Intrada Soundtrack Forum

I had a thought on how a label could release the exact amount of CDs for a specific limited title and all fans who want it are able to get a copy without missing out. My plan is simple (I think)..

1. Label X announce a title for pre-order one month before shipment.
2. Fans have one month to place their order for the title.
3. At the end of that month the title is removed from the site and no more orders are taken.
4. Label X now are able to press the exact amount of discs as they have the money and the exact amount of orders from fans. All fans who wanted the title will now get one and no one misses out. One month should be ample time for everyone to order if they want the titles.

Is my idea sound or just not feasible?

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Jason Needs
Webmaster, Jerry Goldsmith Online

It's n ot feasible, plus you're screwing fans out of country, fighting war in the army, sick/ill (other areas keeping them offline), and of course fans who havent' discovered Intrada yet, and new score fans.

I think Gerhard put it best a month or so ago when he said he didn't mind in some copies of a score stuck around for fans.

_________________
"Questions are a burden to others; answers a prison for oneself"
"Unlike me, many of you have accepted the situation of your imprisonment and will die here like rotten cabbages."
"Everyone votes for a dictator."
THE PRISONER

Intrada is the highest ranking label in terms of getting the quanities right most of the time. They're also very trustworthy in terms of honoring the numbers they announce.

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Jason Needs
Webmaster, Jerry Goldsmith Online

I expressed a similar idea much like this some time ago - to limit titles by time (say, 6 months) rather than quantity, with some protection against individuals placing big orders to cash-in after the limitation period. That way no one need miss out who really wants one.

However, I was told the people whose fees mandate limited quantities just don't work that way.

I see the subtle difference in your idea: the license could still be a quantities license, but sized according to the demand that was placed in the pre-order period.

I'm in favour of any idea that minimises disappointment without making thing unviable for the labels.

Would this work? Could this work? I guess we'd need to hear the definitive voice of a label owner.

Cheers

Is it really that hard to sit by the computer and order the released score when it's released? -



I mean: the titles are often revealed in the Pre-release Discussion thread, so that we know whats coming.

I have a full time job + Intradas CD's are announced in the middle of the night over here.
I manage to grab myself a copie of LINK and PREDATOR,,,,, Why can't you do the same?

I think the way the labels handle their release plan works quite nice.

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Most Wanted Unreleased scores:
Howard Shore's AN INNOCENT MAN (1989) Touchstone/Buena Vista
Richard Halligan's THE OCTAGON (1980) American Cinema
Sante Maria Romitelli's GOD'S GUN (1976) MGM/Cannon
Trevor Jones' FREEJACK (1992) Morgan Creek

Yeah I'm with Freejack here. The releases are once a fortnight, you know when they're being announced, & you have a good idea what kind of releases they are. And still you get people complaining that they missed it, & more complaints on the next quick sell out! They're usually announced about 1am in England, I usually check in the morning before going to work, it only means getting up five minutes earlier & I've never know one to sell out before then. You have to put a tiny bit of effort in...it's so easy!

And there's not a lot of really fast sell-outs.

HotWheelsCollectors.com uses a similar business model for their sELECTIONs cars.

They do polls that have collectors vote online for casting, wheels, paint etc.
Then when the polls are completed, a one week purchase window is instigated.
After the week, the received orders are tallied and a specific amount is manufactured to fill those orders.

However, this is for a toy without major legalities involved, licensing, musicians fees, etc.

The system works, but is it right for this niche business market?

I seem to remember different people floating ideas that involved subscriptions of various flavors over the years. The general idea was that the label would gauge interest in a release before going to the expense of producing it - some suggestions involved people committing to buy such a release that far in advance. All of these schemes involved some form of advanced pre-ordering. The problem with those would be similar to what I see as a big problem with this new idea, namely that so many customers are so blimmin' persnickety about things like cover art, the font the notes are printed in, whether the disc itself has silkscreened artwork and whether that artwork is monochrome or full color, whether it's a digipak or a jewel case or a clamshell, how many bonus tracks are provided and how they are presented, whether the music is configured in an "album arrangement" or complete and chronological, whether the pause between tracks five and six lasts two seconds or three.... You get the idea.

As entitled as everyone feels now, pre-selling that far in advance can't help but blow up in the labels' faces. If a delay occurs that puts the thing off for a month or two or ten, the Internet would EXPLODE with the righteous indignation. I can hear the complaints now: "I am FURIOUS that the money grubbing labels have been so DISRESPECTFUL toward us privileged customers that they would DARE to put this music out in a way counter to the one I DEMANDED six months ago!!" How many nimrods over on FSM have said they REFUSE to buy or have regretted buying a CD because of WRONG cover art or a "missing" sound effect that they thought should be there?

Seems like enough of a crap shoot as it is, but if they lay out the cash to produce something based on the loony brigade initially approving the project, but then abruptly taking GRIEVIOUS offense at the color Intrada decides to make their logo on the cover art, the whole business would be even more precarious than it is now.

_________________
Karl Morton IV

"Enjoy every sandwich."
-- Warren Zevon

"Blimmin' persnickety", "nimrods"...I really like you, dude!

_________________
"Questions are a burden to others; answers a prison for oneself"
"Unlike me, many of you have accepted the situation of your imprisonment and will die here like rotten cabbages."
"Everyone votes for a dictator."
THE PRISONER

_________________
Most Wanted Unreleased scores:
Howard Shore's AN INNOCENT MAN (1989) Touchstone/Buena Vista
Richard Halligan's THE OCTAGON (1980) American Cinema
Sante Maria Romitelli's GOD'S GUN (1976) MGM/Cannon
Trevor Jones' FREEJACK (1992) Morgan Creek

_________________
Karl Morton IV

"Enjoy every sandwich."
-- Warren Zevon