Does your interest in film scores wane if the cadence of specialty label releases you are interested in slows down?

[Jay 37,287]

For example of what I mean on a smaller scale, if you're a John Williams fan, 

 

In 2017 we got Stanley and Iris, Pete N Tillie, E.T., and Close Encounters

In 2018 we got The Cowboys, Dracula, Saving Private Ryan, Schindler's List, Harry Potter 1, Harry Potter 2, Harry Potter 3, and The Land of the Giants

In 2019 we got Superman, Monsignor, Minority Report, The Poseidon Adventure, Earthquake, and The Towering Inferno

In 2020 we got Far and Away, The River, and War of the Worlds

 

That's 20 titles released from March 2017's release of Stanley and Iris and October 2020's release of War of the Worlds, or about 1 title every 2 1/2 months.  That's a lot to keep you engaged with the film score hobby (listening and discussing)

 

But now it's been 6 months and counting since War of the Worlds, and while I know we got The Time Tunnel last month, it seems to have been largely ignored by the folks here, and it already seems like some forum members are starting to appear less and less, and I expect that to change as the next big Williams title is announced...

 

 

For example of what I mean on a larger scale, a lot of us within a certain age range got into the hobby when the only albums you could buy were the scores that happened to get an OST album, which often didn't have that bit we loved from watching the movie, but now most of the scores we desired for a long time are now available thanks to the specialty labels....

 

Predator! Gremlins! Back To The Future! Goonies! Star Trek! Star Wars! Batman! Indiana Jones! Conan! Robin Hood! Lethal Weapon! Die Hard! Aliens! Rocketeer! Waterworld! James Bond! The Last Starfighter! The Abyss! The Land Before Time! Starship Troopers! Air Force One!

 

etc

 

I get the impression that a lot of people were actively engaged with the hobby as so many of their long desired scores continued to come out, and then drifted away from it as they had less and less to look forward to.

 

 

Does anybody else know what I'm talking about and have any thoughts on the matter?

[bruce marshall 1,315]

" " Say what?"

[Manakin Skywalker 4,891]

As long as the music exists and music keeps being created, my interest does not wane. Expansions are but a cherry on top.

[Jay 37,287]

That's exactly how I feel, but I am curious about all opinions on this!

[Corellian2019 383]

Despite the glut of releases over the past 4 years, my interest continues to be sustained due to a few of my holy grails still being stubbornly out of reach (Terminator 2, Heat, and Brazil for example). However, as I continue to watch older films that I missed out, I may possibly discover new favorites that I can add to the list. I don't have much faith in, or pay much attention to the newer stuff

[Dr. Rick 1,155]

Quote

In 2019 we got Superman, Minority Report, The Poseidon Adventure, Earthquake, and The Towering Inferno

 

Where's the love?! 

 

 

 

In all seriousness, I get what you mean.  I'm sure the Time Tunnel is a fantastic release but it was before my time and it's largely non Williams in content so I'm going to pass on it.  

 

Covid is definitely altered the release schedule, much to our detriment, and without a new JW movie expansion to discuss and fawn over it's totally understandable.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

My interest in film scores, in general, has waned significantly over the years. I don’t think expansions have any relation to it. 

[Smeltington 1,436]

Jay, what you're saying makes a lot of sense in terms of discussion on this board. When there's not much coming out, there's a lot less activity here. This is also true when there's not much JW news.

 

My interest in film scores doesn't depend on new expansions or even new OSTs, though. Williams' output, along with some of my favorite scores by other composers, is always fascinating because it's so complex, there's so much to discover with every new listen. It's accessible on the surface, yet it has untold depths.

 

On top of that, I'll never fully get to know every release I own, because it adds up to so many hours of music. So that plus the complexity of the music will keep me listening to film scores probably for the rest of my life.

 

The only thing I can think of that might slow me down is if I ever learn to appreciate classical music enough to shift my focus, although I'm sure I'll still love JW no matter what.

[Ollie 1,059]

I’ve slowed my collecting down quite a bit. 
 

