Apple gets Exclusive Distribution of Soundtrack [Archive]

MacRumors

Jul 8, 2003, 01:08 AM

MacCentral reports (http://maccentral.macworld.com/news/2003/07/07/lxg/) that Apple has obtained exclusive distribution rights to the soundtrack for "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" (Movie Site (http://www.lxgmovie.com/)).

The album is on sale for $9.99 through Apple's iTunes Music Store -- and will not be available in traditional music stores and no physical CDs are being made for the U.S. market.

Omad0n

Jul 8, 2003, 01:14 AM

I think this an intersting move on the part of Apple and the music companies. I'll be very curious to see how sales go. For who knows, if it does well this may become more of a norm. Hard to say though.

sweetaction

Jul 8, 2003, 01:22 AM

smart move on the label. why press copies of a soundtrack that will bomb? hehe

ibookin'

Jul 8, 2003, 01:24 AM

Let's hope this is the first of many.

ibookin'

Jul 8, 2003, 01:24 AM

Originally posted by sweetaction
smart move on the label. why press copies of a soundtrack that will bomb? hehe

Haha. No physical proof!

pianojoe

Jul 8, 2003, 01:27 AM

Wow! I wonder if THIS isn't encouraging piracy. People will

1) have to find a friend with a Mac AND and ITMS account

2) switch :-)

3) find the music in "dark places".

Somehow I feel that 3) will be the option for some people.

pEZ

Jul 8, 2003, 01:31 AM

Interesting. I'd like to see how people deal with this one. Not that anyone will want to pirate it anyway, because i'm sure that soundrack won't be too rockin', but still. From the iTMS you download password protected AAC files, it's a lot more work to burn a cd.

chewbaccapits

Jul 8, 2003, 01:32 AM

Originally posted by ibookin'
Haha. No physical proof!

well, one can smell a bomb you know....And this one has ATOMIC written all over it..

robotrenegade

Jul 8, 2003, 01:50 AM

Does this really matter, this movie looks *******.

mykuki

Jul 8, 2003, 01:51 AM

Originally posted by pEZ
From the iTMS you download password protected AAC files, it's a lot more work to burn a cd.

i really thought i wasn't:rolleyes:

it's not, is it?:confused:

macnews

Jul 8, 2003, 01:57 AM

Originally posted by pEZ
From the iTMS you download password protected AAC files, it's a lot more work to burn a cd.

Please tell me you are referring to attempting to burn ACC files on a PC! If not then WHAT KIND OF CRACK ARE YOU SMOKING? I have noticed zero difference (time, ease, etc) between burning ACC files and ripped MP3s (from CD's I own). I have burned plenty of CDs containing all ACC files, all MP3s, and mixes of both. Not one single difference.

Bonte

Jul 8, 2003, 02:02 AM

it's not!

"In a nutshell, you can play your music on up to three computers, enjoy unlimited synching with your iPods, burn unlimited CDs of individual songs, and burn unchanged playlists up to 10 times each."

Apple //e

Jul 8, 2003, 02:09 AM

a hunter
a spy
a scientist
an immortal
a vampire
an invisible man
a beast

hmmmmm......whats missing?

john doe
mcguyver
man from the future
breakdancing-kung fu-a** whippin gorgeous gal
mr t

im willing to replace mr doe for bo (bo knows.....balls)

alset

Jul 8, 2003, 02:20 AM

Well, if there's any way to steal some press and make some money, this is it.

Kudos to Apple.

Dan

reyesmac

Jul 8, 2003, 02:32 AM

I think this is pretty amazing. A first step that if works, will be used in the Windows version of the iTMS to generate more traffic. If everyone can make more profit from selling albums that really wont make alot of money in stores, I would expect to see record companies sell ALOT of their older music and low sellers in digital format only. I hope it works, it would help give Apple hundreds of thousands of old songs and hard to find classics. It makes alot of sense too. You cant keep decades of music in every record store. Now they can sell ALL of the music that never got made into CD's, like really old stuff that was only sold in LP's and in 8 tracks and stuff. Sounds funny, but it would give Apple and incredible amount of titles and get older people to buy more and more music and using Macs.

