- Including the input of the composer, director and other key people involved in the film (whenever possible).
- Featuring insert booklets with extensive liner notes and art.

With a number of releases already in the works, the label is looking ahead to a long run of quality output through 2003 and beyond.

The inaugural release first to make it off the running blocks is PRINCE VALIANT from composer David Bergeaud. With a resume that included EARTH 2 for television and THE UNNAMEABLE for film, Bergeaud was delighted with the opportunity of working on an epic fantasy adventure feature. The 1997 film was the second to bear the title, both having been adapted from the classic Hal Foster comic strip – but in very different ways!

Starring: Stephen Moyer, Edward Fox, Katherine Heigl, Udo Kier, Ron Perlman, Warwick Davis (!), Joanna Lumley (!!), and Chesney Hawkes (!!!), it’s the tale of an adventurous squire with a secret destiny, who falls for a Princess, who joins up with an unlikely crew, who faces up to the pall of tyranny, etc etc… Well before a certain other medieval knight’s tale attempted a contemporisation in language and music, PRINCE VALIANT is played for laughs as often as thrills. To that end, Bergeaud’s score features light and folksy moments as well as bold heroic motifs.

The composer’s remembrances are featured in the detailed booklet, compiled alongside liner notes from film music journalist Paul Tonks and artwork from both the film and the original comic strip.

This promotional release is limited to 1000 copies and is not available in stores.

Coming up next from Perseverance:

The long-awaited DR. PHIBES RISES AGAIN composed by John Gale!

It's sort getting tiresome after a while, and seems to be a hell of a lot more lucrative than releasing commercially.

Core soundtrack fans are a small community. And there is already too much supply.

I'm sure Robin Esterhammer wants to do a great job and has a passion about this. Anyone nuts enough to open a record label has to love what they're doing.

But sheesh, to anyone else wanting to open a record label of the "Limited Releases" type: don't.

Try opening a record label which release commercial stuff at a normal price.

quote:

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Originally posted by Dinko:
Try opening a record label which release commercial stuff at a normal price.

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Second, note this comment from the webpage: This CD was produced as a promotional item for the composer and is not available in stores. We are only selling a few copies to collectors to recoup production costs.

Do I need to go through this again? No, I don't. Everybody knows my thoughts on this issue.

Cut it out, promos suck. Bumper stickers coming soon.

quote:

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Originally posted by PAUL TONKS:
...
The inaugural release first to make it off the running blocks is PRINCE VALIANT from composer David Bergeaud.
...

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quote:

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Originally posted by jonathan_little:
Jeron, what exactly are the roadblocks to releasing a promo?

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Things have gotten a bit out of hand!! While it's currently the golden age for small firms proliferate and to release, re-release, or re-record scores, it's the dark ages for our wallets!

Consider you have at the very least labels like Hexacord, Prometheus, Silva Screen (UK), the Varese Sarabande CD Club, Rhino Handmade, Marco Polo (re-recordings), Harkit Records, SAE, Intrada, FSM, Disques Cinemusique (Canada), Cobra Records (Germany), Percepto Records, La La Land Records, and 1M1 (here in Australia) ALL currently churning out the goodies! I've probably forgotten some others too! That's of course in addition to new releases to new films by the major labels, including, in our case, the many dozens of routine productions/year by Varese Sarabande. The production rate, world-wide, is already around the 700/year mark, according to my back-of-the-envelope calculations.

And yes, I know I don’t have to even remotely consider having to spend additional money on all these additional labels releasing all these additional products, but I’m still of the opinion that things have now gone totally over the top, all the more so for those who don’t have high incomes (students) or those with other more essential/required financial needs (young families/parents, mortgages, etc.).

Far from yet another label releasing stuff, many of us could use a slowing down of the rate of releases by already existing labels. The end result, if things continue as they are, is that there will be far too much product for the available fan base and their disposable income, and some existing labels will go out of business.

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Originally posted by John Prytz:
While it's currently the golden age for small firms proliferate and to release, re-release, or re-record scores, it's the dark ages for our wallets!

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Not if you don't buy everything that comes out under the sun, like me.

Their first release isn't what you'd call "commercial"...

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Originally posted by Kris:

Funny thing, I have this CD since the movie came out. I guess it only got released in Europe.

