FSM's Lukas Kendall speaks out

[TownerFan 4,983]

Check out the first part of this exclusive interview with Lukas Kendall of Film Score Monthly--a look back at his long career as a soundtrack CDs producer. It's Lukas unleashed

http://www.colonnesonore.net/contenuti-speciali/interviste/2517-qits-all-in-the-film-musicq-interview-with-lukas-kendall-film-score-monthly-part-1.html

Part 2 will be up in the next few days. Hope you'll enjoy!

[Incanus 5,714]

Such a terrific and highly interesting interview. I can't wait to read the rest of it. Thanks for sharing Maurizio!

[Jay 37,346]

That was absolutely fantastic! Great work, Maurizio!

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Great interview. Lukas talks about it like the labels don't realize it, but I hope they do understand that the CD market is indeed dying. I don't think it would be too hard to make a transition to digital releases if it means continuing to preserve and release film scores. Although I think I recall MV saying once that digital releases are a completely different situation when it comes to licensing.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

I'll probably stop buying if it goes all to digital downloads. There are only so many CD-Rs I can burn and fan-made covers I can print out before giving up. It'll then be a matter of just chasing up everything I missed on eBay or Amazon.

I hear vinyls are doing well at the moment - maybe the labels will do new LP releases!

[Ludwig 1,120]

Good work, Maurizio! A fascinating read.

I had no idea a job like that could be so frustrating. Kudos to him for doing it for 15 years.

[Ollie 1,059]

Good job Maurizio, can't wait for part II.

Great interview. Lukas talks about it like the labels don't realize it, but I hope they do understand that the CD market is indeed dying. I don't think it would be too hard to make a transition to digital releases if it means continuing to preserve and release film scores. Although I think I recall MV saying once that digital releases are a completely different situation when it comes to licensing.

Actually I believe Lukas may have been the first but yeah, most of the labels have said the same. Hopefully our little hobby can hang on for a few more years or so before CDs are done.

[Hlao-roo 389]

No FAT bashing? Disappointing.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Shocking! Kendall was only ever in it for the money???

[Hlao-roo 389]

That's why they call it show BUSINESS.

Next.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Lukas Kendall - "To be honest, I thought Mutiny On The Bounty was an awful score, but I love the house it built!"

[fommes 153]

Terrific interview, and a testament to the fact that Kendall really was by far the most insightful producer in our niche.

Incidentally, again I can't help but feel it's too bad a lot of the other label runners didn't want to share his long-term vision:

They started to buy only the ones that were released in limited numbers, on the assumption that the others would still be available later. This is what is called the “tragedy of the commons,” in which people are incentivized to use up a common resource individually that would best be preserved by collective action. Labels are incentivized to release scores in fewer numbers and at higher prices in order to claim market share, which only shrinks the market because it is depleting the ultimate resource—the money and good will of the collectors.

Because, even if they wanted to buy everything legitimately, they simply don’t have the income that it takes to be a collector. CDs are expensive! How much money can someone really spend a month on soundtracks—$100? $200? $500? [...] The CD producers, like me, are completely out of touch with the financial pressures that ordinary collectors face. Why? Not only are we incentivized to put out more product, not less—but we get everything (or almost everything) for free as a professional courtesy.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Many of us have complained about this for almost 2 years now ever since the labels started churning stuff out like clockwork.

So many desirable titles coming out at pretty much the same time, with hints of more great stuff on the way.

A lot of people simply don't have the disposable income, or the time....

[Wojo 2,453]

Yeah really. I had to get a job to keep pace.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

It's a niche market, and it's saturated.

[Uni 306]

Fascinating interview. Amazing how the times have changed, and continue to change. Twenty years ago—just before the release of the Star Wars boxed set, actually—we would've been thrilled to know there would be a time in the not-too-distant future when we'd be able to get more, and in some cases all, of the music we didn't have from the scores we love most. How ironic to think that, having seen such a thing become a reality and perhaps believing we're forever past having to settle for crappy, ten-track OSTs, we're already seeing the sunset of this brief "golden era" of score collecting.

I suppose it's inevitable, though. When music can be streamed so efficiently, quickly, and accurately over any distance, and a fifteen-year-old can sit in his bedroom and produce a CD equal in production value (of both audio and graphic design) to what any major label is releasing, it kinda blows the lid off of the exclusivity those labels have enjoyed for decades. Pretty soon it'll just be about a handful of producers streaming the content and the lawyers wrangling over the fine-print of the rights.

And something tangible will be lost when that happens. We may see a day when every score to a major film is released in full, recording sessions and all, as a standard element of movie marketing. When that day arrives, we'll be the ones telling our children of the days when we had to go looking for soundtracks; when at times we'd actually have to resort to holding a tape recorder up against the speaker of our console TV to get the music we wanted; when collecting was purely a function of footwork, patience, and endless hours of album-flipping. It's a shame they'll never experience the staggering triumph of finding a rarer-than-rare score sitting in some leftover bin at Wax Trax, feeling a glow very akin to what we saw on Indy's face when he held the Shankara stones near each other the first time. It's just not the same when you can mail-order the Lost Ark or download the complete text of the Dead Sea Scrolls, is it. . . ?

- Uni

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

With TV shows like Hoarders brainwashing young people into becoming minimalists so that they don't own as much as their parents did, as well as the modern prevailing doctrine that ownership of goods is becoming more frowned upon, I'm not surprised CDs and books have lost their general appeal and value.

People want their house to look bare, bland and boring. CDs are a causalty of that trend.

