2011 Summary of the Reviews:
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In terms of coverage of all-new scores and expanded releases of older ones, 2011 was the most productive year at Filmtracks since 2001. First-time reviews of such products amounted to 70 during the year, while an additional 43 all-new reviews of older scores and their existing albums were added as well. This output exceeded expectations, though time was still available to work on other projects during the year as well.
The most important (and unexpected) upgrade to Filmtracks in 2011 was the tackling of a fourth round of re-writes pertaining to the site's oldest coverage. With a backlog of new coverage already prepared to debut in late summer, I spent a few months revising the 144 reviews written between April, 2004 and July, 2005, some of which requiring nearly all-new coverage. These re-writes continue to debut on the site as we enter 2012. Outside of these re-writes, another 59 existing reviews were revised to account for new album releases, bringing the re-write total for the year to 203. In sum, when combining the new and revised work, 316 reviews were "touched" in 2011.
My goals for 2012 include the matching of 70 first-time reviews of all-new products and 50 reviews of products from 1975 to 2010. Most of the "modern classics" have been covered over the past few years, though a few remain. The discographies of major composers will be filled in during 2012, too. The necessity of re-writes comes with the accelerated pace of re-released "modern" scores by specialty labels, and I expect upwards of 60 such revisions to be necessary to keep up with these new editions.
So far, 2012 has been very productive; twenty all-new reviews have been written in the first 16 days of January. I don't expect to maintain that pace for the whole year, of course!
By the numbers:
2011 Goals:
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New Reviews of New Albums: 60
New Reviews of Old Albums: 40
Re-Writes: 30
2011 Final Stats:
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New Reviews of New Albums: 70
New Reviews of Old Albums: 43
Re-Writes: 203
2012 Goals:
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New Reviews of New Albums: 70
New Reviews of Old Albums: 50
Re-Writes: 60
2011 Summary of the Overall Site:
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After several years of finishing various projects related to Filmtracks' server and site's non-review areas, 2011 was largely dedicated to just the reviews. Between the completion of the fourth round of re-writes (of mostly 2004 and 2005 scores), the bevy of expanded limited editions of scores previously reviewed, and the Burton/Elfman mega-set that itself required a dozen re-writes, there was a frustrating amount of time spent revising existing content. Even through all of that, however, the site's coverage of brand new scores was more thorough than in many years, making 2011 a fantastic overall year for coverage.
The only major non-review feature upgraded at the site during the year was the collection of composer mug shots and associated photo galleries. The revision and expansion of the composer tributes remains the highest non-review priority at the site in 2012. Otherwise, outside of the continued additions to the archived Filmtracks Awards section, there remains little on the plate for this year.
Keeping the site fiscally viable remains the greatest challenge. Despite the fact that July to December, 2011 was the most productive six-month period of content at Filmtracks in ten years, the site still failed to meet its goals for donations and commercial revenue during that time. Traffic levels continue to increase, returning Filmtracks to numbers last seen in 2004. Interestingly, that traffic has seemed to slowly shift away from the mainstream movie-goers who arrive via search engines (the traditional mass majority of the site's traffic) towards repeat readers and loyal soundtrack collectors. The former constituency still supplies the most overall traffic, however.
Expect to see continued efforts to manipulate the advertisement schemes at the site to maximize revenue without utilizing obnoxious placements. The international Amazon links featured atop several major pages (essentially doubling as a donation call) have not yielded significant returns in their first four weeks. Meanwhile, although the donation numbers were not significant enough in 2011 to cover the discretionary costs above and beyond the fixed costs, I still want to thank those who have consistently donated funds, some each month, to assist with those fixed expenses. With Filmtracks' longevity, its continued expanding content base and traffic, and a vibrant (and unholy) Scoreboard community, the ingredients are there for the site to flourish once this global economic recession concludes.
Best wishes to all in 2012,
Christian