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quote:

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Originally posted by John Prytz:
Enough is enough already!
And yes, I know I don’t have to even remotely consider having to spend additional money on all these additional labels releasing all these additional products, but I’m still of the opinion that things have now gone totally over the top, all the more so for those who don’t have high incomes (students) or those with other more essential/required financial needs (young families/parents, mortgages, etc.).

Far from yet another label releasing stuff, many of us could use a slowing down of the rate of releases by already existing labels. The end result, if things continue as they are, is that there will be far too much product for the available fan base and their disposable income, and some existing labels will go out of business.

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That's right! Send film music itself back into the dark ages! Less is more!

One surefire way to keep film music a fringe corner of the music world, without much respectability, is to release less and less of it.

Talk to some of the older collectors (not me) on this board and others--they'll tell you that today's age of plenty is far better than the lean years of the 1970's, when sountrack releases were few and far between. They'll also remind you that there are untold treasures of film music from earlier eras still locked in the studio vaults, rotting and disappearing year by year. Do you really want fewer of those almost-lost scores to get released?

quote:

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Originally posted by JClark:

That's right! Send film music itself back into the dark ages! Less is more!

One surefire way to keep film music a fringe corner of the music world, without much respectability, is to release less and less of it.

Talk to some of the older collectors (not me) on this board and others--they'll tell you that today's age of plenty is far better than the lean years of the 1970's, when sountrack releases were few and far between. They'll also remind you that there are untold treasures of film music from earlier eras still locked in the studio vaults, rotting and disappearing year by year. Do you really want fewer of those almost-lost scores to get released? [/B]

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Re-read what I said! I said a slowing down of the rate of releases. A slowing down to the level where the average film score fan can afford to buy what is on offer. A sustainable rate of releases. For example, if the average film score fan (the consumer) can afford one score release a week, and the average film score fan only wants say 25% of what is released, then the sustainable release market for all labels is roughly 200+ releases/year. What does it benefit us all to have 700+ releases/year and increasing at a rapid rate of knots? Take your argument to an extreme and why not release EVERYTHING in the vaults NOW! Would that make you happy having EVERYTHING on offer today but only being able to afford a tiny fraction of what you want, perhaps hoping against hope they stayed around long enough before being pulped, such that you could keep chipping away at the pile? Or would you rather they be released at a rate your financial situation could realistically deal with (not to mention the time available for listening to them)?

Jeron, I have no intention of starting a record label. So cut the argument of "Well, if you don't like it, why don't you do better?". That is the dumbest argument put forward the moment someone (in this case you) doesn't like someone else's whining (in this case me).
I have no intention of opening a record label which deals with commercial stuff - there are enough of those.
But I have even less of an intention to open a label dealing with special limited overpriced releases - there are WAAAYY too many of these.
Your argument would hold if I had either of the intentions above.
On the other hand, if I did have the intention of starting up my own record label, I would do everything possible to make it a commercial one. And if that turns out to be impossible, then I would abandon the record label idea altogether.

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Originally posted by John Prytz:
One other point I should of made is that if the rate of score releases vastly exceeds people's financial ability to obtain them, and that situation is an ever ongoing one (and seemingly getting worse every passing year), then "wish lists" keep growing and growing and growing, ultimately resulting in total fustration. If catering for your hobby becomes too fustrating, then you just might give it a miss entirely and turn to something else!

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heh... I'll agree with that. Last month I had decided to spend spend 20$ to get another Alfred Newman CD from FSM or SAE, but I ended up taking a trip to the local HMV store and spending the money on an excellent 7-CD set of Brahms orchestral works instead. Instead of 1 crummy sounding mono CD, I got 7 great-sounding digital CDs.
Screw film music.

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Originally posted by John Prytz:
One other point I should of made is that if the rate of score releases vastly exceeds people's financial ability to obtain them, and that situation is an ever ongoing one (and seemingly getting worse every passing year), then "wish lists" keep growing and growing and growing, ultimately resulting in total fustration. If catering for your hobby becomes too fustrating, then you just might give it a miss entirely and turn to something else! I've thought about doing just that on the grounds that I feel I'm getting close to the point where I really just can't cope with the current pace anymore. Maybe I should just quit the game and be satisified with what I have and not worry about any more additions!

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Of course that's a valid point. Obviously most people manage to find their own happy medium, where they're able to cultivate sub-specialties, or buy more selectively within a category, or quit altogether.

But don't forget that this is ART we're talking about. If you slow the pace of releases, or wish that there were fewer start-up labels, you are in effect arguing for less of the music to *ever* be released. I guess that's the heart of my reaction to your posts: Do you really want less music to be released, knowing that that also means that some music will never be released?

