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iTunes makes a splash with movie score releases

By Richard Knight Jr
Special to the Tribune

When popular music download site iTunes approached New Line Cinema last spring with an offer to exclusively release Alexandre Desplat's score soundtrack for its film "The Upside of Anger" online, it proved irresistible to the company.

"iTunes made a bigger deal out of it than we would've been able to get if the record was just released in record stores," said Jason Linn, executive vice president of music for the film studio. "It went from being just another distinguished release by that composer to a little bit more of an event because it was the only place where you could find it."

Exclusive tracks are commonplace at many of the download sites in practically every music genre, but the New Line/iTunes experiment offering an entire soundtrack is relatively new. Linn said that "The Upside of Anger" sold about "neck in neck" with "Birth," another Desplat score sold through traditional markets, and that the test has persuaded the company to market other future releases in the same manner. Composer Mark Isham's score for "Running Scared" arrives exclusively online in about five weeks and Linn said others will follow.

"The plan is to create as much excitement about a digital-only release," he said. "Our interest is also in doing what's best for both the film and soundtrack--the two can work together online now more than ever."

For the consumer the cost is also a tad less--$9.99 for the entire soundtrack--versus $13.99 for a standard soundtrack CD, such as the company's just-released James Horner score for "The New World." Not surprisingly, Linn expects other soundtrack labels to follow suit with exclusive online content. He is quick to assure finicky soundtrack collectors that the company is addressing audio and packaging concerns.

"We're going to create virtual booklets to go along with our releases," Linn said. "We know what a big part of the experience that is for the hardcore collectors--the people who understand this music and appreciate it the most."

As for the audio issues, he said, "The one thing I was worried about with the download experience is that the technology is arguably not the best but so far we haven't had any complaints and the delivering technology continues to improve all the time."

Desplat has quickly risen to the front ranks of film composers (seven scores last year alone), and though "The Upside of Anger" isn't in a class with his breakthrough score, "Girl With a Pearl Earring," or the haunting "Birth," it's also less demanding emotionally and a soothing listen. As for "The New World," Horner's music combines sound effects (twittering birds, wind rushing through the trees) that augment his quietly majestic score. Hollywood saves its award-winning films for the end of the year and usually these movies include some of the year's best music as well. Some other end-of-the-year soundtrack releases:

- John Williams, the acknowledged dean of film composers, finished 2005 with ethnic-flavored, Oscar-nominated scores for both "Memoirs of a Geisha" and "Munich." Though Japanese born-Ryuichi Sakamoto (an Oscar winner for "The Last Emperor") might have been a more obvious choice for the former, Williams delivers a subdued and authentic-sounding score, helped by the superb playing of violinist Itzhak Perlman and cellist Yo-Yo Ma. Williams reverts to form and delivers an intense, emotion-packed score for director Steven Spielberg's "Munich," which, not surprisingly, pairs beautifully with his "Schindler's List."

- Patrick Doyle's "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire," Harry Gregson-Williams' "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" and James Newton Howard's "King Kong" are three recent scores that are in many ways indistinguishable from one another. Expertly matching the action onscreen, all are appropriately epic in scope--employing large orchestras and wordless vocal choirs--but for all their ominous sweep and percussive rumblings, none is particularly memorable. Doyle's score incorporates Williams' original signature theme for the series, which helps it stand out, and the CD includes the New Wave-inspired dance songs performed at the Hogwarts dance--but that breaks the flow of the rest of the disc. Gregson-Williams and Newton Howard also deliver fine work but have written much more interesting scores ("Kingdom of Heaven" for Gregson-Williams, "The Village" for Howard). Howard does deserve an award for speed, however, for delivering his "King Kong" score in record time--just weeks after director Peter Jackson and his previous musical collaborator, Howard Shore, parted company.

- Most song compilation soundtracks are filled to the brim with pop tunes by current chart darlings (Disney's kid-friendly "Chicken Little" is a particular favorite at the moment) but other genres are represented in this category as well. The excellent, Oscar-nominated soundtrack for the western-themed "Brokeback Mountain" has selections from the elegiac, spare guitar-based score by Gustavo Santaolalla (it recently won the Chicago Film Critics Award) and is interspersed with period country music tunes sung by Willie Nelson, Rufus Wainwright and Emmylou Harris.

