Last week, I posted about a set of FSM CDs (including our super rare out-of-print box sets) that I was making available to collectors. When we did the FSM CDs, I sent a copy of each release to my mom and a copy to my dad. (A follow-up column is here.)
As it turns out, most of them just sat in the shrink wrap for the last 10–25 years...so the time has come to get them into the homes of people who are bigger soundtrack fans than my parents!
So here’s the deal: I asked people to write with their want lists...and we would try to accommodate...and we have!
But some titles were just really popular and I hated deciding who would get them.
So, anything that more than a couple of people asked for, we decided to just put on eBay.
The auction listings are live now from Screen Archives, our distributor.
This includes things that people asked for many times, like the MGM Treasury Box Set, the Rózsa box set, the 3CD Goodbye, Mr. Chips release, and the 5CD Lalo Schifrin set.
Want a rarity? Here’s a copy of James Horner’s Testament with a typo on the spine: it reads “TestamenTs.” We corrected it after discovering the error, and trashed the bad tray cards, but an early one clearly went to my dad’s house.
I guess we could have done “first come, first served,” but two reasons: one is that it’s not really fair in that it’s random—the lucky folks are the people who happened to go online at the right moment.
And secondly...well, I’ve never done this, but I could use the money!
I have been freelancing in recent years, and for a bunch of reasons (not my fault), it was a light year in terms of revenue.
I think people will be okay with this...but I never liked this kind of thing. I never did any funny business that I know a lot of shady collectible companies do: like setting aside out-of-print releases before they actually go out of print, and then selling them at inflated prices.
I always tried to manufacture albums with enough quantity so everybody could get them, instead of creating artificial scarcity.
I actually never even kept more than one copy! Seriously, in my house, I have no duplicates. It was sort of random accident that my parents still had these (mostly sealed) comp copies.
So I don’t want to hit this too hard—because then people start emailing me, “Hey, do you need money?” I’ll be all right!
But in this one occasion, it would really help to have people bid on these rarities.
Many thanks to everybody who has written—and especially to Craig and Katie at Screen Archives for their kind cooperation and hard work in creating the listings.
Also, by the way...a lot of the FSM catalog is still in print and available! Check out the listings of active titles at their normal retail prices.
Please help spread the word on social if you can! Thanks!