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I'm not taking sides here or going to, but if a label is self funded by the person running it without any support or backing, they could only do so much. I know a couple of other labels that are in the same boat at the moment and they just started and are doing their best to satisfy fans. You have to give them a little credit for trying and of course labels like Intrada, Varese, LaLaLand and even FSM have set a very high standard. It's not like Perseverance is a newbie label either because they've been around a while now and they have some idea of what their doing fiscally. Personally, I really couldn't care less about artwork and I tend not to make a big deal about it, but to me it's the music they release that is important.
Granted their label is tarnished because of the Rain Man fiasco and one which they might not recover from for sometime, doesn't mean you write them off so quickly. It would be like writing off Varese after 30 years in the business for releasing (and IF they were) a terrible master of say Goldsmith's complete Air Force One for example purposely. Sure, they've made major release mastering screw ups in the past most recently with G.I. Joe and everybody killed them for it. The flip side is simply if the composer doesn't want to get involved with the project or simply doesn't want his tapes released then what else can you do. It's a matter beyond a label's control. Look at The Dark Crystal that was released 8 years ago. MV tried desperately to get Trevor Jones to work with him on it and flat out refused. What was left to do and all they could use was the DVD isolated score stem which was better than nothing than to throw away thousands of dollars you've already spent on production costs (the engineer, mixing, artwork, etc.) and release the best product available. Yes, they were lambasted for it, but is the album in demand: it still is despite the fact the the regular album was released for it's 25th anniversary. Another release would be Greystoke, LaLaLand tried to release the complete score but John Scott has the tapes and wasn't willing to cooperate with a complete release on another label except his own. So what do they do, they released the LP version with two tracks from the audio stem because that's all they could do. If Scott wasn't willing to help, and you already have some good money invested already and the studio in this case Warner Bros. gives and grants permission to release something, you have to do it or otherwise risk losing the right to and they did and they should be given phrase for trying.
It is a very tricky situation when it comes to this and some composers are more willing than others to have their work released, but the majority of the time, it isn't up to them since the movie company owns the rights to their music. So if the license is granted and there are tapes in the vaults for a particular score, the label can release it to a certain quantity of copies like Intrada does. If the tapes are missing, then you do have to consult the composer and bring him in to help out and sometimes they don't have any tapes from their scores but most do. Look at Laurence Rosenthal and Elmer Bernstein for example and all of their releases over the last decade. But you can't really blame a label for trying to put something with good intentions. I'm sure they looked high and low for a good source outside of Zimmer to release, but came up short. Honestly, I pounded them too, but re-analyzing the situation, in my view they did the best they could. One day a real high quality copy will come out with Zimmer's cooperation this time around.
Like I said, I'm not taking sides but we all have to look at the pros and cons of this. The album hasn't even come out yet, and who knows it might really be good. I couldn't give a damn about the artwork because I wouldn't buy an album solely on that reason. The music the best reason and real reason why people buy soundtracks in the first place or music in general. Hell, I have lots of jazz albums with some really crappy art, but the music damn good and that's all that really matters and should matter. Let's just wait till the final product is out and then everyone can decide for themselves. I think that's looking at things down the middle in an objective way without being nasty about it.
FYI: I only used AFO an example, don't speculate that an expanded release is coming out soon. As much I want one too.
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