Choppaface

Jul 8, 2003, 02:38 AM

doesnt this sortta go against the 'we treat everybody equally' thing if what their distro'ing isnt pressed like the rest of the stuff?

Mercury

Jul 8, 2003, 03:13 AM

Originally posted by chewbaccapits
well, one can smell a bomb you know....And this one has ATOMIC written all over it..

Re: the movie, I don't know why you think that. It got booed quite a bit when I saw the trailer, but I don't see why people hate it so. Apparently, the comics have a cult status, which is usually a good thing, and we've got a bunch of different characters and actors together that should combine to make an interesting movie...

I guess we'll see. Is there already a bunch of negative press or something?

redAPPLE

Jul 8, 2003, 03:52 AM

Originally posted by chewbaccapits
well, one can smell a bomb you know....And this one has ATOMIC written all over it..

the movie or the soundtrack? :o

Blackcat

Jul 8, 2003, 04:54 AM

Originally posted by Mercury
Re: the movie, I don't know why you think that. It got booed quite a bit when I saw the trailer, but I don't see why people hate it so. Apparently, the comics have a cult status, which is usually a good thing, and we've got a bunch of different characters and actors together that should combine to make an interesting movie...

I guess we'll see. Is there already a bunch of negative press or something?

I've not read the comics but I'm told the movie has little to do with them. Alan Moore has pretty much disowned it too.

Me, I'll see it before I judge it.

Trimix

Jul 8, 2003, 05:22 AM

MacFan26

Jul 8, 2003, 05:36 AM

I'm sure that this will probably be the norm in the future, but right now I think people are still clinging a little to having an actual cd, versus buying songs online.

I was wondering what would happen if people only downloaded their songs off the iTMS, and they lose their laptop, or it's stolen. Would a person be able to redownload songs without having to repurchase them onto a new computer? (pardon if this is a stupid question)

Trimix

Jul 8, 2003, 05:38 AM

This has been discussed ad infinitum -
Would you be able to go back to the shop and get a free CD, when your car gets broken into and the CDs lifted from the glove compartment ?

XForge

Jul 8, 2003, 05:54 AM

Originally posted by pEZ
Interesting. I'd like to see how people deal with this one. Not that anyone will want to pirate it anyway, because i'm sure that soundrack won't be too rockin', but still. From the iTMS you download password protected AAC files, it's a lot more work to burn a cd.

No it's not; you select the album in iTunes and hit "Burn." Then pop the disc back in and RIP it to MP3 and you can do whateverthehell you like with the files.

XForge

Jul 8, 2003, 06:01 AM

Originally posted by reyesmac
I think this is pretty amazing. A first step that if works, will be used in the Windows version of the iTMS to generate more traffic. If everyone can make more profit from selling albums that really wont make alot of money in stores, I would expect to see record companies sell ALOT of their older music and low sellers in digital format only. I hope it works, it would help give Apple hundreds of thousands of old songs and hard to find classics. It makes alot of sense too. You cant keep decades of music in every record store. Now they can sell ALL of the music that never got made into CD's, like really old stuff that was only sold in LP's and in 8 tracks and stuff. Sounds funny, but it would give Apple and incredible amount of titles and get older people to buy more and more music and using Macs.

I agree, it's gonna be terrific, but I also think the stupid monkeys in suits at the record companies are still going to try to carefully micromanage every last thing we listen to, the same way they're doing now. But hopefully iTMS and its inevitable competitors will open things up.... as much as it can anyway.

XForge

Jul 8, 2003, 06:12 AM

Oh and I want to go on record as agreeing the movie is going to tank. I don't want it to 'cuz it looks like a really cool flick, but they've moved back the release date on this thing two or three times already, and they've changed the trailer at least twice. This says to me that their test audiences hate it and they're scared they're gonna lose their butts. Too bad too 'cuz like I said, it looks like an awesome idea.

I'm gonna go see it, I just hope it's not as Godawful as "The Avengers."

CrackedButter

Jul 8, 2003, 06:15 AM

I've seen the trailer for this and it looks quite good, its not your typical action movie, some effort seems to have been put into it.

Sun Baked

Jul 8, 2003, 06:34 AM

Should be interesting to see how the soundtrack is marketed.

---

But the movie...

Are you sure this movie isn't sponsored by Metamucil?

