They are gone now. You had to buy 12 FSM titles in order to get the free Omega Man.

piano632, April 4, 2006; 7:02 PM

So what are you saying? FSM held some back to be used as a tool to sell their other products?

I thought the recording was sold out. It they had some in stock why are they supposedly selling for much more money?

As far as I'm concerned it sounds like an example of the sort of underhandedness that's all to common these days.

victoravalentine, April 4, 2006; 7:25 PM

...and 20 to get two. I only found out today. I wonder why there was no posting here by any of the forum members who were aware of this?

serifiot, April 4, 2006; 7:27 PM

... by Lukas Kendall at least! I am really pissed off now!!

serifiot, April 4, 2006; 7:29 PM

I think you cannot blame Lukas for not posting on every board. If I recall correctly, he posted here really very few times ( I cannot recall more than once or twice). He did post the offer on FSM's own board.

However, what I agree with is the question why "a forgotten box" of these much sought after CDs "suddenly" turns up every once in a while. First TOWERING INFERNO, now it was OMEGA MAN. Maybe a box of ENTER THE DRAGON will turn up all of a sudden later this year.But ok, probably I'm just too suspicious.

I do think that Lukas is still one of the most honest guys around in the film music label scene. So even if my suspicion suggested above is right, I think the reason is probably not "maximizing" profit but the ever more pressing need for FSM to pay the bills. I think Lukas is still burning a lot of his own money with going on to release CDs.

Urs

handstand, April 4, 2006; 7:59 PM

Don't be pissed be happy! It only proves that the skyrocketing prices for recent CD's is a scam.

Stop wasting money being duped and give it good thought beforehand.

I had an ugly suspicion something not on the level was happening. As much as I hate to say it... I was right on target!



victoravalentine, April 4, 2006; 7:56 PM

Not to sound overly or unfairly critical but... it's a scam!

victoravalentine, April 4, 2006; 8:24 PM

Folks,

They were legit copies that we distributed fairly to interested collectors. It wasn't
necessarily a case of a "box" being found somewhere, we had discs in one place and
booklets in another place and all we did was package them. We did not "sell" them per se
but we did use them to sell other titles in our catalog and I don't apologize for that one
bit, some of these CDs have cost me a fortune and have not sold well.

There will not be any more of these "warehouse finds" (we already checked). We
publicized them as best we could at our message board. I think the harsh words directed
at me here are overblown and not fair.

Thanks for reading
Lukas

lukas, April 4, 2006; 9:18 PM

A scam or not it is not good business tactics! I don't like to whine but The Towering Inferno (which again I had no idea!) and now The Omega Man!!!!!!
Is The Wild Bunch the one next in line which will be ''miraculously unearthed'' in the near future???

This might seem as naivete and ignorance on my part but why not get permission from the copyright holders if necessary to release second runs of those titles which were so successful in the first place. Perseverance did it with Loch Ness! Right?

Will Varese do the same with Predator, The Island, Die Hard, etc. since a lot of their club titles are not selling? What about Intrada and the rest of the record labels that sell limited releases?

I just need to cool down! I think the Sarde soundtrack I'm playing will help.

serifiot, April 4, 2006; 9:20 PM

Lukas, you can do no wrong. I know everyone who took part in this awsome deal opened those cd's with bigass grins on their faces. It was a rare oportunity, and we are most grateful. "SCAM"?! It's so ridiculous one can almost laugh. Please can I laugh?

mcmahan, April 4, 2006; 9:42 PM

Not good business tactics? You had quite a while to buy it for $20 while they still had it in stock back when it was released. It was on the market for about two years at this price (Mar 2000-May 2002 as far as I can tell). Lukas has not hidden the fact that he wanted to generate sales of the other titles with the Omega Man special. I thought it was a decent enough deal for those who really wanted it and it helped keep a limit on the eBay speculators as well.

jonathan_little, April 4, 2006; 9:46 PM

At least Lukas you are listening which is a BIG plus!

I have almost every FSM release (about 35 are missing). For a few of these I have paid quite a lot to get a hold of, especially for the way I want them which is only brand new and sealed. I don't want them any other way. It is my personal neurotic idiosyncrasy when it comes to collecting film music, at least for the time being.

