Re: Non theme park music question for Randy
It all varies. There is no set "formula". Sometimes the producer (which may or not be the composer) selects what is on the album. Other times, there are limitations on how much music (particularly score) is included. Those limitations are often determined by how well a property is believed to sell. Song albums are more popular than score albums. So it that instance, score may be limited. This has pretty much been the way of things since the beginning of soundtracks. Also, tastes have changed over the years. More soundtrack fans in general, and more people (average music listeners) wanting the scores.
For the Classic Soundtrack series, most of which were recorded prior to the mid 1950's, had no union issues. The later scores have some restrictions ("Happiest Millionaire" and "Bedknobs and Broomsticks"). However, "Mary Poppins" was cleared. Here is an example where The Studio was confident that this would be a success, so a record was planned. But the musical tastes of the time were limited to song albums from musicals. Score was rarely (if ever) included. By the time I was able to build the 45th Anniversary Edition, people were now more accustomed to having the score as well. Score albums have always been the slower moving items. In 1977, Fox took a huge gamble with John Williams' "STAR WARS", but look how that turned out. Arguably, it changed not only the record companies, but audiences as well. As with any business, there are ups and downs. Score albums were hot for a while, then the "soundtrack" became a collection of "pop" songs with little or no score. Now musicals are back. There's also the agenda. For some it's selling records, for others it's preserving history, for some others (composers) it's a personal artistic statement.
Randy