Talk about the need for younger action heros.

MattG

Jul 8, 2003, 07:15 AM

I wonder if this will become more common once the iTunes Music Store has been ported for Windows. Hmm...

MetallicPenguin

Jul 8, 2003, 07:38 AM

This movie seemed like it was going to be very good. But, I don't know...lol...Sean Connery: "That was naughty"

groovebuster

Jul 8, 2003, 07:43 AM

Maybe this is not only a marketing move to promote the iTMS in general... maybe it is also a test to see how fast and numerous the songs of the sound track end up in some P2P-networks for free download. That way they would have a ratio legal/illegal for downloadable music for the first time. Before it was hard to measure because there were always the "normal" CDs being burned/duplicated and converted to MP3s. If Apple can show that illegal copies are way less often with their iTMS while being highly acepted by users then they'll be the de facto standard for legal music download on the internet in the future and no artist with two brain-cells left can argue against it...

Just a thought though.

groovebuster

Steamboatwillie

Jul 8, 2003, 08:06 AM

Mr Paranoid here with todays hairbrained thought.
I think this is a clever way to gauge the pulse of music pirates. Release the soundtrack ONLY in a single location then tracks it's progress out to the web. Could be a way for Apple to prove (or disprove for that matter) how well thier copy protection schema works.

"I'm not paranoid just because everyone is out to get me..."

:eek:

groovebuster

Jul 8, 2003, 08:13 AM

Mmmmh... isn't that what I just said???:confused:

groovebuster

FriarTuck

Jul 8, 2003, 08:30 AM

Does anyone know what's actually on the soundtrack?

I just waded through a steaming pile of Flash on the movie website and couldn't find anything about the soundtrack.

slightly

Jul 8, 2003, 08:50 AM

For one thing, the soundtrack is a score by the London Symphony Orchestra. It's not individual songs by well-known bands. It's a little hard to imagine some 14 year old saying "Whoa, I just have to have that violin piece they played when Sean Connery leapt over the bridge - it really blew me away".

For another thing, the graphic novel has (like most Alan Moore) an intelligent, multi-levelled storyline which the film (according to the trailer) seems to have morphed into a standard crappy action flick, the only unusual aspect of which being that everybody wears hats.

I say, blah.

XForge

Jul 8, 2003, 08:57 AM

Originally posted by Sun Baked
Are you sure this movie isn't sponsored by Metamucil?

Talk about the need for younger action heros.

Sean Connery might be just shy of 73, but he is by far the baddest m-fing great-grandfather on the planet. Most of the 30-40ish women I know would gladly run off with him were he to so much as squint at them.

Besides, the movie's got lots of other younger people in it - Peta Wilson's barely thirty! And SUCH a babe. And what about the guy playing Agent Tom Sawyer?

Kal-EL

Jul 8, 2003, 08:59 AM

I for one think this is great. I love movie scores and would love the chance to get ones not available in stores if this becomes a regular feature. Case in point: my favorite movie composer is Hans Zimmer and his wonderful score to The Ring was never produced commercially but if it were to be offered on iTMS for example, I'd grab it in a heart beat!

And as for what's on the score, it's already available for download at iTMS so just go over there and listen to the prievew.

groovebuster

Jul 8, 2003, 09:01 AM

Originally posted by slightly
For one thing, the soundtrack is a score by the London Symphony Orchestra. It's not individual songs by well-known bands. It's a little hard to imagine some 14 year old saying "Whoa, I just have to have that violin piece they played when Sean Connery leapt over the bridge - it really blew me away".

Maybe that exactly is the advantage of taking a soundtrack like that. The iTMS that way can be made very atractive to labels working in little niches of the market. What could be better to try it out and to study the reaction of a very specific consumer group?

This is just an experiment. Do you think any "normal" artist or label at the given time would give exclusive rights for a "CD" to Apple? I don't think so. But for getting some statistics about certain things it is just perfect. Based on theses statistics they can evaluate their business model and have a better position for (re-)negotiating contracts with the labels.

groovebuster

Orome

Jul 8, 2003, 09:04 AM

Originally posted by reyesmac
I think this is pretty amazing. A first step that if works, will be used in the Windows version of the iTMS to generate more traffic. If everyone can make more profit from selling albums that really wont make alot of money in stores, I would expect to see record companies sell ALOT of their older music and low sellers in digital format only. I hope it works, it would help give Apple hundreds of thousands of old songs and hard to find classics. It makes alot of sense too. You cant keep decades of music in every record store. Now they can sell ALL of the music that never got made into CD's, like really old stuff that was only sold in LP's and in 8 tracks and stuff. Sounds funny, but it would give Apple and incredible amount of titles and get older people to buy more and more music and using Macs.