The specialty labels releasing fewer scores, most of the stuff I’ve really wanted has been released and my lack of interest in a majority of current film scores are the main reasons.

 

Plus I’m on the other side of 50 and while I’m far from having the largest collection, I more CDs than the average person and just don’t feel like collecting that much. 
 

I've passed on some Williams like the Land of the Giants, Lost in Space and Time Tunnel, because I have the GNP releases and the LIS 40th Anniversary set. 

 

 

 

 

[Marian Schedenig 8,172]

I have certainly lost most interest in current film music, with most of the composers I admire being either dead or retired or occupied elsewhere, and most of the new things I'm aware of being either not good, or nice enough but just not very interesting musically. But my general interest in the eras I'm… interested in is mostly unaffected by release trends. For the collector (addict?) side of me, the fix of a highly anticipated new release certainly has *some* significance, but mostly it just means that I get to rediscover a score I've deliberately put aside for months (or years) in hope of an expansion. Plus with bundling several releases into one order and then waiting for several more weeks for it to arrive, I get most of the new stuff weeks or months after most folks here anyway (I only got War of the Worlds two weeks ago). But in between releases, there's always time to rediscover old favourites, dig out half forgotten scores again, or (all to often) just repeat the evergreens over and over again. And on a long term scale, my interest in any genre (Williams, or Goldsmith, or Golden Age film music, or film music in general, or orchestral music in general, or non-orchestral music) comes and goes, sometimes for weeks or months.

 

As for discussions on this board, it's certainly an aspect that when a new release is announced, most peoples' interests converge on that same score, so naturally there'll be more agitated discussion than during normal day to day business with everyone focusing on something different.

 

[Brando 1,856]

2 hours ago, Jay said:

and I expect that to change as the next big Williams title is announced...

 

I will analyze this for the next hour or two and see what clues Jay has given us today.....

[Jay 37,287]

33 minutes ago, Ollie said:

Plus MV suggested there could be Williams only release of those scores in the future. 

 

Are you sure? I don't recall ever seeing him say anything like that anywhere and I am sure someone would have cross-posted it here if he did.

 

Can you find where you think you saw that and provide a link? 

[mstrox 6,646]

26 minutes ago, Jay said:

 

Are you sure? I don't recall ever seeing him say anything like that anywhere and I am sure someone would have cross-posted it here if he did.

 

Can you find where you think you saw that and provide a link? 

 

 

[Datameister 2,037]

My own interest level definitely doesn't depend on what releases are currently happening. There are indeed fewer extant unreleased holy grails now, and I've lost some of my enthusiasm and excitement about new scores, thanks to the relatively anonymous styles in vogue. But I'm always listening to and often engaging creatively with scores I like. One thing that helps is that there are still lots of existing albums I've yet to experience, so even though my stylistic preferences are at odds with  current practices, I still get to enjoy music that's new for me.

[Wojo 2,453]

I'm buying less new albums in all genres, but I still spend a lot of time curating my collection. 

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

I've got enough.

[Jay 37,287]

12 hours ago, mstrox said:

 

 

 

That can't be it. MV replying "hopefully" to a random fan question is completely differ from "MV suggesting" himself the possibility of a title

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

I think I got all there was to get. I'll have to pick up the pieces from here.

[bruce marshall 1,315]

1 hour ago, The Big Man said:

I've got enough.

You could have.bought more.

[Bryant Burnette 654]

Makes sense to me.  Most hobbies are habit-based, and if the habit isn't being fed, there's always a danger of it getting replaced by something else.  I rarely buy scores these days unless they are Williams, or some holy grail that gets released.  Not many of those left.

[Thor 7,465]

Very predictable response from me, but obviously the existence or non-existence of expanded releases plays no role whatsoever. I've never been interested in them, and never will be.

 

However, there are still some 'holy grails' - i.e. completely unreleased scores - I'm hoping for. Especially from Williams, Elfman and Goldenthal. But also some others, like SCARFACE or TOP GUN.

