Something else I wanted to add, especially for those in charge of the Thundercats soundtrack petition, and those in contact with Bernie;
Looking at this situation with the Tcats soundtrack from WB’s perspective, they probably don’t feel that at this point in time going into the vault and digging out all of Bernie’s music, restoring it (if needed), printing it, marketing it, selling it, etc… would be profitable (worth the time, effort). imho, I feel the perfect answer to this would be iTunes.
I’m sure that the majority of us just want the music. We don’t need any fancy cover art, another flippin jewel case, etc… iTunes would be great, as it would take WB minimal effort to get the music onto a platform where they could sell it, and then we the fans could purchase it directly off iTunes. WB would be saving money while making money.
I’m thinking of writing WB a letter in regards to this idea, or perhaps it could be added to the petition?
I’ve downloaded a lot of music off iTunes and think it is great. Plus, there may be fans that only want the main characters themes, and not all of the other cues, mood music, etc…
What do you all think? Would the iTunes idea work, if WB went for it?
Yeah, to be honest I think this is probably the most realistic method by which WB could sell the soundtrack, via some form of digital download. In fact, in theory, a company such as WB should be able to set up their own website for downloading music via a shopping cart, assuming that they haven’t already done so wirh some other property - in other words, do it themselves without involving some other music download company/software such as iTunes. Great suggestion!
I’m all for that idea, as long as Warner actually does something about it. On the other hand, that would mean I would have to ask someone to download it for me while I reimburse them for their trouble. I have very archaic computer technology at home, so downloading is not possible for me. I still buy all my music via CD or other physical media format. The closest I’ve come to downloading music is to go to those downloading kiosks they have at FYE and Best Buy and burn my own CD. That naturally excludes me from any exclusive music on certain websites too :(.
I sort of wish Warner had just included a soundtrack with the DVD sets. That way, they wouldn’t have to worry about extra packaging costs and whatnot. The only ‘problem’ would be that making such a soundtrack would be extra work on Warner’s end (i.e. digging up the tracks, cleaning them up, etc.), and that would have raised the cost of the DVDs themselves. Currently, BCI has included a couple exclusive song CDs for Sonic Underground, with tunes from the series, for the release of that show on DVD, but that’s the only company that’s done that so far.
Still, I think, just like DVDs, there’s still a market for an actual physical form of music, like CDs. There will always be people, like me, who hunt around for music the old fashioned way.
The Tunes sounded GREAT in Synth mode, they’d sound even better with a Full Orchestra. And if the new films director is such a big fan, he will hopefully keep at least the character themes… Especially Mumm-Ra’s…
Heh, if anyone has a band, try re-creating them with real instruments to show WB how great they’d sound :)..
edit - Also one reason why Mechanical Plauge is also one of my favorite eps :).
I agree with you to a large extent, and don’t get me wrong, I think a ThunderCats Soundtrack CD release would be awesome! But, from WB’s perspective, I wonder if making the tracks available online via download might make such a project a bit more viable. Although Nick says that 500 signatures isn’t peanuts, as a petition to get something officially released on CD, unfortunately that is a very, very small amount - because, as well as sourcing and remastering the music there is designing the artwork, printing the liner notes, and of course creating a master CD from which a run of them can be created, as well as the cost of the plastic to create the CD(s), and the cost of the CDs’ case as well. If I’m honest, I can’t see there being enough money in there for WB to make that worth their while - if you multiply the signatures by a factor of 10, that’s still only 5000 copies, which, honestly, is next to nothing…
However, if WB were able to take the music tracks, maybe clean them up a little bit, and make them available for mp3 download on a website with a secure shopping cart, even 5000 buyers becomes a whole different ballgame - because, the cost of manufacturing actual physical CDs (both the CDs themselves and the packaging that goes with them) has been removed, and so the numbers become much more attractive. Let’s say a soundtrack had 20 tracks (because it’s an easy number) and each track cost 50 cents each (because it’s an easy number). That means that the whole collection of 20 tracks would cost $10.00. If that complete collection was downloaded 5000 times (which, again, is a very modest number), that’s $50,000 of relatively pure profit, because WB would not have had to invest upfront in the production of CDs that may not sell!