"Casanova," is a feast for lovers of baroque music. It features new arrangements and recordings of classical pieces by masters of the period, including Vivaldi, Handel, Corelli, Albinoni and a few original cues in yet another assignment for composer Desplat. The black and white cinematography and sultry jazz stylings of chanteuse Dianne Reeves helped set the mood of George Clooney's "Good Night, And Good Luck." The soundtrack showcases Reeves and her combo performing 15 classic standards with the high-spirited "TV is the Thing This Year" a decided standout.

- The best for last: two little-known documentaries with gorgeous scores. "Ballets Russes," the nostalgic reverie about the legendary ballet company receives an exquisite score from Todd Boekelheide and David Conte. Released on tiny soundtrack label Intrada Records, it's a cross between Brian Easdale's classic music for "The Red Shoes" and Carter Burwell's score for "The Celluloid Closet" and is one of the year's best. Just as striking, "Electric Edwardians" is a compilation of recently discovered Edwardian-era films of everyday Englanders at work and at play. The BBC commissioned the avant-garde musical duo In the Nursery to score the brief films and the resulting 31 tracks display a profusion of emotion while the whole fairly drips with an aching nostalgia. An import edition is available online.

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That's a $9.99 download for a score that would cost $24.99 on CD in stores (if you could find it three months after it's U.S. release).

I love Varese, but their packaging on standard releases is minimal -- there's nothing to miss here. Particularly for new releases like FIREWALL or STARGATE ATLANTIS, which I'd like to hear right away.

It's about the music, which at 128 AAC files sound fine for computer and car listening, where I listen to music the most. I don't pour a glass of (alchoholic beverage of choice), and sit down in a $100,000 soundproof den to listen to film music. People forget that the files aren't generated on some dude's PC with 128 megs of RAM. The quality of an AAC or MP3 file can greatly improve based on the machine it is generated with.

Why anyone thinks this is a positive thing from a marketing standpoint is beyond me!

When FSM started releasing CDs, this "cornering the market" idea seems like it could be gold. But guess what?

What I hope to see is music companies making their digital downloads available to online retailers other than Apple, and in better quality formats.

I went ahead and broke down and purchased it off iTunes yesterday as it is an almost 61 minute recording.

While I prefer to have purchased CDs, I figured this would be the only way I could get this score.

As for "virtual booklets," that wasn't part of this release. It only came with "cover art." I ended up having to make all my CD art myself.

And if you have Canadian iTunes it's even more of joke (to myself, Dinko, and funny enough, apparently Ryan too): releases on the superior U.S. iTunes generally aren't available on the Canadian version until a week or two later (when you can just get them on CD buy that point, if they are in fact trying to corner the market), plus the U.S. version boasts the ability to download tv episodes, which I'd go for in a heartbeat (Battlestar Galactica!).

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Originally posted by PeterK:
Is there a list of scores only released on iTunes somewhere, or is Desplat's score one of the very very few so far? I can't remember, but I am sure there must be others.

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How many people who beg, borrow and steal to get expanded or "complete" scores are actually listening to prime discs made from .WAV files ripped from master discs these days? I'd say about 1% of music traded online is of pristine quality. The rest is a mish-mash. If people can make due with that...

The stuff off iTunes always sounds fine for a cheap $10. That's about the same as a combo at Quizno's, but the music won't make your clothes smell like toasted bread.

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Originally posted by BigT1981:
I can't believe now you have to install iTunes to download the new Quick Time...took me a few minutes to un-install iTunes from this computer.

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... The quality of an AAC or MP3 file can greatly improve based on the machine it is generated with.

Ryan [/B]

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Ryan this is simply an untrue statement, or perhaps I didn't understand what you meant. An mp3 file or any compressed file for that matter that is generated using the same program and same parameters will be identical regardless if it is done on an old junker computer or a brand new souped up one (it will just take a lot longer to produce the mp3 file on the junker).

Expand one to wav and toss it in a sound editor and take a look at a spectrographic analysis and see the suqashing of the upper frequencies.

This might be okay for pop music becuase of the range of the singers instruments, but orchestral music, with it's wide range of sound across the spectrum suffers.

