Theme Park Music on CDs

[djtruefitt]

I don't really see what theme parks have to lose with selling CD's. If they are worried about not selling many, then just buy a few to start with and see how it goes? Alton Towers used to sell tapes years ago, so I do wonder why they stopped selling them, or getting new ones for newer rides. You could produce CDs for each ride, or just do a theme park album with tracks of each rides, that way its not just an hour of HA HA HA's European parks do it, so I don't see why UK parks don't, there are surely enough geeks alone who would buy the CD, without even thinking about normal members of the public who would buy one.

I imagine someone like IMA Score could probably make the CD's, or they will certainly know someone who could produce them!

 

[Rowe]

So, if it's bad to want to buy a ride CD from a theme park you've never visited (and will more than likely never get the chance to visit due to certain factors) yet have a distinct interest in, then how would listening to the music through YouTube/peer sharing come into the equation? Surely you can say the same about POVs and photographs.

 

[Sam]

It's just weird that people would want to listen to the music of a park that they haven't been to. Kind of appropriating the memories and cultural resonance of something that they haven't bothered to experience.

It's also where fun souvenir-hunting strays into the sad area of collecting merely for collecting's sake. 'Look, I've got more ride music than you!' Collecting the surrounding paraphernalia and memorial ephemera while the original experience remains a mystery... odd.

But yeah, I don't really care if armchair enthusiasts want to become 'collectors' or not, it doesn't affect me. YouTube it, Bittorrent it, whatever. My point is that I'm against parks selling music anywhere else than at the park, or to people who have been to the park. It devalues the product, and it being a friendly gesture of 'something a little extra' for real fans of the park/ride, not just for collectors.

 

[John]

If you were to make that argument about stuff like mugs or pins then I'd agree with you - buying that sort of stuff without visiting a park is just collecting for the sake of it. Branded clothing would also come under this category - wearing branded merch of a park you haven't been to or of a ride you haven't ridden would be very odd, as there's an implied membership of a sort of club associated with it.

I don't think this argument applies anywhere near as strongly to music though, as most people don't treat music as a collectable in that way. If someone likes a piece of music I don't see why they should be prevented from buying it just because (for whatever reason) they have yet to experience it in the intended environment - many of these tracks are good enough even without of context. Denying people the opportunity to buy music they like just because they haven't heard it in a certain environment just seems elitist to me.

 

[Sam]

Good post John.

I think the answer is in the word 'soundtrack'. The music is designed to be complementary to the experience, not to stand up in its own right. Some soundtracks are so good that they transcend this - maybe the 'Truman Show' soundtrack by Philip Glass, or the same composer's 'Koyaanisqatsi'.

Ride music does not meet these standards with perhaps, a handful of exceptions. Disney's 'Grim Grinning Ghosts' measures up as a classic bit of 60s novelty pop in its own right, and EP's 'Europa-Park Suite' is also a good piece of exuberant, if conservative, modern classical.

But EuroSat, or the Nemesis theme, or the Phantasialand park song? Stripped of their associations, they're really quite naff and sound crap if stood on their own and played alongside proper 80s house music (EuroSat) or contemporary classical (Nemesis). Listening to them without having been on the rides is just listening to rubbish music without the saving grace of the associated memories.

Which is where the whole thing veers into the realm of armchair 'collector' enthusiasm. Parks shouldn't allow the purchase of this memorabilia to become disconnected from the actual visitation of the attraction, it cheapens the brand.

 

[BigAl]

I don't see why there's any need to have been to a park to buy any kind of merchandise, tbh. If someone likes something - whether it be the music from a ride or the design of a t-shirt - why should they be stopped from purchasing it just because they haven't been fortunate enough to visit the park which the item originally came from?

There is no 'club', and it doesn't really harm people who have been to the park, does it? I purchased a few 40 year old belt buckles from various American amusement parks because they reflect my interests and match the kind of things I like to wear:

Does that make me weird, just because I've never been to any of those parks?