Personally I believe no matter the genre and type of film music, FSM releases are overall of excellent quality and meticulous. An undertaking on you part and to all the people at FSM to be very proud of! I have said this to you again in so many words in a personal e-mail not that long ago regarding a scam with one of your titles on eBay in which you yourself had righteously intervened and had prevented from being auctioned. So I guess you might understand how I felt only to find out quite late unfortunately that I could have received this title, one of you oop cd's for free if I had bought almost all the remaining titles I need to almost close off my FSM collection.

I don't mean to make you feel bad (if I have), question your business tactics (even though your proven love for film music does not probably make you less of a business person. You are a business man and profit is important for FSM to be in business and keep releasing and preserving great film music of long gone eras), or even discredit what FSM has been doing for some years now, far far from it... but I just couldn't help my blood pressure rising when I noticed the free offering in your FSM forum which I shamefully have to admit I had no idea it existed. I have FSM bookmarked in my PC and the homepage I get does not state anything about a forum. http://www.screenarchives.com/fsm/

Anyway, enough said. I am just a little bitter but I'll get over it!

I truly and honestly wish you all the luck with FSM!
I wish I could only establish a record label just like yours (even better!) with all the film score titles I have in mind if I only knew how...
One never knows!...

Good luck Lukas Kendall!!


serifiot, April 4, 2006; 11:11 PM

"Not to sound overly or unfairly critical but... it's a scam!
workingwithknives, April 4, 2006; 5:24 PM"

Maybe you should stop working with knives and start working with brain. It's not a scam. Who among us has never misplaced anything in a crowded closet or desk?

It was a small box in a warehouse!

If they wanted to maximize profits, FSM could have simply put these on eBay, one per month, and sold them off at exorbitant prices. Instead, they took an honorable approach of offering them as a free bonus to buyers of other CDs at regular prices.



betenoir, April 4, 2006; 10:38 PM

serifiot,

http://www.screenarchives.com/fsm/ is not Film Score Monthly's START page, it's just their FSM CD site. The main "entrance" to FSM is http://filmscoremonthly.com (you will find the MESSAGE BOARD link there).

Urs

handstand, April 4, 2006; 11:23 PM

handstand thanks! Now I know.
If only I had noticed the message board earlier. For some reason it never grabbed my attention. I'm such a dunce for overlooking it perhaps because I was more absorbed by this forum.
Any others?



serifiot, April 5, 2006; 2:56 PM

http://www.altpop.com/stc/forums/
http://www.moviemusic.com/cgi-bin/mb/Ultimate.cgi



conjuctionjuction, April 5, 2006; 12:38 AM

I took advantage of this deal and couldn't be happier. At first I was bummed that I had to find
12 scores in the FSM catalog to buy to get this great score, but soon discovered that it was
the best thing about the deal.

After roughly 7 picks I had to "take some chances" on a few titles I had never heard. Several
of these scores have become treasured additions to my collection. Scores, such as Farewell
My Lovely by David Shire, Knight Rider by Stu Phillips, and On The Beach by Ernest Gold were
scores I might have never picked up if it hadn't been for this offer. These three scores alone
made the deal worth every penny, add on to that the fact that those who did partake in the
deal were not charged for The Omega Man CD. FSM could have easily said "12 CD's Plus The
Price Of The Omega Man"... but they didn't. So we got 13 Cd's for the price of 12 and the
13th title was an OOP title that was selling for over $100.00 on eBay. An incredible offer.

I have no complaints about what I paid because I missed the CD when it was first offered. I
also am a little surprised at a community that I dearly love, namely the soundtrack
community, sinking so low as to accuse reputable dealers of under-handed tactics. If it was
some guy on eBay, I would understand... but FSM, that makes no sense. Sorry, but that is
how I feel.

Story

saintstoryteller, April 5, 2006; 9:15 AM

Bottom line; You've been played for chumps. So all of you who continously complain about being ripped off or taken advantage of, you have no one to blame but yourselves.