AS the previous poster pointed out as long as you use the same codec with the same parameters you will get the same file. The only way a better system helps is with multitasking. (Which you shouldn't be doing while compressing audio anyway as you could get artifacts)

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Originally posted by rolltide1017:
This is very sad and depressing news and a trend that I hope ends soon (but I don't see that happening). Honestly, we can't blame Apple or New Line for this. I blame everyone who bought "The Upside of Anger" from iTunes and supported this move. If it hadn't been a hit they would not be looking at continuing the trend. So, thanks a lot to everyone who bought the sdtrk from iTunes.

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Anything that makes the market smaller is bad for soundtrack collectors in the long run. This is a bad precedent for soundtrack collectors. This is a terrible idea and should not be encouraged. I don’t want a future of all new releases being digital and only higher priced limited editions available for “audiophiles” on CD.

I understand why New Line is doing this. They get to make in money with little risk to themselves. This way there are no physical costs such as distribution and returns. This is a substantial savings for them. Frankly, the health of New Line's bank account doesn't matter to me much. I would rather have the CD.

What do we get? Crappy audio and no liner notes. If we burn it to CDR we even lose part of our “massive savings” of $4.00. What about people who don’t live in the US? With a physical CD you can at least get it as an import.

I don't buy anything that I can get on CD and I won't buy anything that is available exclusively as a download, especially compressed audio. I don’t think anybody should buy these exclusives, regardless of how good the music might be.

Just because your own standards are so low that compressed audio works for you doesn't make it a standard that everyone has to conform to.

We are not talking about original packaging or cracked jewel cases, we are talking about the degradation of audio standards which one would hope were getting better, not getting worse.

If I wanted crappy audio, I would have stuck with cassettes.

I don't have a problem with digital music intrinsically, just with the idea that it could or should replace other methods of distribution.

Exclusivity is very, very bad idea. Anytime you take a niche market like ours and make it more difficult to buy things, the less are likely to be sold.

Exclusivities are the ultimate end of the line, but understandable from a business perspective. As our world fragments more and more (thanks to the internet liberating consumers of mass media), businesses will fragment more and more.

What do you think all these limited editions are all about? Fragmented business plans that are basically exclusivities, but not by strict definition. In other words, they are not exclusively available from one place, but from five or six.

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Originally posted by MWRuger:
That doesn't follow. If they had decided to do a release without Itunes it would have been on CD. If it didn't sell, it would affect the next release not this one. The article states that it sold about as well as a regular release. This doesn’t how much profit was made on each sale.

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The owner of La La Land records stated once on the FSM message board in relation to Desplat's Upside of Anger:

I hate to sound like a prude, but the film performed below expectations despite favorable reviews and for them to release the score on cd at this time would be pointless. As a matter of fact, we even passed on it. I'm sure it's a wonderful score, but the market is as such that it would get lost and sell only 1000 units. . .if THAT!
MV

So, given the information that a record label dedicated to releasing somewhat niche efforts wouldn't release it, how was it wrong for the consumer to understand that this was never going to be released on CD? I don't believe Desplat fans can be blamed for the proliferation of iTunes when all they want is more music from their preferred composer.

If that is true then it was the sales of Birth that determined this decision. But I am pretty sure it sold far more than a 1000 copies. If it had sold do few, New Line wouldn't bother releasing it all as it would not make enough to cover the cost of the paperwork.

In addition, LaLaLand is not record company like Varese or Sony. Their titles are marketed directly to consumers and they have no other channel of distribution, no real way to reach fans of the movie instead of movie music fans that have internet access. While a soundtrack like Upside of Anger might only sell a 1000 units for LLL, that doesn't mean it might not sell more if it had been pushed into the regular distribution chain by a Sony or a Varese.

Please note that I am not arguing that it would have been a world beater. I am simply trying to debunk the idea that it would have been a guaranteed failure if it had been released as a CD. Just because LLL passed doesn't mean that someone with some marketing clout couldn't have sold it as well as Birth did, which obviously must have sold enough to at least bother with trying to release Upside of Anger.

I certainly understand why fans of his music would do this; I just think it is shortsighted. I don't think they are criminals or any such thing.