What I am against is the sort of person who will stand there and moan about a company's money grabbing tactics whilst adorned in 50 different pieces of Smiler merchandise.

 

[Sam]

I think people aren't understanding my point. I don't care if people want to collect merch/music from parks they haven't been to. It's weird, but yeah, whatever floats your boat. Buy it on eBay, swap it on coaster forums, do what you like. It doesn't affect me.

What I am against is parks actively encouraging this by selling merch/music outside the park gates, and therefore devaluing the merch/music for true fans of the park. And I'm sorry, but you can't be a true fan, or even a fan, of a park without having actually been. Selling it elsewhere lessens the value as a memento, or souvenir. It's like what bands add an extra track or alternative artwork for the CD release of an album in Japan or Germany or whatever. It's a little 'thankyou' for the people who have actually made the effort to support them (buy the album/visit the park). It's a thankyou for the loyalty and patronage. Selling merch outside the park gates dilutes that, and lessens its worth. Swap it by BitTorrent or eBay or whatever, but parks shouldn't be actually selling this stuff from source outside the gates.

 

[BigAl]

But why should you have to be a 'true fan' just to have the right to purchase something? What's to say those who are purchasing it who haven't visited are weirdo collectors who never leave their PC? What if they just happened to come across it and like it?

 

[electricBlll]

It's just weird that people would want to listen to the music of a park that they haven't been to. Kind of appropriating the memories and cultural resonance of something that they haven't bothered to experience. It's also where fun souvenir-hunting strays into the sad area of collecting merely for collecting's sake.

When buying a CD copy as a souvenir I can see your point, but the content should be free for anybody to enjoy because music is universal. That's not a bad thing. This just sounds like more of your bigotry towards younger people enjoying theme parks as much as you do. You can never strip music of its associations because it requires the listener's imagination and therefore means different things to each person, whether it's a soundtrack or not.

Theme park soundtracks are not produced in the same way as movie scores, which are conventionally created after the footage is shot. In fact most theme composers I know were commissioned well before the project was completed and never even visited the final product. Graham Smart, for example, never visited Chessington or Alton Towers. Also IMAscore were chosen to produce The Smiler's score early on in the project, based on a demo track they sent, and they aren't even based in the UK.

So the notion that ride soundtracks become stripped of any purpose and "cultural resonance" when heard out of context must be incorrect, since they are usually created before the ride even existed, by studios otherwise totally uninvolved with its design. It all depends on the composers' skill to turn a briefing into an atmosphere/thrill, something which anybody should be allowed to hear if they want to.

No doubt the music will take on a different meaning if you have heard it in its intended context, but even then there's no "added value" to be gained, just a different understanding. Let's stop pretending we are music connoisseurs. Of course people should be allowed to buy ride music if they enjoy it. At least then parks would be selling something of creative value, rather than useless novelty items for fans to collect.

It's like what bands add an extra track or alternative artwork for the CD release of an album in Japan or Germany or whatever. It's a little 'thankyou' for the people who have actually made the effort to support them (buy the album/visit the park). It's a thankyou for the loyalty and patronage.

I can assure you 90% of the time, this practice is decided by record companies and not the artists, as a way of milking the same product multiple times and getting people to spend more money importing/collecting different versions.

 

[Sam]

Bless. I know it is a fruitless task arguing against the new paradigm that 'The Internet allows anyone to access anything, huzzah!' (though it's such an obviously simplistic and far too tech-optimistic view-point) Call me a bad person, an elitist, whatever. I think that the availability of anything to anybody, anywhere is a bad thing. I actually like the idea that there are some objects and experiences that are only available in certain places in the real world.

It adds an extra frisson of excitement to being in a different geographical location to your home (I'm obviously talking wider than theme park CDs here). It gives you a reward for making the effort and exploring the real world. It's making a stand against the entire that you can experience the entire world and everything it has to offer from an internet connection.