I do work with my brain junior (betenoir). Thats why I don't have to live with a mountain of regret or have the things I apprecieate in life tainted with the nagging notion of greed or underhandedness involved.

Sure it's a good deal to purchase 12 discs in order to recieve one for free. Still, it was supposedly out of stock hence the outragous pricing on ebay (which by the way I despise).

And ya know what? I'd bet many other limited edition labels are involved in the same underhanded tactics of holding back copies of titles and listing them as being out of stock.

Perhaps labels should develop a policy of pricing according to the market. The first 500 units go for a set price. The second 500, slightly more and so on. But then who can trust the producers and not question their honesty?

As far as I'm concerned it's all part of why things are so screwed up these days. Greed and underhandedness!

I'm not fooled!



victoravalentine, April 5, 2006; 5:50 PM

WorkingWithKnives that is the most ignorant comment I have read on this posting. The fact is FSM recently ended their print edition of the magazine and even moved buildings and they sold of a lot of things cleaned up moved to another place of business. I'm sure this is when the CDs were found. If they really wanted to make money like someone else said they would have sold on Ebay. End of story. I'm sure they had some meetings and went back and forth on what to do with the copies to make it just / would you rather they set the box of CDs on fire and acted like they never existed?

I am not mad I missed out on the deal and yes I paid a bit over 150.00 US dollars for my copy on ebay, but Lukas is legit and wasn't out to make money.

So the notion to sell Limited Ed CDs at a balloon type price value as they sell out is a foolish idea, not at all practical.

JackDVD78@aol.com

JackDVD78, April 5, 2006; 6:50 PM

Workingwithknives-

Why is making money such a bad thing? A business has to make money in order to, wait for
it, stay in business. If they don't make a profit, we don't get more scores. I truly don't want
to see smaller distributors such as FSM, Intrada, La La Land, or Percepto go under.

Do you know first hand how many CD duds FSM has laying around? They have to make up
for those "Shinny Frisbees" somehow. All 12 of the CD's were regular price, and again, FSM
didn't even charge for The Omega Man. This can not be described as Greed.

Heck, If I had wanted to, I could have sold my copy of The Omega Man on eBay to help curb
the cost of the 12. I'm sure Lukas took that into account when he offered the deal. If he
were again truly greedy, why didn't he just do that himself? As it stands, he didn't... I
didn't... and you're the only one really complaining about this.

I have to ask you, did you buy The Omega Man when it originally came out? Did you get the
buy 12 get Omega Man free deal? If you didn't partake of either, what exactly is your angle
on all of this? Those who paid don't seem to mind. Why should you?

Story

saintstoryteller, April 5, 2006; 7:14 PM

I'm not interested in the Omega Man score. There are many other recordings out there I'd rather get ahold of first. And how do you know the record producers haven't been selling their products on ebay?

Do I know first hand how many CD duds (whats a CD dud?) FSM has laying around? How would I know? I don't work for the company. They are the one who should know.

Something isn't right. Why would a score such as Towering Inferno be so hard to get ahold of when something like Illustrated Man can be found so easily?

Bottom line, I'm not a person who appreciates being played for a chump. Thats goes for every aspect of my life. Just so happens this topic came up.










victoravalentine, April 5, 2006; 7:32 PM

>"Bottom line, I'm not a person who appreciates being played for a chump."

Considering your posts here it must happen a lot.



mskerritt, April 5, 2006; 8:02 PM

No, as a matter of fact it rarely happens kid.

Coming from someone who registered on this site a few minutes ago... Need I say more?

victoravalentine, April 5, 2006; 8:10 PM

Hey guys, calm down! Meanwhile this thread has a tonality like the FSM forum... ;-)

coma, April 5, 2006; 8:14 PM

Don't worry Coma, I don't think we are going to bring out the weapons just yet. :)

Working-I think you have brought up some fair points, but they just don't seem to apply
here. No one has been made a chump. We all paid for our discs and knew what we were
paying for. I agree that it would be a shame if CD labels began to hold back copies for
themselves to drive up their (the CD's) value, but then again, even if they didn't hold back,
let's say 50 or so copies, then those copies would have sold out in the initial run and people
like myself wouldn't even have had a chance at all. You're right, I can't say that FSM didn't
sell some on eBay. But judging from how many copies have appeared on eBay and the all the
different names that have sold them (a little detective work) I would say it's a fair bet that if
FSM had, they didn't sell many. Not exactly a get rich quick scheme. However, from your own
response, you don't know what their company does either. Without evidence, you have no
case against them. Therefore your accusations have no merit.

