We have spoken before, that with the download age we live in, we do worry that hard copies of films on DVD or BluRay days are numbered.
This is why we embrace the limited edition releases such as steel books or releases with art cards for example, as we hope they can keep them going a bit longer.
One of the things that has gone from my youth is the single from Vinyl; Cassette or CD and with movies often giving us some memorable songs, the only way we can get them these days is via download.
I think the first time this hit me was when 007 returned to our screens with Skyfall, as Adele was the first James Bond theme available for download only, I believe demand did see it eventually released on CD and Vinyl, as was the case for Sam Smith’s entry, the writing on the wall for Spectre (of course, demand means premium product and the vinyl went on sale for £5.99)
Luckily, James Bond 007 has a prestigious back catalogue, that almost demands hard copies of the songs to be released, but without Woolworths and record stores on our high street these days, they can be hard to find so we have to go online.
A lot of romance or RomCom films will normally have a big theme tune, if that film trip was significant such as a first date, buying a hard copy of the single would perhaps give more impact than of gifting a download!
Last year’s box office monster Fifty Shades of Grey featured the Ellie Goulding massive single Love me like you do, how many would have brought that as a single with tickets to the film, which you could advance book, with the film coming out cleverly on Valentine’s Day?
Younger fans will miss out on some of the ways that vinyl used to be packaged, limited edition coloured vinyl or poster packaging for example would be snapped up by a Justin Bieber; One Direction or most recently, The Vamps as they are doing the theme to Kung Fu Panda 3, a fan would most likely snap them up.
The CD single would often double up as a CD-ROM to give you the music video as well as the song as another bonus.
CD and Vinyl also can help the artist, as when you download, you are likely to just buy the song. The hard copy would often give you B-Sides so you can hear more of them, which could result in you from a song for a film becoming a fan.
This happened for me when I discovered Semisonic, when I discovered their song Secret Smile in Sarah Michelle Gellar RomCom Simply Irresistible. Upon hearing their other tunes initially from the single b-sides, I became a fan, would that have happened if I had only ever heard one song of theirs?
Recently Vinyl and even cassette sales have increased however the demand for downloads show that I am possibly in the minority here, but for me, I can never forget memories like seeing the video for When the going gets tough sung by and featuring Billy Ocean, with a backing group of Michael Douglas, Danny DeVito and Kathleen Turner, to promote Jewel of the Nile. So much so, that come Monday, armed with my pocket money, you would see me heading to Woolworths, to buy the single to listen to again and again at home.
Now, of course, we don’t even have to leave our homes, the single is normally promoted and ready to download at the same time. No long waits. I can remember a time before social media, when you had to sign up to be on a band’s mailing list and would get a postcard telling you when you could get their next single!
Do you miss hard copies of theme tunes etc or do you think they take up too much space and much prefer a simple download? We’d love to hear from you here at Barking Mad About Films
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