Maybe market saturation will force some labels to fold, leaving only a few survivors. But even the labels that fold will have left behind the music, a potentially invaluable artistic legacy. Better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.

I try to get as many of the Limited release stuff as I can and there is just so much of it that despite having concentrated on catching up with all these limited releases, I am further behind than ever.

Consider this (January):

2 new ones from Monstrous Movie Music that’s about 40 bucks
2 new ones from FSM another 45
1 from Varese at 20.00 (If I don’t catch up soon, I’ll be even further behind.

That’s over a hundred right there.

What about regular commercial releases? I still don’t have Nemisis or Two Towers – There’s another $30, if I’m lucky.

I don’t have any of the SAE Alfred Newman discs, I’d like all those.

Prometheus is supposed to release the Swarm, another 30$ bucks gone

The Red River re-recording from Marco Polo- Another 16$ gone.

This doesn’t even count new commercial releases I don’t know about yet.

In fact, I have a wish list that I keep in Excel and to fill my current wish list would take 1432.27 dollars not counting shipping. None of the above items are on it. Those are all in addition to what I would already like to buy.

I need all The Brigham Young stuff, Almost all the Prometheus stuff, all the SAE stuff and I doubt I’ll succeed.

I know what you’re thinking, don’t be a pig, just buy what you really want and don’t worry about it. The trouble is I’d really like to hear all those archival recordings and learn more about the golden age composers and the silver age ones as well.

I remember Varese’s CD Club from the early nineties and I know things can vanish forever. I have been involved in other collectibles and I have seen this before. More and more product, all of it good, floods the market until critical mass is reached and the entire thing implodes and people lose their shirts and we end up with no one taking any chance on releasing anything.

quote:

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Originally posted by JClark:

But don't forget that this is ART we're talking about. If you slow the pace of releases, or wish that there were fewer start-up labels, you are in effect arguing for less of the music to *ever* be released. I guess that's the heart of my reaction to your posts: Do you really want less music to be released, knowing that that also means that some music will never be released?

[/B]

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I'm not sure I follow the logic here. I've never said anything about not wanting historical film music ever released, rather just having those releases stretched over a longer time frame if that means that more fans ultimately end up with what they want (albeit over a longer time frame).

A parallel I can think of is having a case of wine. If you buy it and drink it in one sitting, you'll be broke (and probably suffer)! If you buy and drink the same quantity over several weeks, you'll derive the same pleasure, (probably suffer less) and also have a extra payday or two to top up your wallet!

The number of retrospective (unreleased) scores is fixed. Let's say for the sake of this discussion that there remains 5,000 historical scores yet to be released. Let's say that these are being currently released at the rate of 250 a year (world wide). It would thus take another 20 years to get these to market. But what if score fans can't cope with that rate? I'm all in favor of getting all 5,000 released, only perhaps over the next 30 years or 40 years, if that means that those who want them can end up getting them and not having to constantly afix priorities, putting off again and again those "9 out of 10" wants because there are too many "10 out of 10" releases coming out!.

This is a long term hobby - we don't need everything now. Yet because this seems to be a boom time for digging into film music archives and releasing music to the fans, more and more small labels are being started up, jumping onto the bandwagon, saturating, and perhaps ultimately killing the market. That's my opinion anyway

Now clearly those historical film scores in most immediate danger of disintegrating should be catered for (released) first. Those already past rescue can be re-recorded at leisure. Historical unreleased scores most in demand by fans should also get priority treatment.

Yes, by all means let's have it all released - ultimately. But in the meantime let's slow the release pace to where the majority of fans can afford to get the majority of what they want while it's available.

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Originally posted by Beatty:
Just buy the good stuff. It's not all good, you know. Some of it is actually crap.

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That point of view reflects poorly on of my favorite quotes, which is "different strokes for different folks!"

Or in other words, one film score fan's "good" is another fan's "crap" and vice versa!

1) Commercial / Promo. Prince Valiant is having 1000 copies
pressed & isn't going to be available through regular outlets. The
next release - Dr. Phibes Rises Again - is having 3000 copies
pressed & *will* be widely available. Which level of availability
is attributed to which project will be determined on a case by
case basis, & I will ensure it is made clear in future announcements.