Producing soundtracks has to be one of the most thankless tasks in the world. Not because it is unrewarding releasing great music, but because the consumers of this product are totally unaware just how miniscule a number they are.

This number of "collectors" think they possess some financial pressure on larger record labels like New Line. Well, consider that more people will see UPSIDE OF ANGER available for download on iTunes then anyone finding their way into the Soundtracks section at Wal-Mart and seeing the physical CD.

Consider the usual soundtrack "collector Tuesday: Going to their local Best Buy in search of the latest soundtrack releases. They won't find them sharing the same shelf space as the new mass-marketed pop releases. They are buried in the back section on the racks. Contrast that with iTunes which allows a user to toggle between new releases for a variety of genres. Record labels don't care who buys their albums, just that someone does buy them. The more eyes that see the product the more likely it may be bought.

As for Peter not liking digital downloads, well that is no surprise. They threaten his livelihood, which is selling physical product.

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Originally posted by MWRuger:

In addition, LaLaLand is not record company like Varese or Sony. Their titles are marketed directly to consumers and they have no other channel of distribution, no real way to reach fans of the movie instead of movie music fans that have internet access.

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Originally posted by BMikeJ:
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size=1 face=arial>quote:</font><HR size=1>Originally posted by MWRuger:
[b]
In addition, LaLaLand is not record company like Varese or Sony. Their titles are marketed directly to consumers and they have no other channel of distribution, no real way to reach fans of the movie instead of movie music fans that have internet access. <HR size=1></BLOCKQUOTE>

This is not accurate. LaLaLand does have distribution. I see their CDs in record stores like Tower Records all the time.[/B]

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Wow. That's pretty cool. Good for them. I still don't think they have the marketing might of Varese or Sony.

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Originally posted by rkeaveney:
My point had less to do with sound quality than it had to do with the market soundtrack releases are aimed at: bitchy, picky, freaky, nerdy white males ...

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Originally posted by rkeaveney:
My point had less to do with sound quality than it had to do with the market soundtrack releases are aimed at: bitchy, picky, freaky, nerdy white males who will crucify you for your product instead of realizing they are lucky that anyone cares enough to squeak this music into stores or make available for download.

Producing soundtracks has to be one of the most thankless tasks in the world. Not because it is unrewarding releasing great music, but because the consumers of this product are totally unaware just how miniscule a number they are.

This number of "collectors" think they possess some financial pressure on larger record labels like New Line. Well, consider that more people will see UPSIDE OF ANGER available for download on iTunes then anyone finding their way into the Soundtracks section at Wal-Mart and seeing the physical CD.

Consider the usual soundtrack "collector Tuesday: Going to their local Best Buy in search of the latest soundtrack releases. They won't find them sharing the same shelf space as the new mass-marketed pop releases. They are buried in the back section on the racks. Contrast that with iTunes which allows a user to toggle between new releases for a variety of genres. Record labels don't care who buys their albums, just that someone does buy them. The more eyes that see the product the more likely it may be bought.

Ryan

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Again, I have no problems with digital downloads, just music released in that form only, especially when it is of inferior audio quality. Actually, I think it it’s a great idea to expose people to more music. I just don’t want it done at the expense of the music. I don’t think it’s its too big an imposition to want music to sound as good as possible.

I don’t delude myself that my not buying from them makes a difference to anyone but me. I am well aware of how small our niche market is. It might sound old fashioned, but it’s a matter of principle. I think it is wrong and ultimately harmful to film music and so I don’t support as a personal matter.

If you think a thing is wrong, it’s wrong for you regardless of how many people tell you it’s pointless to protest or that you are a whiney bitch. It’s a personal integrity thing. You stand up for what you believe.

On one side, I agree that compressed downloads should not replace the CD. I could care less about the liner notes... it's just that nothing beats the CD in terms of quality and tangibility. Furthermore, compressing at a 128 bitrate is inexcusable.

On the other side, I disagree that compressed audio is of horrendous quality. I religiously transfer my CDs to electronic storage at a 320 bitrate. That's just how I like to listen to them. I've never had a problem with quality, even when comparing to the actual CD. However, I would never, ever encode mp3's at 128.

