The 50th and Beyond

[dizneydomenic]

Well, the 50th is winding down...and with that...the board seems to have gotten semi quiet. We had our big 6 cd release...thanks to Randy Thorton. As Disneyland enters its 52nd year I have to wonder what is in store for us in terms of new available park music/soundtracks. Randy....you have any tidbits you can tell us? Personally..i felt the one big void left out of the 50th releases was the pre recorded soundtracks for the live shows Dick Tracy and Beauty and the Beast...and i know...somewhere...there HAS to be a Golden Horseshoe Jamboree recording.

 

[WDWGuy08]

incase you missed it, "Hiya, Y'all!

It is true that The Wonderland Music System will be closing within the next few months. But that does not, in any way, mean that we have stopped the reissue of our old albums. Quite the contrary!!! We are continuing the digital migration and restoration of these ?old friends? even as I write this. Soon, we will be able to offer you loyal folks these and many, many more titles in a way that everyone everywhere will have easy access to them.


November 2006 (and the weeks previous) will be quite significant. I?ll be posting updates as the time draws near.

Randy Thornton"

there is a cd coming out this november, i think it is disney world's next official album a 2 cd-set! as randy said disney world's official albums would from now on be 2-cd's! so we will probably see new material, finally!

 

[Dr. Know]

I think we're all hungry for some new tunes on the next OAs, and it sounds like we won't be disappointed.

I wonder whether Randy's allusions to November have something to do with the Disney Music Convention that takes place in that month -- perhaps an announcement of a significant new release or distribution system?

 

[dkrfla]

I wonder if maybe Randy might be eluding to one day being able to download the old titles and theme park music on iTunes or a Disney created online music store. Just a thought.

 

[WDWGuy08]

hey im with ya on that dkrafla that would be wonderful sort of like an itunes music store sorta thing right? download all unreleased disney themepark msuic and movies etc...

 

[Dirk]

A new WDW OA as well as a new DL OA should be upcoming if only because both have their covers strongly connected to the 50th anniversary celebrations.

Regarding the online download option: sounds like a propable guess to me. I just hope that differing from the currently established major ones like iTunes Disney decided to offer the downloads in a decent quality (so NO 128 rips please!).

Based on the quote of Randy above we should be able to exclude iTunes as an option, since it says "Soon, we will be able to offer you loyal folks these and many, many more titles in a way that everyone everywhere will have easy access to them." iTunes allows only residents of a certain region and holders of credit cards / vouchers sold in the region for which the according iTunes shop is designated to shop there. So if the material would be added to iTunes definitely it would NOT be available for "everyone everywhere".

That said I still couldn't find a soundtrack for Brother Bear 2 on CD even so the digital download is available from iTunes (US only) and WalMart which could be seen as a test.


Yours
Dirk

 

[Villain Dude]

I wonder if maybe Randy might be eluding to one day being able to download the old titles and theme park music on iTunes or a Disney created online music store. Just a thought.

We can hope ... can't we?
I want as much WDW music I can get my grubby lil' hands on.

-Chuck

 

[Robert Hollowood]

we should be able to exclude iTunes as an option, since it says "Soon, we will be able to offer you loyal folks these and many, many more titles in a way that everyone everywhere will have easy access to them." iTunes allows only residents of a certain region and holders of credit cards / vouchers sold in the region for which the according iTunes shop is designated to shop there. So if the material would be added to iTunes definitely it would NOT be available for "everyone everywhere".

Sorry Dirk. With Disney's close relationship to Apple and the fact that they've already partnered with them for so much online distribution, I have to think iTunes WILL be the distribution method Randy's talking about. Regardless of what distribution system they use it's my understanding that the release of recordings has different rules in different countries and they have to be treated differently. Which is why there are different iTunes stores in different countries. Even if they go with something else, there's probably going to be holes in where you can buy things. I kind of doubt Disney would start their own digital distribution initiative when it's so easy just to partner with someone already in that business.

 

[makeminemusic]

I think we're all hungry for some new tunes on the next OAs, and it sounds like we won't be disappointed.

I wonder whether Randy's allusions to November have something to do with the Disney Music Convention that takes place in that month -- perhaps an announcement of a significant new release or distribution system?

Hmmm.....I am pretty sure you will not be disappointed, especially if you can come to the convention and hear Randy for yourself!

 

[Dirk]

Sorry Dirk. With Disney's close relationship to Apple and the fact that they've already partnered with them for so much online distribution, I have to think iTunes WILL be the distribution method Randy's talking about. Regardless of what distribution system they use it's my understanding that the release of recordings has different rules in different countries and they have to be treated differently. Which is why there are different iTunes stores in different countries. Even if they go with something else, there's probably going to be holes in where you can buy things. I kind of doubt Disney would start their own digital distribution initiative when it's so easy just to partner with someone already in that business.

Well that would be too bad for Disney ... in the end it would mean that they totally loose the international sales of these fan-materials. But hey, they already showed that they don't care for international fans when they excluded everyone but US and Canadian citizens from ordering the yearbook. Luckily other media companies still want my money and don't treat me as a second class customer only because I do not live in the US.

Regarding the legal matters as reason for the different iTunes stores: the main problem is that often the companies holding the US-rights for the distribution isn't the same holding say the UK- or Germany-rights for distribution. The question is, whether this problem also arises with the older WDR and especially the theme park material we as fans are hoping for.


Yours

Dirk

 

[jeffcot]

Hi Dirk--

I don't think it's the intent of anyone to exclude you or treat you in a second class manor, it's just the very complicated dynamics of licensing material/products for non-US markets. Certain products are just not created for non-US markets, and in many cases probably because of a perceived lack of demand.

The reverse is also true--being in the US, I don't have the ability to purchase certain Disney products that I see for sale in certain international markets--most notably DLP and TDL music CDs. My only option seems to be extremely overpriced imports. And I understand why--there just isn't enough demand here for those items.

Regards--

Jeff

 

[Dirk]

The reverse is also true--being in the US, I don't have the ability to purchase certain Disney products that I see for sale in certain international markets--most notably DLP and TDL music CDs. My only option seems to be extremely overpriced imports. And I understand why--there just isn't enough demand here for those items.

You are absolutely right - in many cases it is a presumed lack of demand ... but the first reason that is frequently cited for the decision to choose the digital (online) distribution is that it solves the "lack of demand" problem, since the distribution costs and production costs are minimal compared to say a regular CD-release, once the material has been produced.

Regarding the situation of highly priced imports to the US: you are right, just as I here in Europe have to sometimes decide to buy highly priced imports from the US or Japan. The big question though is, whether there is such an option at all. With the digital distribution through iTunes US "ONLY" there wouldn't be such an option anymore. While I am not happy that I have to pay a premium for import CDs, I do see that it is unavoidable, since many of the US releases targeted fans wouldn't seel in Germany, but at least I do have that option. If Disney would choose iTunes it would be a lot more difficult if not impossible at all to get an equivalent of the "imports".

Just a last note about the DLRP-releases: I assume you shop trough one of the online-shops that do their own imports. Did you ever phone the merchandise / mail order department of DLRP? The CMs there do speak English and you can order all products available in the resort directly from them. Prices are equal to the prices charged in the park (since in fact with rarer items they actually take the items out of the shops in the resort), but there is the packaging and postage costs. I know that they used to ship worldwide and I haven't heared anything about them having changed that, but I don't know what they would charge for shipping to the US. It might be worth checking out...


Yours
Dirk