2) Yes - there was an earlier Prince Valiant album. Prinz Eisenherz
came out on ARK21 Records (7243 8 33299 2 2) in 1997 &
had the following tracklisting:

Prinz Eisenherz Theme - David Bergeaud 2:05
"These Are The Days..." Dialogue 0:20
The Tournament - David Bergeaud 3:19
What Are We Waiting For - Alannah Myles / Zucchero 3:59
Rainy Night - David Bergeaud 4:56
Do You Really Want To Know Me ? - Alannah Myles 3:06
The Duel / The Beach - David Bergeaud 4:07
Until I'm Loving You - Soraya 3:29
Tavern - Firouzeh Afsharnia 1:32
The Obelisk - David Bergeaud 3:15
"I Want To Be A Knight" / Back To Life - David Bergeaud 3:12
Marriage Proposal - David Bergeaud 3:13
Woman I Love You - Angelo Palladino 4:03

The new album from Perseverance doesn't have the songs or dialogue.
Instead it's far more representative of David Bergeaud's score:

Main Title - 2:04
Arctic - 2:43
The Tournament - 3:30
The Joust - 3:32
Leaving Camelot - 1:26
Rainy Night - 4:59
The Castle - 3:00
The Duel - 2:41
Rescuing Gawain - 2:13
The Beach - 1:14
Tavern # 1 - 1:35
Tavern # 2 - :38
The Obelisk - 3:20
Pechet's Launch - 1:41
"I Want To Be A Knight" - 1:15
Final Confrontation - 1:30
Back To Life - 3:11
King Arthur's Blessings - 1:50

3) Yes - Bergeaud's Earth 2 has some cracking material, but I'm
sorry to say I don't know of any plans to release at this time.

4) Also sorry to say there are no plans to release The Abominable
Dr. Phibes, either by cleaning up the existing LP or working with
available sources.

5) My only reaction to the (mainly Message Board) line of thought
that a new soundtrack label is flooding the market / putting a strain
on the collector's wallet etc, is: A) No one's putting a gun to anyone's
head & making anybody buy every single soundtrack album that
comes out. B) I'm personally thrilled whenever I hear that someone's
releasing older scores. No, I can't possibly afford everything I like
either (even if I had the time to listen to half of it). But compared to
any of them never being available, I'd much rather have the choice
to obtain them as & when I can. C) I am experiencing a newfound
respect for everyone who works behind the scenes at producing
historical soundtrack albums (especially the prolific FSM guys). If
anyone actually had the time to explain the hardships & endless
disappointments that are encountered, I'd hope some of the knee-
jerk negative reactions I've seen would be quickly & apologetically
retracted.

6) On a happier note - I'm extremely gratified by the far greater
number of enthusiastic well-wishing messages & positive enquiries
about the label & releases. I will reply to some of the in-depth
queries shortly, but any directly related to the Prince Valiant,
please direct to the address from the Announcement:
robin@6942.net

I hope that's cleared up a lot!

Thank you all,

PAUL TONKS

What bothers me most are promo releases. I feel this practice is just ripping off the fans and collectors of the film score community, so that a composer and/or label can promote themselves for free by using the money of their fans.

If you want money from your fans, give a concert. Don't steal the music from the copyright holder and the orchestra and then try to produce revenue from it. Manufacturing an item that has a "for promotional use only, not for sale" disclaimer on it, with the intent of selling it all along, is just plain wrong.

I'm very happy about the announcement about PERSEVERANCE RECORDS.

Anyone who complains about $20 for a "limited release" should just haul their butt over to Tower Records and see the "list price" on any Varese title or major record label's CD. We're talking $18.99 here folks. What's $1.00 more for something that is produced by soundtrack fans FOR soundtrack fans.

Face it, the general public is not banging down any doors for "Dragonwyck," "Dr. Phibes Rises Again," or "The Racers." We're lucky there are people out there that ARE willing to produce these scores for CD so that we can enjoy them for years to come.

I don't buy EVERY CD that any label releases. I have to pick & choose my titles carefully as I don't have enough money to get everything right away. I still don't have the FSM "Logan's Run," but I know one day I will.

I would rather spend the $20 or so on a limited release to a Soundtrack Label than give that amount to Sony for "Maid in Manhattan" which has only 2 Alan Silvestri tracks. If I am that much of a completist I'll just wait until I find the CD used for $2.

quote:

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Originally posted by PAUL TONKS:
1) Commercial / Promo. Prince Valiant is having 1000 copies
pressed & isn't going to be available through regular outlets.