Let me indulge you with an example. The Wodan Block, a piece of wood I have in my room that was sawn off Wodan during its construction. I bought it in the main shop at EP but sadly, it's available for sale online. Now, you'd have to know it's there to buy it really, and I doubt anybody has bought it online who hasn't been to the park and been on the ride. It's not really publicised anywhere. But I'm sure that if it was, you'd have GCI geeks in America buying one who'd never been on the ride.

If it was bought by a bunch of ACErs across the pond who have never visited the park, that would make the object mean less to me and many others who have bought one because they have ridden the ride, and it is a genuine highlight in their oeuvre of ridden coasters. Your average park guest probably wouldn't buy one. But for enthusiasts who recognise that Wodan really does set a new benchmark for wooden rollercoasters, that is a souvenir that is worth to them far more than the price it is sold at. If a load of ACErs had it as some bit of a foreign GCI to add to their collections, it is no longer a special treat for fans of the actual ride (and yes, you can only be a fan of something if you've actually watched/ridden/listened to it), as the park clearly intended it to be.

tl'dr: I know it goes against the new shiny, happy-clappy Everything Everywhere™ hegemony of the internet, but I actually think it's good that some things are only available in certain locations in the actual world.

 

[electricBlll]

I think that the availability of anything to anybody, anywhere is a bad thing. I actually like the idea that there are some objects and experiences that are only available in certain places in the real world.

Me too, I'm so glad we agree. I really think the internet is completely counter-productive, especially for music (and theme parks). You only need to read a couple of posts on here to see how information/images posted out of context causes pages of confusion and pedantic debate that is rendered meaningless as soon as you actually visit the attraction in question. Hence I personally make efforts to actually go out there and make something of my interests.

Theme parks are effective because you are being entertained physically and with other people. You can't possibly appreciate a ride to its full extent without being there in person, which is why I think it's sad that a lot of people care more about filming/recording/photographing their experience than actually sitting back and enjoying it.

But, erm, what's that got to do with theme park music? Music is a personal medium that requires people to use their imagination and is played at theme parks to enhance an experience, but should not be exclusive to the park itself. By your reasoning, you'd have to have been present in the studio when it was recorded (or synthesised by somebody in their garage, in the case of most UK park music :twirly: ) in order to appreciate it.

If people like the soundtrack as music in itself, then let they enjoy it; it may entice them to visit the park anyway! Why would you disapprove of that? At least it's better than an over-sentimental block of wood.

 

[Dar]

What about when parks release a CD after the event? If Phantasialand hadn't released the Chiapas CD until next year, would the people that rode this year but couldn't get back to the park be equally as barred from owning the soundtrack as those that hadn't ridden yet but enjoy the soundtrack?

 

[Rob]

What about when parks release a CD after the event? If Phantasialand hadn't released the Chiapas CD until next year, would the people that rode this year but couldn't get back to the park be equally as barred from owning the soundtrack as those that hadn't ridden yet but enjoy the soundtrack?

I've not read all of the discussion in this thread but this. In April 2012 I went to EP and rode Wodan. At the time they hadn't released the the soundtrack on CD but they did confirm to us that it was coming. It was released later in the year (I can't remember exactly when) so I bought it from EP's online shop. If it was not available online I would have had to wait until next week to buy it.

 

[Sam]

You can't possibly appreciate a ride to its full almost any extent without being there in person, which is why I think it's sad that a lot of people care more about filming/recording/photographing their experience than actually sitting back and enjoying it.

Fixed that for you.

By your reasoning, you'd have to have been present in the studio when it was recorded (or synthesised by somebody in their garage, in the case of most UK park music :twirly: ) in order to appreciate it.

I think everyone reading this thread, whether they agree with you or me, can see that that's a totally nonsensical and false analogy.

I never specified about the way the music is released. I'm more than happy for parks to sell music online to people who have been to the park, even months afterward. That wouldn't be difficult at all to set-up (type in your ticket ID to enter the online shop). I simply feel strongly that to keep the brand special, and as a privilege for fans, parks should only sell merch at the park, or to people who have visited the park.