I partook of the deal and received exactly what I paid for. At no point was there anything
shady. You did not partake, nor even try from what I have been reading. So, we can at least
both agree that we don't know what FSM's true motivations were. I can state though that as
far as the offer, the sale, and the shipment that all was square and fair. No complaints or
chumps here. I got exactly what I paid for and am enjoying them right now.

Story

saintstoryteller, April 5, 2006; 8:39 PM

"Hey guys, calm down! Meanwhile this thread has a tonality like the FSM forum... ;-)"

Yeah, sorry Coma. But I've been part of the FSM community for years and I get defensive if someone unfairly lobs serious allegations at it.

"Coming from someone who registered on this site a few minutes ago... Need I say more?"

Can you?

Go ahead. I'd love to hear what you think you know about me.

Look, the fact is, as others have stated, it's not a scam. You can have all the paranoid fantasies you want about being played like a chump or whatever, but at the end of the day there's no use in entertaining any conspiracy theories about price scamming, for reasons others in this thread have said far more eloquently than I could.

mskerritt, April 5, 2006; 9:27 PM

Hello... chimps... I mean chumps!

The sadly gone offer was buy 12 and get one free Omega buy 20 and get two free Omegas.
Sale one or both and it's like having received the other 12 or 20 for free.
Not bad!

A GOOD business is really based in maximizing profits (without affecting the quality of the product at the customer's expense) and minimizing expenses.

From a business perspective it was a fine idea! Bravo!! A nice profit was made, stock was removed, merchandise was sold and all this (consciously or unconsciously) while doing a good deed for the promotion of film music by pushing stagnant sales of older, great, sometimes unknown film scores from the golden and silver age to perhaps a younger and unaware generation who hopefully will discover and learn to appreciate some film music that will definetely be remembered 300 years from today when I'm old, grey and still very horny!

This selling offer was NOT made to buy coffee and donuts... it was done to make a profit as it is expected and done in any sane and healthy business!

12 cd's versus 1... 20 cd's versus 2... absolutely no match babies!

FSM very wisely did maximize their profits by choosing this civilized way instead of selling the extra Omegas seperately at excuberant prices as it is done on eBay (both authentics & counterfeits, who knows what one will finally receive) or even as it being done by Screen Archives with The Poseidon Adventure and The Towering Inferno which are being sold at eBay plus (or should I say plush) prices.

Isn't free enterprise wonderful?!

After all, tomorrow is another day!





pussygallore, April 5, 2006; 10:44 PM

I'll try not to become overly enthusiastic when offering an opinion of the wet panties (mskerritt) posting on this forum.

Although I would like to ask a pointed question. So what makes people like him believe that others consider his existance any further than in passing?

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury if I may be permitted to extend my own answer based upon personal study applied to the psychology of damp dainties.

An over inflated sense of self which is rooted in sexual insecurity often surfacing towards the end of each calender month commonly refered to as the menstral cycle.

It's all good and it's all sweet on the other end of the spectrum where the wind blows cool and the spiff glows red in the fading light of another day while the gutter runs fast with the polluted waste of yesterday.

So thats basicly where I'm coming from.

As for the FSM debate. Bottom line kids... They held back some copies supposedly out of stock then used those copies as a tool to sell less desirable items.

Sounds like something a damn conniving lawyer would scheme up.

If it's legal cool! A sucker born every minute so to say.

Personally, I've been interested in recordings long enough to take exception to such tactics. I don't accept it as good business. I consider it cheap and somewhat underhanded.



victoravalentine, April 6, 2006; 6:13 PM

ooh baby! m000re!!

pussygallore, April 6, 2006; 10:18 PM