This is just a quick post for tonight. I’ll eventually have much more to say about the devaluation of recorded music, but I wanted to share something I encountered this week.
I bought the deluxe version of The Avengers on blu-ray. It comes with a blu-ray, a 3D blu-ray, a DVD and a Digital Copy. What grabbed my attention was that in addition to the digital copy of the movie, it came with the movie soundtrack too! Not the orchestral score by Alan Silvestri, but the “Avengers Assemble” album of rock tracks “inspired” by the movie.
Now granted these type of soundtracks are mostly cash grabs capitalizing on a movie’s success. And even when it was released, the lead single “Live to Rise” by newly reunited Soundgarden was free on iTunes. But I thought it was an interesting idea. It’s at least an original idea for music distribution, and gives added value to the product.
But in the end, I’m undecided as to what it means. Is it a sign that music is getting devalued? That it can be thrown it as a meaningless extra? Or is it an attempt to find new distribution channels for recorded music? What do you guys think? And do you know of any other disc that comes with its soundtrack?