5) My only reaction to the (mainly Message Board) line of thought
that a new soundtrack label is flooding the market / putting a strain
on the collector's wallet etc, is: A) No one's putting a gun to anyone's
head & making anybody buy every single soundtrack album that
comes out. B) I'm personally thrilled whenever I hear that someone's
releasing older scores. No, I can't possibly afford everything I like
either (even if I had the time to listen to half of it). But compared to
any of them never being available, I'd much rather have the choice
to obtain them as & when I can. C) I am experiencing a newfound
respect for everyone who works behind the scenes at producing
historical soundtrack albums (especially the prolific FSM guys). If
anyone actually had the time to explain the hardships & endless
disappointments that are encountered, I'd hope some of the knee-
jerk negative reactions I've seen would be quickly & apologetically
retracted.

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This is exactly what I was talking about. With only 1000 being released, I’ll have to act pretty quickly to get that release. Which means that another limited release will have to be put off.

I put Wild Bunch off so long that I missed it. Luckily I was able to obtain a copy through another source.

I have nothing against a hundred or even thousand soundtrack companies starting. I just worry that this rate of growth may not be sustainable. There are only so many dollars to be chased. When you keep dividing that pie up into smaller and smaller pieces, eventually somebody starves.

As far as knee-jerk negative reactions being quickly and apologetically retracted, don’t hold your breath. Nobody explains anything other than to say we should be grateful for what we get and if we don’t like it, we don’t have to buy it. I’m sure that is exactly what we will do.

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Originally posted by Bond1965:
Here Here Paul!

I'm very happy about the announcement about PERSEVERANCE RECORDS.

Anyone who complains about $20 for a "limited release" should just haul their butt over to Tower Records and see the "list price" on any Varese title or major record label's CD. We're talking $18.99 here folks. What's $1.00 more for something that is produced by soundtrack fans FOR soundtrack fans.

Face it, the general public is not banging down any doors for "Dragonwyck," "Dr. Phibes Rises Again," or "The Racers." We're lucky there are people out there that ARE willing to produce these scores for CD so that we can enjoy them for years to come.

I don't buy EVERY CD that any label releases. I have to pick & choose my titles carefully as I don't have enough money to get everything right away. I still don't have the FSM "Logan's Run," but I know one day I will.

I would rather spend the $20 or so on a limited release to a Soundtrack Label than give that amount to Sony for "Maid in Manhattan" which has only 2 Alan Silvestri tracks. If I am that much of a completist I'll just wait until I find the CD used for $2.

James

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The "soundtrack fans" producing these limited albums may have started because they were a fan. Now they're business people as well as a fan. They're (hopefully) earning a profit off of the CDs and good for them. There is nothing much different between them and Robert Townsend at Varese, who must be about the most ultimate soundtrack fan on this planet. You can't argue that most of Varese's re-recordings were aimed to anybody but film score fans. Same holds for most of Silva's releases.

It's appearing right now to seem all too easy to make limited releases these days. If it's so easy, why are they charging $20 for it? (Please don't take that last comment too deeply, I'm sure a good amount of time goes into a majority of these releases and that time costs money. I also understand that the demand is quite limited. There just appears to be an overall feeling of "jump on the bandwagon" syndrome here.)

As much as I complain about Varese at times, I must say I'm impressed with the fact that they seem to be about the only soundtrack label which has a very wide distribution of their albums. Silva has pretty good distribution as well.

I'll keep buying from my favorite limited edition labels like FSM and Prometheus because they're releasing stuff I want to buy. I'm just hoping that somebody could come and rescue us from these endless $20 releases. If there was a "limited" label out there (yes, bring on another one! ) that could produce at the same quality for a lower price, it could force other labels to rethink their pricing schemes.

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Originally posted by JClark:
It's threads like these that actually make me wish a certain Ford A. Thaxton were here to give us some lectures about Show BUSINESS.

IMHO of course.

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Why? He would just say we were cluseless fanboys who don't understand that's it called show BUSINESS for reason.

But you might be suprised. Here is a quote from the same thread on another board.

Quote
(Post that Ford was replying to: ..will be far too much product for the available fan base and their disposable income, and some existing labels will go out of business.)

That of course is assuming that you ONLY target film music fans....

In the case of this new label, they are clearly going for the Horror audience,the Vincent Price fans,etc..

Is there too much product?

I would say yes, the marketplace will decide in the end who survives and who doesn't.

