Earlier this week I broke the news that FSM would be ceasing operations as a label with album #250 (spring 2012). While most people were disappointed, you were also complimentary, kind and encouraging, and I am honored and touched by your support. Thank you all.
NEWS FLASH: Buy $100 from the FSM back-catalog and get FREE the 5CD David Raksin at M-G-M set, $60 value! Go here for instructions.
I also posted news as to some low quantities and you overwhelmingly said you wanted to know about low stocks. So this is the beginning of a six-month effort to manage the catalog and responsibly sell out of titles that will not be repressed either because we either can’t (due to expired licenses) or won’t (due to soft sales).
Not to put too obvious a point on it, but I have some major work to do to pay off back-end royalties. FSM was never properly financed, budgeted or planned…that’s what happens when you start a record label out of college. I did a lot of albums that had no commercial potential whatsoever, and overspent to do them the way I thought they should be done. If anybody has any problem with this, I am already going out of business, so I don’t know what else I can do about it except try to sell inventory as best I can to pay all the bills. I also don’t want to leave boxes upon boxes of unsold stock at Screen Archives that will just sit there, becoming obsolete media in three years when people are downloading MP3s—or 4s, 5s, or 6s—directly into their brains like in some Matrix future-world.
So I am going to do something shocking: go through the catalog from top to bottom and tell you what is still around, how long it will probably be around, and what you should buy sooner rather than later. (CDs I skip are already sold out. You can see our complete catalog on the site.)
Part 1—the early years:
The first CD: The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (Retrograde, 1996). We have a longterm deal with MGM to keep this in-print. So it will hopefully be among the many titles that will stay active even beyond the spring, when the new releases end. $16.95
The second CD: Deadfall (Retrograde, 1997). On the contrary, this is long expired and we are simply selling off the existing inventory. We have 510 units of this John Barry classic in stock and you should buy it, it’s great, and even if someone reissues it, the bonus tracks of the song demo and instrumental demo might be hard for them to re-license. (People were much less strict back in 1997!) $16.95
The early 20th Century Fox CDs:
These are all long out of print. We have simply been selling off existing inventory. Here is what is left:
100 Rifles (Goldsmith): 275 units. $14.95
Prince of Foxes (Newman): 160 units. $14.95
The Flim-Man Man/A Girl Named Sooner (Goldsmith): less than 40! $14.95
A Guide for the Married Man (Williams): 185 units. $19.95
From the Terrace (Bernstein): 750+ still in stock—now at clearance price, $9.95. Wonderful romantic Bernstein score!
The Stripper/Nick Quarry (Goldsmith): 225 units. $14.95
Conquest of/Battle for the Planet of the Apes (T. Scott/Rosenman): 333 units. Ape shall not let Ape CD go out of print without purchase! $14.95
How to Marry a Millionaire (Newman/Mockridge): 400 units. $14.95
Untamed (Waxman): 260 units. $14.95
The Egyptian (Newman/Herrmann): 250 units—clearance price, $4.95! We lowered it trying for a sell out before the 2CD Varese version came out…ironically, that one is now out of print, and ours is still around. Go figure.
A Man Called Peter (Newman): 700—clearance price, $9.95.
Room 222/Ace Eli and Rodger of the Skies (Goldsmith): 300 units. Delightful Goldsmith music. $14.95
Between Heaven and Hell/Soldier of Fortune (Friedhofer): 350 units. Great Friedhofer scores! $14.95
The Best of Everything (Newman): 270 units. $14.95
The Bravados (Newman/Friedhofer): 200 units. $14.95
The View From Pompey’s Head/Blue Denim (Bernstein/Herrmann): 280 units. $14.95
Broken Lance (Harline): 400 units. Powerful western score! $14.95
Demetrius and the Gladiators: less than 30, no kidding! $19.95
Other early CDs:
The Return of Dracula (Fried, 4 scores, different studios): 315 in stock. Creepy, chilling horror music, very fun! $24.95
The Illustrated Man (Goldsmith, Warner Bros.): 270 units in stock. We have print (booklets, tray cards) on hand to make over a thousand more if we were to repress the discs, but the license has expired, so we would have to ask for a renewal and I don’t know if we’d do that, or if it would be granted. One of my all-time personal favorites. $19.95
The World of Henry Orient (Bernstein, MGM): 300 units in stock. Great Bernstein score, brilliant stereo sound. $14.95
Farewell My Lovely/Monkey Shines (Shire, MGM): 240 units in stock. $19.95 Also a handful of copies autographed by David Shire are still available.
OK, that takes us through 2001. Next time, we’ll start with Logan’s Run (Vol. 5) and the Turner titles!
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