Agreed. Realistically, this probably takes a HUGE amount of risk out of music distribution. I mean, there is basically no such thing as digital bargain bin for unsellable tracks to end up in. If a track won't sell, all it costs them is a little server space and all they have to do is take it off the server to fix that problem. With an actual compact disc, you can't take back what resources you've already put into it. You can't erase the disk for certain and you certainly don't want to recall all those CDs just so you can throw away the liner notes and reuse the case. The initial fixed investment on CDs has to be higher than this model. Like someone else said, if this sound track doesn't sell, no one is really stuck with a bill...or a pile of CDs.

Mr. Anderson

Jul 8, 2003, 09:06 AM

Sales of the album might go up after the movie comes out and people here the songs. I'm going to go and see it this weekend, I think.

I'll be paying special attention to the soundtrack and watch the credits. Who knows, there might be some good songs on there. Although the gothic tone of the movie might reflect in its soundtrack.

D

rjstanford

Jul 8, 2003, 09:50 AM

My first reaction was that this was silly -- after all, they're cutting out the majority of their target audience (people who don't own Macs).

Then I stopped to think about it. How much money does the production company itself normally see from the release of a movie soundtrack? We know that iTunes has the ability to return a much higher percentage (of a somewhat smaller price) to the actual music owners, rather than the distribution company. I think that that's going to be the real killer. If they can return enough money directly to make the owners happy, without involving any other distributors, that's all that counts. Add in the assumption that once the Windows iTms is complete that the numbers would have been substantially higher, and we may have a winner here.

Or, heck, someone could have lost a bet.

Jerry Spoon

Jul 8, 2003, 10:06 AM

Originally posted by MacFan26
I was wondering what would happen if people only downloaded their songs off the iTMS, and they lose their laptop, or it's stolen. Would a person be able to redownload songs without having to repurchase them onto a new computer? (pardon if this is a stupid question)
I guess if insurance would give you money for it, that might be a possibility. Does your insurance company pay out for software on a stolen laptop? That's the only way I see it happening. Just to be sure, make a backup just like you should do with your software.

Kid Red

Jul 8, 2003, 10:07 AM

ITMS gets an exclusive album and this has negative ratings on the front? Damn the rating system is really stupid here.

Jerry Spoon

Jul 8, 2003, 10:10 AM

I'm thinking this might not be a good thing. Most people here think the movie (and therefore the soudtrack?) will tank. I don't know about that, but if it's so, there's a nice low selling soundtrack that is the first to be sold exclusively by ITMS. Who's to blame? The studio and record company will blame Apple, and Apple will blame the studio and record company. Who wins? Definitely not Apple b/c with poor results, no one else will try this again in the near future, at least not with Apple's music service.

Flowbee

Jul 8, 2003, 10:50 AM

First off, the comic books that this movie is based on are a very fun read. Definately smarter than your average comic. Alan Moore isn't interested in getting involved in movie adaptations, and as a result, movies of his work get severely 'dumbed down' (anyone who's read his "From Hell" and then saw the movie I'm sure would agree).

As to the soundtrack, it's pretty standard orchestral soundtrack fare (take one part John Williams, one part Danny Elfman, shake well). Even if the movie does reasonably well, I can't imagine people would be rushing out to buy it. I'm thinking this whole Apple Exclusive thing is just a publicity stunt. And it's better than having hundreds of your cd's in the bargain bin just as the DVD is coming out.

Ugg

Jul 8, 2003, 11:00 AM

Originally posted by Choppaface
doesnt this sortta go against the 'we treat everybody equally' thing if what their distro'ing isnt pressed like the rest of the stuff?

It's not Apple's decision. This is the wave of the future. Why release it on on disc? Besides, the windoze iTunes is due out in a few months, hardly a heavy burden for non-mac owners.