[Wojo 2,453]

No, what Hoarders teaches me is that it's better to throw that banana peel away today, instead of saving it to shine a shoe next week that I don't even own yet.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

No, what Hoarders teaches me is that it's better to throw that banana peel away today, instead of saving it to shine a shoe next week that I don't even own yet.

Adding to my point, Hoarders is only one piece of the puzzle. It scares people who watch it into thinking they could easily turn into that if they have even a mild and harmless bug of collecting stamps, coins, crockery, or in many people's case, movies and music. They then become so paranoid at the notion of ever becoming one of those "crazy old cat ladies", they suddenly re-identify most of their belongings as mere "junk" and adopt a pseudo-Buddhist mindset where they might achieve some nebulous form of enlightenment and understanding of the universe if they purge their greed for things and own fewer of them.

A broader economic reason is that many young people don't settle down in one place for a long time these days, rather they tend to change jobs every six to eight months, forcing them to rent and move house or apartment on a regular basis. This constant exhausting process of dwelling shift prompts them to eliminate "non-essentials", with film and music collections being among the first to go.

It's easier to just plug into the "cloud" and let someone else worry about storing it; quality, access, security or questions of ownership be damned.

It's a mentality that's nauseatingly displayed in this article, as the author describes the smugness of his friend and his self-indulgent mission to help him get rid of the things he thinks he doesn't need; in this case his CD collection. Most readers here will get a laugh at the author's third point at the very end.

[TownerFan 4,983]

Here's part 2 of the interview with Lukas:

http://bit.ly/10lMt9r

Hope you all enjoy!

[Koray Savas 2,251]

I think it's hilarious how Lukas just straight out bashes Thor.

[Jay 37,346]

Absolutely terrific interview, I don't even know what to say. Everything he says just makes so much sense!

Did you ever consider asking him about the unit number fiasco?

[scallenger 483]

Awesome set of interviews! I do however want to hear more about his Gremlins fiasco if he ever wants to share more about it.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Did he talk about killing any chances of Jerry's bio coming out?

[publicist 4,643]

I think it's hilarious how Lukas just straight out bashes Thor.

Isn't he just going through straight facts here? Talking about a man who spent hundreds of hours writing about his lack of time to listen to longer albums, valiantly battling even the odd 5 minutes more here and there?

Did he talk about killing any chances of Jerry's bio coming out?

This thing would never have passed any legal clearance regardless of whatever the guy did. Goldsmith managed to offend almost everyone still living in the small Hollywood music community in only 3 chapters.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Freedom of Speech!

[publicist 4,643]

But not publication. There was an amusing, but generally contemptuous tone with some slightings of other people's character which i'm sure would have wandered out of any official release but without it wouldn't have been the amusing read it was.

[TownerFan 4,983]

Absolutely terrific interview, I don't even know what to say. Everything he says just makes so much sense!

Did you ever consider asking him about the unit number fiasco?

Thanks Jay!

Actually I forgot about that thing when I prepared the questions. Anyway, he spoke frankly about that on FSM boards and website already.

You've got the whole thing we did. Lukas is truly an honest, no-nonsense chap.

[BloodBoal 7,538]

[scallenger 483]

I totally agree with him. Goldsmith did it a lot too. I'll never forget that note on the Intrada liner notes for Congo where they had asked Goldsmith why he had left off such cues like the wonderful "Meet Monroe Kelly", to which he replied something like he had already done the same music for Rambo and that people should just go listen to that.

[TownerFan 4,983]

He even bashes Williams!

There are some producers who in their arrogance think they can devise some magical sequence that will unlock the majesty of a score, but I find it obnoxious to leave off cues just for the sake of it.

Take that, Johnny!

I think he was referring more to label producers who sometimes deviate from the usual presentation endorsed by FSM.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

I agree. I think Lukas would not dare to tell a composer what he should or should not include from his OWN work.

[BloodBoal 7,538]

[tarasis 1]

Question to ask Lukas that I imagine he wouldn't answer: Which releases from other labels do you think were harmed compromised as a result of involving the composer?

Great interview Maurizio, very in depth and informative.

[publicist 4,643]

A prominent example is the STAR TREK -TMP Sony release from 1999.

Goldsmith nixed half its content and dragged the release for half a year or so.

[Jay 37,346]

I really enjoyed reading about the magazine publishing days as well as all the stuff about the record label. I still have many issues of FSM here!

[Uni 306]

Excellent questions, fantastic answers. That was truly a joy to read.

- Uni

[Smeltington 1,438]

Great interview! Thanks for sharing.

[Jay 37,346]

Excellent questions, fantastic answers. That was truly a joy to read.

- Uni

Well said!

[Richard Penna 3,683]

Refreshingly frank interview.

I only own one FSM CD (Star Trek II) - do all of his CDs contain everything, in a posterity type release, or have there been instances of things being left off? The ideology I read certainly suggests the former, so I like the idea he's continuing as a producer.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Whenever possible FSM tries to release the complete score.

[Faleel 5,346]

Refreshingly frank interview.

I only own one FSM CD (Star Trek II) - do all of his CDs contain everything, in a posterity type release, or have there been instances of things being left off?

It usually has everything.

ST-II is "missing" the film version of the epilogue without Nimoy's speech.

[indy4 155]

Just finished reading--excellent interview!

[Incanus 5,714]

I had only now time to read the second part. Again this is an interesting, thoughtful, entertaining and candid interview. Wonderful work Maurizio and Mr. Kendall.