Limited Editions: Good Or Bad?

Film music will never be considered a mainstream market. Score fans are on the outer rim of the music business, where only a few companies care to release these seemingly unprofitable works. Many fine film scores with little hope of attaining mass appeal or profitability are either not released, or released in limited quantities.

When an older score is finally released as a limited run, people often go crazy for them. These customers can be divided into groups; those who buy the CD to enjoy the music and those who buy to sell later on at a profit. Some of the latter people will buy multiple copies, and then sell them online at a later time for a profit. There are CDs that can cost up to three, even four digits on the second hand market.

It must be said that it is a good thing indeed to have any particular score available in the first place. There are many excellent works that would never have seen the light of day otherwise. "The Omega Man", "Predator" and "The Poseidon Adventure" are three scores that come to mind.

In recent memory, both these scores have been re released by either the same company or a different label. Those who bought earlier editions hoping to make a buck are left with obsolete, often unsellable items. They have lost money.

One could rightfully wonder if the limited edition CD is really so limited after all, if someone else makes a second printing, or releases it with some new feature (better sound, more music, etc). Why should they pay an arm and a leg on a rare score, such as Predator or Dragonslayer, if these CDs will most likely be re released in the next year or so? It is a game of Roulette, with the collector's wallet at stake.

Limited editions, if viewed from the standpoint of musical enjoyment, are not an evil. It is what people do that makes the molehill a raging mountain.One could say this; that those who buy film music CDs solely for profit are foolish. A CDs rarity is an unwise determining factor in a purchase. In the end, the music itself should be the primary reason for investing money into one's collection.

Buy a CD. Enjoy the music, not the promise of money.