Steamboatwillie

Jul 8, 2003, 11:29 AM

Originally posted by groovebuster
Mmmmh... isn't that what I just said???:confused:

groovebuster

Whoops, was a cross-post-thingy. I started typing my post before yours but got sidetracked until I finished, submitted later. My bad, sorry :(

bretm

Jul 8, 2003, 11:48 AM

Originally posted by XForge
No it's not; you select the album in iTunes and hit "Burn." Then pop the disc back in and RIP it to MP3 and you can do whateverthehell you like with the files.

Yeah. That's gonna be some really high fidelity stuff. AAC to CD to MP3. Yikes. I think we can safely say the record companies are as worried about that as they are people selling cassette tape copies of cassette tapes. Ok, it's a little better than that, but playing MP3 through a home stereo isn't very fullfilling. Especially one that's been running through the compression wringer a few times.

Abstract

Jul 8, 2003, 11:50 AM

How many sales of this album soundtrack will be considered a success? Its stupid to sell a soundtrack exclusively on iTMS right now because only 3% of the market actually owns a Mac. How much of this market will bother paying $9.99 to download it? It will end up with very very low sales numbers. Heck, iTMS is only available in America. They just cut out almost all of their market. It would be like selling this soundtrack only to Armenians or something. No offense, but there aren't too many Armenians. :o Its just silly.

And sometimes people only become interested in buying something when they see it on the rack. They pick it up, take a look, remembered that they enjoyed the music from the movie, and possibly buy it. By selling it only on iTMS, I would never buy it. I only go to iTMS when there is something specific that I'm looking for. I rarely browse, and I always know what I'm looking for already. Its not the same when I go to the (store) music store.

york2600

Jul 8, 2003, 12:33 PM

2 things:

First I'm going to quote the first post from this story on Slashdot.

Wow... This is about as exciting as having dibs on the digitally remastered soundtrack to Highlander II.

Second. I think the coolest thing record companies are seeing with the iTunes music store is the ability to release a track from an upcomming CD. Road Runner just put up the track from Thursdays album and I bought it. I will also be buying the full CD when it comes out. There's a lot of fans for different artists that will do this same double buy.

Doctor Q

Jul 8, 2003, 01:04 PM

Originally posted by slightly
It's a little hard to imagine some 14 year old saying "Whoa, I just have to have that violin piece they played when Sean Connery leapt over the bridge - it really blew me away".I know a musician who does exactly that. When I see a movie, I remember the dialog, the plot, and the visuals. He remembers the music. I say "I liked the way Hannibal the Cannibal wiped his mouth on his sleeve after eating the mailman" and he says "I liked the music in the scene where Hannibal got a job as a cook at McDonalds". He buys soundtracks to dramas. I only buy soundtracks to musicals.

I assume that Twentieth Century Fox (why aren't they Twenty-First Century Fox now?) agreed to this deal, with its very limited market, because (1) they weren't going to make much money off the soundtrack anyway and (2) they'll get a free shot of publicity from the new distribution method. In other words, the executives had little to lose and said "what the heck, let's try it."

jbomber

Jul 8, 2003, 01:34 PM

Originally posted by Kal-EL
I for one think this is great. I love movie scores and would love the chance to get ones not available in stores if this becomes a regular feature. Case in point: my favorite movie composer is Hans Zimmer and his wonderful score to The Ring was never produced commercially but if it were to be offered on iTMS for example, I'd grab it in a heart beat!

And as for what's on the score, it's already available for download at iTMS so just go over there and listen to the prievew.

Hans Zimmer is simple amazing. Just for the record, I was the hugest fan of movie soundtracks at age 14. They usually show a hell of a lot more thought, insight, and creativity that most of the crap we hear on the radio.

hayesk

Jul 8, 2003, 02:24 PM

I know people think this is going to be an interesting piracy experiment, but think about it - this is only happening in the US. In Canada, and anywhere else in the world, we'll be able to go to our local record store and buy a copy of the soundtrack on CD. It'll get on Kazaa within hours of it going on sale.

