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Releasing a compilation soundtrack, such as the one for "Step Up 2," is becoming rarer in this world of increasing digital downloads of individual songs. Fox's Kraft has officially declared RIP to compilations, whereas other studio executives still have limited faith in them.

"I'm working on a film that could potentially have Prince, Michael Jackson, Aretha Franklin -- tremendous artists -- throughout the film. Some of it is new and some of it is licensed," says Kraft. "There will be no soundtrack. A decade ago, there would have been three labels lined up to put out cool music, now we don't even ask."

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Universal Music Group still has a first pass on soundtracks/scores for Universal's films and does release a number of them, such as "American Gangster," but Nelson says she's turning more to newer indie labels dedicated to film music, like Lakeshore and Treadstone, as well as the old standbys Milan and Varese Sarabande. "I'm not asking for advances; gone are the days of thinking you're going to get any money," she says. "I'm just asking someone to put it out."

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--Brian

For one it's a dichotomy that just isn't legitimate---one could just as easily order actual CDs online...you know, like, they did before the internet with MAIL ORDER?

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Originally posted by tjguitar:
Yeah. thats a pretty odd thing to say.

For one it's a dichotomy that just isn't legitimate---one could just as easily order actual CDs online...you know, like, they did before the internet with MAIL ORDER?

LOL

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My thoughts exactly. I'm not able to view the linked page, but it seems like the main topic is in opposition to the MP3 format specifically.

This is good news for score albums. Total exact thought applies. If the score is good, it's good throughout the whole movie... and you'd want to end up buying the whole CD (or downloading the whole album), as it's a cohesive whole.

Where score labels miss is when there actually are only one or two VERY important songs in the movie that are more INTRINSIC to a particular scene than your average 10 second song insert. Why the score labels don't include the song is both surprising and regrettable: "Didn't think of it..." is usually the case because score labels are so focused on scores only. But, wow, how it would help sales! Or would have:

The flipside thinking is that score labels may be learning that people are fine tuned in the ways of super selecting their cultural snackbits and won't buy a whole CD for one song. That huge avalanche from 1998 might finally be over with.

It's true that when I worked at Tower Records during the 90s, there were a lot of people coming in to buy soundtrack albums for the one song on them, but there were those discs, like Singles, that were bought and enjoyed as albums. That was very rare, and usually attached to a retrospective collection, such as the Grosse Point Blank or Boogie Nights sets.

My ears are extremely sensitive... I hear something that's compressed on iTunes or from MP3's and it makes me shake my head in disgust. Plus there's a massive ammount of satisfaction I get from adding a new CD (or movie) to my collection and watching it expand. It also gives people the oppertunity to look and see what I have. Plus there's the feeling of going to the store (or mail box) and opening a package up that downloads will NEVER be able to replace for me. I also don't like the risk of losing all my music just because of a virus or a hard drive crash. But that's just me...

That's what I am asking about...

It would be returning to the $59.95 videotapes and I don't think people would be willing to spend it.

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Originally posted by PeterK:
But wait.... I just checked prices on 1GB flash drives, which hold more than the standard CD, and prices are already as low as $13 to $16....

Am I missing something?

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Hmm, perhaps USB drives have gone down in price.

Call me a greedy, capitalist, bastard, but as long as they have resale value, that's fine with me....but this is also assuming that by accepting the hypothetical that it became an industry-wide standard, that CD's were done being produced, I have a hard time seeing that happen as LPs are still produced for certain titles. It would also depend on how much the CD cost vs how much the USB version cost.

I just can't justify spending the ungodly amounts of money on soundtracks if they were *DOWNLOADS* knowing that I have 0% chance of recouping ANY of those costs, EVER. By extension, I would very much limit the things that I choose to buy, I would be more hesitant to experiment with new composers and I would probably hesitate to buy unfamiliar scores from familiar composers.

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Originally posted by PeterK:
Okay, some of you guys like to hold your sweet soundtracks in your hand, as opposed to downloading... does this mean you specifically like CDs, or does it mean any manufactured item you can hold? What about an official USB flash drive album?

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USB Flash Drive: most likely not... yet.
- it would have to contain uncompressed or lossless music in an open, non-DRM format
- be playable on home stereos; USB-host enabled systems aren't exactly the norm yet - even if they were, format compatibility remains an issue, as are in-dash USB car stereos.
- must allow music to be removed from flash drive, copied to PC/mp3 player

I frankly have no real problem with going all-download. Even 320kbps mp3 files are fine, but I keep coming back to the pricing issue. You can't expect me to pay
54.99$ for compressed versions, that I have to download and save to a backup drive/disc in case my PC crashes, when the actual CDs cost 47.99$! (Unless I live in some remote poo-poo town with no mail service...)
Pricing for an inferior product, which puts all the responsibility on the consumer must reflect the additional hurdles of that product. Too many digital downloads cost as much or more than the actual CDs, yet come with all the associated issues of downloads: compressed, DRM, risk of a hard drive crash, subject to download issues (slow speed, incomplete download, errors in the file), no booklet, no long term (resale) value...

Good points. You'd think there would be a real push for USB-players if compatibility weren't a problem, but I guess the tech and auto companies don't see the need to rush designs on a car with an in-dash USB port.

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Originally posted by Dinko:
- it would have to contain uncompressed or lossless music in an open, non-DRM format

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I recently bought a 2GB USB stick for 8 euros. Even with uncompressed WAV, that can store about 3 CDs. Double that if you use FLAC, which technically shouldn't be a problem.

Funny thing about The Crow and The Craft is both are Graeme Revell scores and both have simultaneous score/album releases. Pretty cool. But if this report is about the demise of album compilations then I'm all for it. Most of them really do stinkers.

Like did we really need a Transformers Album with a Linkin Park song that's already overplayed on the radio? Nuff said.

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Originally posted by Marian Schedenig:
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size=1 face=arial>quote:</font><HR size=1>Originally posted by Dinko:
[b]- it would have to contain uncompressed or lossless music in an open, non-DRM format<HR size=1></BLOCKQUOTE>

I recently bought a 2GB USB stick for 8 euros. Even with uncompressed WAV, that can store about 3 CDs. Double that if you use FLAC, which technically shouldn't be a problem.

But CDs already aren't the most environment-friendly storage; I guess USB drives would be even worse.[/B]

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Originally posted by tjguitar:
what do you mean by environment-friendly?

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