I believe electronic storage is the wave of the future. While CDs are still around, I can't help but think they'll go the way of the LP. Look what's happening to the camera, for instance. Everyone with a camera used to take a roll of film for developing. It would take some time, but the pictures were of superb quality. Now, more and more people are buying digital cameras and either storing them on computer at compressed sizes or printing them out on deskjets. You never really achieve the exact same quality as taking the film to get developed. Does this make sense or am I just babbling?

I'm not against CDs... in fact I'm for them... but I'm also not against properly compressed music stored electronically. Maybe this is just a gap between generations.

The problem is we're in a transitional period right now and we're all running around like headless chickens trying to figure out what the next wave of the future is. I'm not gung-ho about iTunes because I know (at least I hope) there's going to be something better in a few years.

Eventually we will have the technology to store large amounts of uncompressed digital audio on iPod-sized contraptions, and we will also be able to download such audio quickly and cheaply. I don't know how far off it is, only that eventually we'll get there.

What worries me is that compressed audio at unnaceptable bitrates could become the standard and remain so even after a better option is well within our abilities. If I want the music badly enough, sure, I'll take it in any way I can. I have recordings that sound terrible, but I live with it because it's the best thing available. The problem with iTunes exclusives is that there's simply no good reason one should have to settle for lesser quality. Bear in mind I am not talking about the economical incentives that studios and record companies have for releasing music exclusively on iTunes. I am talking about the compromised quality automatically imposed upon the music simply by being offered on iTunes. This applies not just to film scores or just to iTunes exclusives, but to all the music that is downloaded there. Any systematic lowering of the public's standards, be it through iTunes, TV, or the gradual acceptance of half-hour blocks of commercials in movie theatres, spells some sort of doom to me.

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Originally posted by James:
The problem with iTunes exclusives is that there's simply no good reason one should have to settle for lesser quality.

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I think this particular item depends on which side of the debate you stand on.

For the record companies, low quality digital audio has been mentioned as a reason to effectively reduce p2p file sharing by:
(1) offering low quality music which would not be identical to the original copy;
(2) making the downloads small enough so that people who legally download over slower connections don't get so desperate waiting for a 4 minute song to download that the next time they just turn to the illegal side of the download business.

The first argument is very old. When Sony released its first minidisc players, digital-to-digital copies were not supported because the idea was that pirates could use MD technology to bootleg CDs, creating perfect digital copies of the CD. Of course that doesn't make much sense considering that the first ATRAC format was heavily compressed. Still, it is an argument which was evoked back then. Similar nonsense initially prevented digital outputs on DVDA and SACD players (except for the compressed Dolby Digital and DTS tracks).
I'm not saying it's a good reason. But some paranoid executives might think it is.

Here's something sad that confirms the fears of those who actually care about sound quality: http://technology.guardian.co.uk/weekly/story/0,,1699518,00.html

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However, Rob Wells, new media director of Universal Music UK, thinks that aside from audiophile fans of jazz and classical, the digital market will remain driven by convenience. "In the short to medium term, I'd say that the majority of consumers aren't really that fussed," he says. "Quality is quite far down their list.

"My gut feeling is that consumers will not pay a higher price for a higher bitrate, but I do think there will be temporal pricing models - paying a premium to get a track early, or to get a video before it's been on TV."

Wells probably has a point. Since quadraphonic albums, the technological graveyard has been littered with next-big-thing formats. The shifts from vinyl to CD and VHS to DVD were seismic enough to attract a mass of consumers, but innovations that tweak the status quo have traditionally found only niche support. Having said that, offer 10 seconds of Madonna's new single for £3, call it a ringtone, and people will buy it in their droves.

For the specialist end of the market, higher quality options are around the corner. Bleep is already selling FLAC files - essentially zipped-up lossless WAV files - for artists such as Autechre and Aphex Twin, which are indistinguishable from the CD originals. But only as good as the CD originals.

And this is the ultimate irony of the digital revolution. Audiowise, we are only now reaching the point of what we already knew. While the entertainment industry has spent two decades reselling us higher fidelity versions of our music and movie collections, this is one evolution where, for the time being at least, less is definitely perceived to be more.

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Originally posted by Dinko:
When Universal Music tells you that most people don't want high quality, they probably have the marketing data to prove it.

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