 

My interest will never really wane, because a) my collection is so big, I already have a lifetime of listening and acquaintance to do, b) I explore, and acquire, a lot of new scores, c) I explore, and acquire, a lot of old scores. So it's a neverending thing.

 

That being said, there are obviously periods where I don't feel like listening to film music at all. I get into a "classical mood" or "synth mood" or "rock mood" or "pop mood" or whatever. These can last for a day, or for weeks, depending on circumstance. But I will always return to soundtracks at some point.

[Raiders of the SoundtrArk 2,429]

Personnaly my interrest for expansions or releases of unreleased scores is constaintly growing. I'm new to this, I've only started my collection of CD with the Harry Potter CD boxset of LLL in 2018 so I've miss a lot of extraordinary expansions that where already OOP. There are so many of them of which I would love having a reissued starting with the Omen trilogy, Cinderella Liberty and Star Trek TMP.

Plus as long as The John Williams Star Wars Collection and The John Williams Indiana Jones Collection won't be release I have absolutly no reason of what so ever to see my interest in future releases waned.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

It's a bad time if you're just getting into this and you're into CDs. Much of what came out in the last 15 years is now out of print and expensive as fuck second hand on eBay. You snooze, you lose!

[Thor 7,465]

4 minutes ago, The Big Man said:

It's a bad time if you're just getting into this and you're into CDs.

 

Indeed. And not only because it's much harder to find the CDs you want for bargain prices, but also because international shipping is out-of-this-world silly money (often surpassing the cost of the actual CD....several times over). I'm glad I built the majority of my CD collection in the 90s and 2000s.

[Jurassic Shark 12,028]

As long as good scores from the past continue to be remastered and released on CD, I can live very well without expansions.

[bruce marshall 1,315]

For me it's more a matter of the type of releases we are getting.

 Most of these speciality label releases are unlistenable ' c and c ' archive' releases.

These really dont interest me, for the most part.☺

[Jurassic Shark 12,028]

12 hours ago, Jay said:

I get the impression that a lot of people were actively engaged with the hobby as so many of their long desired scores continued to come out, and then drifted away from it as they had less and less to look forward to.

 

I also need time to listen to the scores in my collection, and to check out scores from the past that I haven't heard yet, so it's no problem if there's a period with fewer specialty label releases that interest me.

 

There's one thing I'd like to see more of: re-releases of film music re-recordings that are OOP.

 

10 hours ago, Smeltington said:

if I ever learn to appreciate classical music

 

Do it!

[Raiders of the SoundtrArk 2,429]

23 minutes ago, The Big Man said:

It's a bad time if you're just getting into this and you're into CDs. Much of what came out in the last 15 years is now out of print and expensive as fuck second hand on eBay. You snooze, you lose!

Yeah the eBay second hand have atrocuelly abusive prices when you see Star Trek TMP at $130 instead of the original $34.99 you can clearly understand the whole business is nutts.

23 minutes ago, Thor said:

I'm glad I built the majority of my CD collection in the 90s and 2000s.

Sadly at that time I was still in diapers or not here at all for that matter.

[Jurassic Shark 12,028]

1 minute ago, Raiders of the SoundtrArk said:

Sadly at that time I was still in diapers

 

I guess that's better than not using diapers.

[Thor 7,465]

2 minutes ago, Raiders of the SoundtrArk said:

Sadly at that time I was still in diapers or not here at all for that matter.

 

"You have my sympathy", as Ash says in ALIEN.

[1977 1,743]

My purchases have waned over the past year for sure, mostly due to increases in shipping rates and an ever weakening exchange rate. I expect I'll still pick up any future Williams releases and selected premieres from my favourites but I'm much more picky than a few years back.

[Jurassic Shark 12,028]

1 hour ago, JTWfan77 said:

ever weakening exchange rate

 

A trick to avoid this is to sell stuff internationally on eBay, and charge in a stable currency, such as USD, EUR, or GBP. Then you build up savings on your Paypal account that can be used for future CD purchases.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

2 hours ago, Thor said:

 

"You have my sympathy", as Ash says in ALIEN.