Ford A. Thaxton

(I hate putting words in his mouth, but...) Ford may think there's "too much product" out there, but I doubt he'd be critical of any individual label's decision to release a particular album. I think he would really not be sympathetic to the notion that labels should slow the pace of releases (read: deliberately reduce revenue and cut staff) just for the sake of some collectors' complaints that there are too many albums out there.

quote:

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Originally posted by John Prytz:
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size=1 face=arial>quote:</font><HR size=1> Originally posted by JClark:

That's right! Send film music itself back into the dark ages! Less is more!

One surefire way to keep film music a fringe corner of the music world, without much respectability, is to release less and less of it.

Talk to some of the older collectors (not me) on this board and others--they'll tell you that today's age of plenty is far better than the lean years of the 1970's, when sountrack releases were few and far between. They'll also remind you that there are untold treasures of film music from earlier eras still locked in the studio vaults, rotting and disappearing year by year. Do you really want fewer of those almost-lost scores to get released? <HR size=1></BLOCKQUOTE>

Re-read what I said! I said a slowing down of the rate of releases. A slowing down to the level where the average film score fan can afford to buy what is on offer. A sustainable rate of releases. For example, if the average film score fan (the consumer) can afford one score release a week, and the average film score fan only wants say 25% of what is released, then the sustainable release market for all labels is roughly 200+ releases/year. What does it benefit us all to have 700+ releases/year and increasing at a rapid rate of knots? Take your argument to an extreme and why not release EVERYTHING in the vaults NOW! Would that make you happy having EVERYTHING on offer today but only being able to afford a tiny fraction of what you want, perhaps hoping against hope they stayed around long enough before being pulped, such that you could keep chipping away at the pile? Or would you rather they be released at a rate your financial situation could realistically deal with (not to mention the time available for listening to them)?

The super glut of releases currently is not of necessity better for us than having lean years such as in the 70's. Did you save up your money during the 1970's in order to cope with the glut in the year 2002? Whatever happened to the happy medium?[/B]

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It's pretty uncanny how this topic came up as I was about to post an editorial on this exact subject on my site which was written around the time Varèse announced their latest Club titles. Just about all of the bases have been covered in this discussion, but I'll post here my thoughts as they were written, with some repetition of others' views included, along with my own personal views thrown in.

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It appears that thanks to most of the major studios agreeing to make some financial return on their assets instead of letting it all rot in their "vaults" (Paramount and Universal being the major hold-outs), we as fans of this genre of music have been inundated with an unprecedented variety of film scores over the past 18 or so months. It seems everytime you turn around there's yet another score release for both recent and older films. The biggest problem seems to be having the money to get all of these things. With Film Score Monthly, Prometheus, Intrada, not to mention even the major labels like Sony and Decca, as well as many independent labels such as Percepto, SAE, and La-La Land releasing title after title, it's quite hard for anyone, even with the financial means to do so, to keep up. We've moved from what seemed to be nothing getting released as little as two years ago to currently so much that one can't possibly buy it all. So the biggest concern in my eyes is that this glut may actually harm the people bringing us this music, the reason being that they are all competing for a very small universe of buying dollars. Look at some of the recent casualties such as Chapter III and the Artisan soundtrack label, not to mention that Numenorean seems to be in a state of limbo with their release of The Dark Crystal. Granted, these labels were backed by bigger corporations, but these corporations have stockholders to answer to so if it's unprofitable or even marginal, the plug gets pulled. But it does go to show that it's not as easy as it sounds to release score music and make a business of it.

Believe me, I'm not complaining about all the stuff being released. In this way, all parties who are entitled to compensation are getting paid while the fans have plenty to digest. I just hope that it won't crowd some companies out of the market, especially the ones who sink a lot of effort into their releases. Film Score Monthly has absolutely nothing to worry about since they have enough subscribers to their "every release list" that the discs are most likely profitable the second they are announced, further sales of which is just icing on the cake. FSM had its skeptics and nay-sayers, but I think that they've proved them all wrong with their commitment to quality and detail. I mean, why do you think they were picked by EMI to re-do the James Bond re-releaes? Their hard work has paid off. In addition, their agreement with Turner/MGM has them swimming in material to to release for easily the next 5-10 years. It also appears that they are trying to eliminate many of the bootlegged titles that have been released over the years with their selection of releases lately. The only thing that does bother me is when they get on their high-horse on a discussion board and talk about the "dirty bootlegs" such as with The Man from UNCLE, as if to project guilt upon the fans of that music who have wanted it for so long that they didn't mind getting it when they saw it was available by means other than a record label. The question should be "what took so long to GET this music released?"

