a question about movie soundtracks

[BakeTheMooCow]

Why do they release seperate records for the soundtrack and the motion picture score? This is not for all movies but in general, i find this to be the case. For example, I bought the Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back soundtrack and I was disappointed to find that the music played when the girls are robbing the diamond, was not on the album. Its on the "Motion Picture Original Score" album, while this one is filled with long silences and quotes from the movie. I think they could've put it all in one nice record.

[loner]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by BakeTheMooCow:
I think they could've put it all in one nice record.</font>

Perhaps...but they make more money when they put it on more than one album.

[FeverDog420]

Sometimes different music in a movie appeals to different crowds. For example, both American Beauty soundtracks rock, but how many people (besides me) want The Who on the same album as twinkly, meditative instrumentals?

[Common Sense Man]

A motion picture score is usually the background music, the atmospherics.

Such as in Star Wars or LOTR they don't really have pop music of any sort in them.

But other flicks like Gross Pointe Blank for example rely heavily on tunes instead of background music so they would release a Soundtrack that contains the complete songs as many are clipped during the movie or only heard for a very brief time.

A good example is Batman, it has a score by Danny Elfman that is just the music specifically written for the movie.

But there is also a soundtrack so people like Prince could get you to listen to their songs even though they where only in the movie for a few seconds or so.

I prefer this method as that way I know what I am getting.

Out............


[This message has been edited by Common Sense Man (edited 01-26-2002).]

[CrowTRobot]

All those reasons are valid, but I think the most important fact seperating soundtracks from scores involves copyrights:

The artists who recorded the "soundtrack" all have to be paid royalties for using their material, and it's easier to put all those in one collection.
The composer who creates a score specifically for a film wants recognition of his work as a significant, complete piece. THey might not want to (personally or legally) release the results of their labor with other people's stuff, because their score should be complete enough as it is.