Orome

Jul 8, 2003, 02:45 PM

Originally posted by hayesk
This is only happening in the US. In Canada, and anywhere else in the world, we'll be able to go to our local record store and buy a copy of the soundtrack on CD. It'll get on Kazaa within hours of it going on sale.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the annoucement was that it was only going to be released in the iTMS and not in CD format, period...

billyboy

Jul 8, 2003, 03:52 PM

Originally posted by Doctor Q

I assume that Twentieth Century Fox (why aren't they Twenty-First Century Fox now?) agreed to this deal, with its very limited market,

two smart lads copyrighted, or whatever the legal term is, a whole load of phrases and names which they thought would be valuable to companies in the future. One such phrase was 21st century Fox. Apparently the execs at Fox were spitting nails for being caught out, and I think there was a decision just to not pay the bright boys a single cent out of spite. Thats the story I recall anyway.

As for the thread, iTMS is going to rock with a wide variety of media. Its not my scene cause Im ignorant, but I know quite a few people into movie soundtracks.

I am pretty sure that when iTMS goes to Windows, we are going to see a nifty deal between Apple and Amazon. A license deal to mirror iTMS on the mega high profile Amazon, or something similar. The run up to Xmas is the testing ground to prove to the music industry that the technology works, and the sales from an incredibly limited market ie US Mac users with iTunes4 are, I reckon, a bonus.

The resistance by quite a few to iTMS lack of a physical CD is I think just a part of the transition. We move on, and if an idea works it is embraced by the masses. Sure there are people who say vinyl is still the best medium for music, but CDs have ruled, and again its time to move along. And the audiophiles with supertuned ears who mock MP3 quality are also a minority. I havent got a single WAV file in my Powerbook, and when I play a crappy MP3 tune through my sonica card, not one single person, hi-fi freak or ordinary Joe has said anything apart from ******* that sounds amazing.

My tuppeny bits worth

Doctor Q

Jul 8, 2003, 04:10 PM

Originally posted by billyboy
The resistance by quite a few to iTMS lack of a physical CD is I think just a part of the transition. We move on, and if an idea works it is embraced by the masses. Sure there are people who say vinyl is still the best medium for music, but CDs have ruled, and again its time to move along.Reminds me of the move by Apple to eliminate floppy drives from their system. A chorus of shouts at first, then whimpers, then an acknowledgement that it made sense. Those who really needed a floppy drive for compatibility or just for comfort could pay extra and have one. As mainstream music delivery moves online, those who want hardcopy CDs will simply pay extra for them.

XForge

Jul 8, 2003, 04:25 PM

Originally posted by bretm
Yeah. That's gonna be some really high fidelity stuff. AAC to CD to MP3. Yikes. I think we can safely say the record companies are as worried about that as they are people selling cassette tape copies of cassette tapes. Ok, it's a little better than that, but playing MP3 through a home stereo isn't very fullfilling. Especially one that's been running through the compression wringer a few times.

Digital > digital > digital. Same, same, same. No change. Yes, compressed, decompressed, recompressed, but very little loss. Fuhgeddaboudit.

iJon

Jul 8, 2003, 04:50 PM

i think they shot themselves in the foot, no one has even bought it yet. haha. but on the other side all they had to do was hand it to apple and they just had to upload it on xserves.

iJon

Kal-EL

Jul 8, 2003, 05:09 PM

Originally posted by Abstract
How many sales of this album soundtrack will be considered a success? Its stupid to sell a soundtrack exclusively on iTMS right now because only 3% of the market actually owns a Mac. How much of this market will bother paying $9.99 to download it? It will end up with very very low sales numbers. Heck, iTMS is only available in America. They just cut out almost all of their market. It would be like selling this soundtrack only to Armenians or something. No offense, but there aren't too many Armenians. :o Its just silly.

Here is a quote directly from the Maccentral article:
"Apple is selling the album for US$9.99 as an online download at the iTunes Music Store. That's not unusual. What is, however, is the fact that no physical CDs are being made for the U.S. market."

And here is a quote from the message boards at Maccentral:
"For those unable (or unwilling, as some are) to get the music through the iTMS, there *will* be a CD release from the Varèse Sarabande label, but it will be available only through their website, not sold at retail stores or at online CD vendor sites. The CD will also be sold at retail outside the US, of course."

http://www.varesesarabande.com/upcoming.asp