 

It's okay, we knew were the quote was from

[Smeltington 1,436]

3 hours ago, Jurassic Shark said:

Do it!

 

It's going well so far! But it's been a slow process to try and like classical as much as film scores. I think it's going to take years of training my brain. I do have the feeling it's going to be more and more rewarding as I get older, and I look forward to that.

[Jay 37,287]

14 hours ago, ATXHusker said:

 

Where's the love?! 

 

 

 

D'oh! Fixed

14 hours ago, Koray Savas said:

My interest in film scores, in general, has waned significantly over the years. I don’t think expansions have any relation to it. 

 

What do you think is the reason?

 

Also, my main post was never about expansions, it was always about expansions AND premiere releases.

[GerateWohl 4,332]

My interest in film scores doesn't wane if there are less special relases. It rather annoys me, when I get the impression that fandom seems to be mostly about buying stuff.

 

The interest in forum discussions on releases are often also not very exciting. Of course this goes to my address as well like to everyone else. It is also about the state of a fan's life cycle. I am relatively new in the forum. If I start a topic sometimes it turns out, that it has been already discussed a hundred times. Or that nobody is interested in evaluating a certain topic because it is not about a new release. As well sometimes I find it weird how much harsh criticism on John Williams music is formulated in a JWFan forum. Probably in no place in the internet you will find as many negative statements on his music as here.

 

Also the issue is, that for good discussions you need time. It lies in the nature of the internet, that sometimes you drop in for ten seconds, read a comment, post a reply without much thinking about it. It is like a twitterization of forum discussions, that make certain discussions maybe less interesting.

 

So, apart from my crappy time management and poor contribution, new releases don't play such a big role in context of my interest. Anyway I am afraid, when it comes to releases currently I am rather interested in old releases and re-recordings than new remastered releases of old stuff.

[Jay 37,287]

5 minutes ago, GerateWohl said:

sometimes I find it weird how much harsh criticism on John Williams music is formulated in a JWFan forum. Probably in no place in the internet you will find as many negative statements on his music as here.

 

Huh, that's an interesting perspective!  I feel like there is no place where he is praised more than here! But maybe that is because I have been here for 22 years, so have been around as (counting...) 25 new scores of his came out and were broken down, not to mention almost every expansion and premiere release from his older works happened during this time frame.

 

In other words, maybe so many positive things have been said by so many of us over such a long time here, all that's left for some people to speak about is nit picking aspects of his work?  I dunno!

[Jurassic Shark 12,028]

44 minutes ago, GerateWohl said:

sometimes I find it weird how much harsh criticism on John Williams music is formulated in a JWFan forum. Probably in no place in the internet you will find as many negative statements on his music as here.

 

He can't even play the guitar properly!

[1977 1,743]

2 hours ago, Jurassic Shark said:

 

A trick to avoid this is to sell stuff internationally on eBay, and charge in a stable currency, such as USD, EUR, or GBP. Then you build up savings on your Paypal account that can be used for future CD purchases.

 

I've thought about it but shipping is so expensive I doubt I'll get any sales.

[Jurassic Shark 12,028]

5 minutes ago, JTWfan77 said:

 

I've thought about it but shipping is so expensive I doubt I'll get any sales.

 

You can also sell within your own country this way.

[GerateWohl 4,332]

2 hours ago, Jay said:

Huh, that's an interesting perspective!  I feel like there is no place where he is praised more than here!

I do not deny that there is no place in the internet where there is more praised than here. But I think, the opposite is true as well.

2 hours ago, Jay said:

In other words, maybe so many positive things have been said by so many of us over such a long time here, all that's left for some people to speak about is nit picking aspects of his work?  I dunno!

Yeah, I am sure that's it. And basically that is not a bad thing. 

And yes, it can be tiring intrducing every critical comment with a phrase like "You know, I love John Williams and his work. but..." And I think, admiration paired with a critical view is worth more than a dogmatic positive attitude paired with an inquisitoric passion for building funeral piles for heretics.