Never since the early 80s do I remember a time when Varèse Sarabande has had so many releases of current films, with generous amounts of music when it's allowable (i.e. non-AFM recordings). My question is will they be able to sustain this output and still remain profitable? I'll go on record as stating that their Club releases haven't been much to get excited about (just my opinion), especially with the current state of the film score music fans and collectors. Nowadays, there are a lot of younger fans who have no idea who Alex North or Franz Waxman is. In addition, the "Napster" mentality of everything should be free for download in mp3 format is also a major hurdle for anyone thinking of releasing a film score, especially for marginal films or films which have limited appeal. Also, the major titles which have been rumored to be on the schedule once again remain unreleased, namely scores like Predator, Commando, Magic, and Back to the Future. I'll add to that list some additional titles (which I must state that I have no idea whether they are even able to get the rights to release them) such as a complete Dracula (1979) by John Williams, a complete Gremlins from Jerry Goldsmith, a legitimate, original and complete Blade Runner from Vangelis, Ghostbusters and Heavy Metal from Elmer Bernstein, and Excalibur by Trevor Jones. These are titles that would likely sell until the end of time, considering that all (excluding Dracula) have been bootlegged in one form or another, some of them multiple times.

Considering the relative lack of bootleg titles appearing over the past two years, I'd say that it probably means that many more film score are being contemplated for release or those who might have access to or the want to (gasp) bootleg this material are thinking twice about it since it could easily be released before they even had a chance to try to make their own edition of it. While re-use fees, the studios, and the Hollywood mind-set that one should be paid and protected forever for everything they've done will prevent many film scores from ever seeing the light of day as legitimate commercial releases, we should be grateful for the efforts that are being put forth these days to make the music available. While the system isn't the greatest, it's all we've got at this point. After seeing some of the heated debates on a number of film score discussion sites about bootlegs, inadequate regular releases, questionable choices for limited edition releases, and generally folks only seeming to want things that aren't released and probably haven't a snowball's chance in hell of seeing a release, I think it's time for us all to step back and realize that this is probably the golden age of film score collecting. At times I truly think that people only want unreleased scores (the proverbial "rare scores") because they are just that - unreleased or not "completely" released. That's when it gets to be more like a competition than a hobby. Once people realize that outside the relatively small world of film score fans, no one really cares if you have a complete score of some Spaghetti Western by a composer no one outside of Italy has ever heard of, they may realize that they should just start listening to and appreciating the music they are collecting like Pokemon cards and worry more about getting the music they are actually going to listen to instead of getting things for the sake of getting them and bragging about it on some film score message board.
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Okay, so I went a bit off the topic near the end, but I felt this forum was a good place to post my thoughts.

:-)

quote:

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More is better. There aren't a "ton" of hardcore film music fans buying this stuff. If they are limited, there is always time for yours and my wallet to recuperate. Look at FSM's site, only a few of the titles are now unavailable. To all, I say keep em coming. Freedom of choice is an awesome thing, indeed![/B]

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If "more is better", then EVERYTHING NOW must be THE BEST POSSIBLE! But of course not even the most dedicated score fan would argue that we need EVERYTHING NOW. So, we need a point somewhere between NOTHING AT ALL, and EVERYTHING NOW! This discussion is about where that inbetween point should lie.

I would suggest that there is NOT always the time available to get what you want at the recommended retail price before it does OOP (out of print). Just ask those who did miss out on those now OOP FSM titles, or before that, the original Varese Sarabande CD Club titles, or the recent relesae by Intrada of "Young Sherlock Holmes".

It is not really surprising that there are still lots of FSM titles in print. The basic reason would be in fact the glut. If you can afford 24 titles a year, and FSM were the only game in town, then their stock would be a lot lower than it currently is. However, if you can afford 24 titles/year, and you also buy some Varese Sarabande CD Club titles, and some Intrada limited editions, and some of what SAE has on offer, etc., etc. then less of the FSM titles will have ended up in your collection.

From a different perspective... a store owner... I'll state the obvious, and that is... it costs quite a lot of money to keep stock in all of these limited edition/new label incarnations. Some of them just don't sell as fast as they might have, simply because there is so much to choose from (even with the MM store missing most of FSM's product line!).