I’ve talked a lot in the past about the future of the music industry, it’s marketing, and the bands that are already performing ahead of the curve.  With the RIAA and record labels in a constant panic about the decline in CD sales each year and the millions of illegal downloads that happen each year they have been forced to try new techniques to drive record sales.  Various labels and bands are coming up with new ways all the time, but one of the more up and coming methods is the tiered pricing method.  Offered by Nine Inch Nails, and perhaps more popularly by Josh Freese in his outrageous attempt to promote his album ‘Since 1972’, the tiered pricing structure hasn’t really hit the mainstream audience so much as industry veterans and independent artists.

However, Summit Entertainment and Chop Shop/Atlantic Records are about to change that with their announcement regarding tiered pricing for the pre-order of the highly anticipated New Moon Soundtrack.  The soundtrack to the sequel of last years fall blockbuster Twilight has been gaining hype and speculation since before the film was even in production.  Twilight, which debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 sold 165,000 copies in its first week.  If that weren’t enough Twilight went on to be the soundtrack with the most paid downloads in digital history, with 412,000 downloads, putting it at number two on Nielsen SoundScan’s list of the 100 best-selling digital albums of all-time.  All this done without any special promotions or hype to drive sales, which leads me to believe that both Summit and Chop Shop/Atlantic are anticipating another successful soundtrack with some substantial profits made from this tiered format.

The four tier structure offers something for everyone and starts as low as $9.99 and caps at $499.99.

Digital – The Digital package is being offered for $9.99 and gives purchasers a digital MP3 download of the album 72 hours before its release on October 20th as well as a MP3 download of the single Meet The Equinox by Death Cab for Cutie on September 13th.

Standard – For $16.99 buyers receive the New Moon Soundtrack CD on October 20th.  An MP3 download of the single Equinox by Death Cab for Cutie on September 13th, a weekly e-mail subscription to “Twi-Insiders” with exclusive New Moon information including artist confirmations, clips of music, artist interviews, lyrics and more, and a New Moon sticker sheet.

Deluxe – For $34.99 the Deluxe package offers everything listed in the first two packages as well as a New Moon poster.

Limited Edition – The Limited Edition package offers 50 Twilight fans everything listed above as well as a limited edition Death Cab for Cutie t-shirt and a personalized Twilight Soundtrack Commemorative Plaque for having sold over 2 million copies.  The kicker?  This one is selling at $499.99

While the tiered structure seems to have worked well for bands like Nine Inch Nails, I am left to wonder how well something like this will do for a soundtrack from a film marketed mostly at teens.  I would imagine the bulk of pre-order sales will come from the Digital and Standard packages while a few of the more seasoned Twi-hards will actually fork out the cash for the Deluxe and Limited Editions.  My guess is that if any of the Limited Edition packages are purchased in this economy the bulk of them will be sold to spoiled little rich girls who aren’t getting pony’s for Christmas or uber geeks that live in their parents’ basement.  Don’t get me wrong, I’ve got nothing but love for uber geeks, but c’mon use that $499 to get out of your parents basement instead of buying a plaque for an accomplishment you had nothing to do with.

All in all I like that record labels are trying things like this.  Offering digital and CD copies of the music with a few extra perks makes me a bit more willing to spend the cash to go out and purchase an album.  Paying $16 bucks for a jewel case, a pretty liner and a CD just doesn’t seem worth it anymore.  Hell paying that much for a digital download of an album doesn’t even seem worth it anymore.  So this is a nice change of pace.  I do think that in a lot of instances though the labels still don’t quite get what it is that the fans really want.  Sure the plaque is nice, but is that something fans of these films and their soundtracks really wants?  I bet you if you dropped in a Rob Pattinson signed copy of the Twilight Soundtrack or a similar perk you’d probably easily make more sales. But what do I know?  I’m just a search marketer and blogger…

I’ve been laying low lately when it comes to Twilight posts since I’ve moved most of my Twilight inspired writing over to Where Is Edward Cullen?  However, I decided to take a moment to jump back over here for the to share something we’re really excited about over at Where Is Edward Cullen.  One of the writers for the site and the writer of the infamous Debunking the Anti-Twilight Propoganda series, came upon an interesting phenomenon on July 22 of this year the solar and lunar events that make up the titles of each of the Twilight books.  We will not only experience the daily “Breaking Dawn” and “Twilight”, but there will also be a “New Moon” and “Eclipse” that day.

To celebrate this rare event we’ve decided to declare July 22, 2009 International Twilight Day.  A day for fans of the series to celebrate their fandom and show their appreciation for author Stephenie Meyer, her books, and the films based on them.  The Where’s Edward site is sure to have more features about this as we get closer to the date.  We’ve also struck up a conversation about the day at most of the major Twilight forums.

We hope you Twilight fans will join in the fun and tell your fellow Twilighters all about it.

After the success of my Twilight Soundtrack What Plays When post I got a ton of requests to identify other songs from the film, songs that weren’t on the soundtrack, but on the motion picture score.  For sometime now I have been meaning to do this post, but just hadn’t had the time to sit down and compare Carter Burwell’s score to the DVD.  Finally with the help of fellow Where Is Edward Cullen staffer, Kristina Sanchez, I have been able to complete this post.  One of the annoying things about the Twilight score is that the album release of the score doesn’t follow the order of the film, so keep that in mind as you run down the song list in this post.