But it just caught my attention how often his name appears in those "Worst something Ever" threads and other stuff like that.

 

[Gurkensalat 336]

You realize, that you will get answers in this thread only from people, whose interest has not waned so much that they do not visit this forum any more? :-)

 

For me, a big No. Simply because I do not have that much free time on my hand which is divided between several interests and hobbies, so I often buy a new expansion years after it got released (because only then I managed to properly listen to the expansions I bought before). That makes me independent from the release schedule. Also I take the opportunity of a release lull to explore other composers that I do not know half as much as they deserve. 

[Chewy 2,376]

As long as Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Hook and tons of others are not properly expanded, there is no way my interest in film scores wanes.

 

And I also still believe there'll be great scores coming from composers like Desplat or Powell that I'll be looking forward to hearing.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

5 hours ago, Jay said:

What do you think is the reason?

Probably just shifting interests? I don’t know specifically. The draw and allure just isn’t there for me like it used to be 10 years ago. I still enjoy watching TV and film and playing games, and liking the music in the context of those mediums. Just don’t feel the need to explore the music on its own as much. 

[Datameister 2,037]

1 hour ago, GerateWohl said:

I do not deny that there is no place in the internet where there is more praised than here. But I think, the opposite is true as well.

Yeah, I am sure that's it. And basically that is not a bad thing. 

And yes, it can be tiring intrducing every critical comment with a phrase like "You know, I love John Williams and his work. but..." And I think, admiration paired with a critical view is worth more than a dogmatic positive attitude paired with an inquisitoric passion for building funeral piles for heretics.

But it just caught my attention how often his name appears in those "Worst something Ever" threads and other stuff like that.

 

 

In my experience, it's a very common dynamic in these sorts of communities, no matter what the subject of interest is. No one critiques like a disappointed fan. I've seen far more extreme cases elsewhere.

[Richard Penna 3,670]

My interest in scores really has no correlation with how often a speciality release comes out that I want to buy. Apart from perhaps relistening to franchise scores if something related is expanded.

 

I've been buying so much other stuff lately (not just scores) that when an expansion of interest comes along, it's more of a welcome distraction than anything else.

1 hour ago, Koray Savas said:

Probably just shifting interests? I don’t know specifically. The draw and allure just isn’t there for me like it used to be 10 years ago. I still enjoy watching TV and film and playing games, and liking the music in the context of those mediums. Just don’t feel the need to explore the music on its own as much. 

 

While a lot of what is released these days is rather forgettable, I still get excited when I find there's a release for a show or movie that's even conceptually interesting to me. I said in another thread that I'm following Filmmusicreporter a lot, and skim through anything that looks interesting. Yesterday I put the score to Secrets of the Whales in my Spotify library to listen to at some point, as it's a nature documentary by a composer I've never heard of. Plenty to potentially like there.

 

Essentially, my interest in all genres that I follow is increasing, generally.

[bruce marshall 1,315]

7 hours ago, Jurassic Shark said:

 

A trick to avoid this is to sell stuff internationally on eBay, and charge in a stable currency, such as USD, EUR, or GBP. Then you build up savings on your Paypal account that can be used for future CD purchases.

...or trade.

No taxes.  no costs but shipping!😁

6 hours ago, Jay said:

 

D'oh! Fixed

 

What do you think is the reason?

 

Also, my main post was never about expansions, it was always about expansions AND premiere releases.

Premiere releases , on CD, have declined.

So my interest declines in that area also😞

[1977 1,743]

16 hours ago, Jurassic Shark said:

You can also sell within your own country this way.

 

No one here buys film scores, I'm unique that way

 

[bruce marshall 1,315]

9 minutes ago, JTWfan77 said:

 

No one here buys film scores,....

 

My Trading Post can confirm that😞

[Jurassic Shark 12,028]

1 hour ago, JTWfan77 said:

 

No one here buys film scores, I'm unique that way

 

 

Have you tried selling nationally?