No doubt you've noticed the inclusion of info on bootlegs and promo CDs of unreleased rejected scores. Before you go off on some mental tirade of illegal MP3 swapping and CD-R making of stuff you can buy in stores, here are my views as expressed at various film score boards:
I have mixed feelings reguarding this, especially since I trade in unreleased scores. Not like I used to, but still a little bit.
I believe bootlegging is good -- now hear me out.
With the amount of film scores and TV scores made and the number of fans, it is financially unfeasible to release everything.
Bootlegs help the hand full of fans, a smaller group than the regular few thousand we already are, who want things others don't necessarily want. And bootlegs and promos help these poor individuals who want "Pluto Nash", or "Bad Boys 2", which would otherwise not sell worth a damn -- even in limited editions, enjoy something they would never have.
"But so and so won't profit from it" Come on, how much do you think John Powell (And James McKee Smith, John Ashton Thomas, etc. ...) would have made? If anything it would be in the hole and Intrada (The likely releaser) would be in the hole.
Face it. Some scores just don't get releases. And we loose composers each day. Goldsmith, Bernstein -- will no longer be able to profit. And the musicians and additional composer will die off too and who will profit then? I don't know about you, but I feel bad when a score is held onto so long by a greedy studio that the people who made it pass away and can no longer get what they would have from an official release.
Bootlegs fill a need that can't be done realistically. But it reaches it's points too.
Just a couple weeks ago I was in e-mail talks to do a trade with a guy. Somehow we got over into it and he got pissy and told me I don't know how it is and that we should be able to make CD-R copies of commercially released CDs. Finally I got pissed at him and told him the trade was off and not to ever e-mail me again.
People, you have to realise -- we are a small group. By lucky estimates, there might be 10,000 of us total around the world right now. And about 3,000 of those regularly buy CDs enough to make studios stand up and take notice and let us have something occasionally.
Look, they don't care. As far as they are concerned, Spartacus can sit in the vault without a proper remaster and deluxe edtion, until the reels are rusted and the recording medium gone. Then they'll toss that after pissing on it and doing a Mexican hat dance around it.
I know you see people like FSM and Varese making all these releases, but they are in debt to a point. Not ever release sells and they put themselves in debt on certain releases, just to please us! Not every CD sells like The Omega Man, or Predator you know.
I can't tell you how pissed I am when I see someone's score like and see them offering CD-R copies of FSM CDs that haven't sold out.
It besmirches us all to do this.
I understand you might not have any money -- hey, I don't have a job. There is a backlist of CDs I want that I can't get and you know what? I live without them. Do you have any idea how annoyed I am that I missed my chance at a pressed copy of Predator? Now I have to get a CD-R. eBay prices are astonding!
I understand shipping in some countries is high.
There are cheap places to buy CDs. You can try Amazon.com;s auctions, eBay.com, half.com and sellers on boards. Okay, so you've been waiting for 15 years for "The Brave Litttle Toaster"; so you can't wait another year when cheap copies show up in second hand stores or eBay? Just wait. I know that doesn't comfort you on such things like limited editions, but hey, we all get screwed eventually.
In short, buy official CDs -- don't make copies. Make copies of unreleased stuff only.
AND:
It should be noted that over at FSM, Lukas has expressed financial troubles.
Please, don't make CD-R copies of things they still have in stock!
Remember: not everything gets bootlegged!
I'm not here to kiss anyone's ass, or appease some record label nut who isn't getting laid. This site is for both ends of the rainbow. But also note how I do not offer to sell or make MP3s of this stuff. And I don't want to see anyone else do that. Rules have been established for the Trading Section of the Rejected Scores Messageboard.