How I Would Die: ‘Twilight’ is quick to get into the score of the film, and How I Would Die starts immediately.  As soon as the Summit logo fills the screen Burwell’s composition begins.  The song continues through Bella’s monologue until Full Moon by The Black Ghosts begins.  How I Would Die also introduces us to a theme from Bella’s Lullaby which reoccurs through songs in the film.

Who Are They: Who Are They is the intro song for everyone’s favorite vampire family, The Cullen’s.  As the Cullen’s walk by the cafeteria window before making their big movie entrance the song starts.

Treaty: Treaty is the name of the song which plays in the background as Jacob tells Bella the Quilieute legend about the Cullen’s first coming to Forks and the treaty, which was established between the Quilieute tribe and the Cullen’s at that time.  The song starts out really faint, so you barely notice it at first, but picks up as the story progresses.

Phascination Phase: Phascination Phase sets the tone for the relationship between Bella and Edward.  The song plays in science class as Bella and Edward first start getting to know each other.  The song starts right as Bella tells Edward, “It’s complicated” in regards to why she moved to Forks.

Humans Are Predators Too: Humans Are Predators Too, as the title suggests, brings us to the one point in the film where humans really are the danger to Bella.  The song begins playing as soon as we see the front of Thunderbird and Whale, the book store Bella visits in Port Angeles. The song continues through Bella’s confrontation with the drunken men in the alley.

I Dreamt of Edward: Don’t most of you die hard female Twilighters? I Dreamt of Edward doesn’t actually begin when Bella thinks she’s having hallucinations of her vampire love interest, it actually starts at the hospital when her and Edward are discussing him saving her and he says, “I hope you enjoy disappointment.”

I Know What You Are: Most people would think this is the song that plays in the background when Bella says those same famous five words, but actually this song begins playing when Bella puts all the pieces together and realizes what Edward is.  This song begins as soon as the body of Walon is wheeled away in front of Chief Swan’s station.

The Most Dangerous Predator: The Most Dangerous Predator is the follow up song to shiny, sparkly Edward in the forest.  After Edward “exposes himself” to Bella and they enter the cover of the forest again song starts.

The Skin of A Killer: The skin of a killer is a fitting title for this song because of when it begins in the film.  In the forest when Bella says to Edward, “You don’t go out in the sunlight” the song begins.  Obviously we find out that he doesn’t go out into the sunlight because the skin of a killer is glittery.

The Lion Fell In Love With The Lamb: “And so the lion fell in love with the lamb”; one of the classic lines from the Twilight novel and the tie in to the song that begins playing while Edward is in the tree and Bella gets up in his face as he tries to explain to her what he is and why she should fear him.

Complications: That thing that happens when the love of your life’s father is best friends with a member of a tribe that wants to kill you and your family…Complications begins playing as Bella and Edward are discussing her coming over to meet his family and he stops suddenly. Bella asks him what is wrong and he simply says, “Complications”.  That complication of course is the arrival of Billy and Jacob.

Dinner With His Family: Dinner With His Family begins as we see Edward and Bella in the silver Volvo making their way down the windy path to the Cullen household for dinner.

I Would Be The Meal: This one is a bit more obvious since it starts right when Bella says the line, “I would become the meal.” When addressing Rosalie and Emmett’s concerns about Edward and Bella being a couple.

Bella’s Lullaby: The romantic piano piece which finds its way into a number of other songs on the score plays in its entirety starting when Edward jumps out of his bedroom window with Bella on his back.  This of course is also the song which we see Edward play on the piano.

Nomads: Much like Bella’s Lullaby themes from Nomads can be heard throughout the film, but it doesn’t actually play until we are introduced to Laurent, James, and Victoria in the baseball field.  The song begins right as Alice yells out, “Stop!”

Stuck Here Like Mom: Stuck Here Like Mom begins right after Bella tells Charlie she has to go home during the scene where she pretends her and Edward broke up leading her to want to leave Forks for good.

Bella is Part of the Family: Bella is Part of the Family is the climactic piece that begins after Bella and Edward leave Charlie’s house.  The song starts as soon as Emmett lands in the bed of the truck.

Tracking: Tracking mixes a bit of romance and suspense by bringing themes from Bella’s Lullaby and Bella is Part of the Family together along with a number of other themes from the film.  Tracking begins as soon as Edward closes the trunk of the car in the garage and continues through the scenes of the Cullen’s helping Bella escape forks.

The Place of Someone You Love: When Bella gets the call from James while at the hotel in Arizona this song begins. It of course leads up to the big showdown at the ballet studio.  Interesting thing to note is that it carries themes from How I Would Die and in the monologue that is recited by Bella during How I Would Die she says, “I’d never thought about how I was going to die, but dying in the place of someone I love seems like a good way to go.” see the tie in?

Showdown in the Ballet Studio: This one, again, is pretty obvious.  It’s the song that plays during the confrontation at the ballet studio and starts right when Bella enters the studio.

Edward At Her Bed: Edward At Her Bed is the song that begins while Bella is in the hospital after her mom leaves the room.  Right after Edward tells Bella she needs to go to Jacksonville the song begins.