Yep, as you can tell, I’ve researched this sort of stuff before, not for soundtrack releases but when I was managing a folk rock band and legal mp3 downloads that you could purchase were just coming into the mainstream. Folk rock is obviously, particularly in the UK, quite a niche genre, and this was something we looked into as a means of making money from recordings without the outlay of having to fund a print run of, say, 2000 CDs, of which the first 700 or so may fly out the door and the rest trickle out! So, I think this is quite a good idea as an alternative to a TCats soundtrack CD!
Yeah, I know 500+ signatures is VERY small too. I was actually aiming for a smaller print run like 1000 or so like many soundtracks have done over at Screen Archives Entertainment. They have a lot of limited edition soundtracks over there with print runs ranging from 500-1000. I don’t know if you noticed, but they recently put out a pre-order for a limited edition soundtrack for the He-Man: Masters of the Universe movie:
That soundtrack will have a print run of only 3000 CDs. I’ve pre-ordered mine! If that movie can get a soundtrack like that, why not Thundercats or Silverhawks? Heck, they’re even doing a limited run of 1500 CDs for the soundtrack for The Bionic Woman!
That website also had a limited edition soundtrack for Chuck Norris’ Invasion U.S.A., and, with a print run of only 1000 I think, IT SOLD OUT! Now do you see why I’m so frustrated?!
As for production costs for actually printing a CD onto plastic, liner notes, and whatnot, it usually costs less than a dollar to produce a CD for a large print run. For smaller print runs, like the ones on Screen Archives, the cost is probably a bit more, but still small enough to be profitable with a retail cost of only $20.00 or more, depending on the number of CDs.
Sonia who has tried contacting Screen Archives about this but got another rejection
P.S. Don’t forget! WEP recently put a out soundtrack for Voltron and is selling it on their website!
Well, they might even do both - the digital and the cd release. I know of one band that tested the waters that way…released some tracks digitally, and with the fan interest shown and money they made from the digital release, came out with a cd version that did well on the market. Because not only are there people like Sonia that can’t download, but I’m sure there’s other fans that aren’t even on the internet but would buy something like that if they saw it offered in a store.
I have a big update reguarding the soundtrack petition, we will have a stepping stone in a few days that you will all find enjoyable and easyer to spread the word… stay tuned!!
I thought I posted something here before in this thread, but anyway - i’d prefer a CD over iTunes, but if digitally was the only way or initiallt the only avenue, i’d do itunes/amazon mp3 /etc
I noticed while watching Silverhawks that some of the music is the same as some of the cues as in when the T’Cats were on N.Thundera. Did Bernard use the SilverHawks music in Tcats after it flopped, or was it the other way around?
Nope, Bernie composed separate music tracks for each series. Since Bernie did compose for both Silverhawks and Thundercats, the tracks would SOUND similar, but they won’t be exactly the same.
It’s been YEARS since I’ve seen Silverhawks myself. You wouldn’t happen to have that clip where the music is exactly the same as Thundercats that you could upload to YouTube, would you? Or, if you can wait for the DVD to be released, please point out which episode and what area has the same music.
I don’t have the clip, but the song was when the Kittens were on New Thundera, using the Whisker to look for some seismic something - it was jazzy.
I had thought all the music for ThunderCats was made just for Tcats, but when i heard the same cue on SilverHawks, I figured - well, maybe they ‘recycled’ it,
If I rememebr correctly, more than a few that i thought were TCats exclusive, were on SilverHawks.
I’d have to watch SilverHawks again myself, but i could pick anything Tcats out of that show (or anywhere else lol) in a split second
The first time - was - damn i can’t remember the episode name
but Stargazer sends Bluegrass out to spy.
the same song - can be found on a Tcats episode during the New Thundera arc
The part where Wilykat is using the Whisker to check out seismic readings, or water or something.
I’ll get the episode titles / chapters / times in a few days or so
So, I think this is quite a good idea as an alternative to a TCats soundtrack CD! 
