2025 Summary of the Reviews:
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It was a fantastic year for review production at Filmtracks, with more new coverage written in 2025 than any year since the initial development of the site in the 1990's. My eyesight, although still really poor, has stabilized, and my employer has allowed me a disability accommodation because of that eyesight to work from home. That decision returns three hours of commute time to me each work day, which I've parlayed into more time spent writing for Filmtracks. In this age, there's little reason for those of us in digital services to work on site anyway, but that battle is being lost industry-wide.
Each year, the goal for all-new theatrical and streaming film score coverage strives for 40 to 50 reviews, and that number was met in 2025. Exceeding the goal was the quantity of re-writes of older reviews to account for new score albums. These endeavors allowed the site to keep up to date, which has been a central focus for several years in a row. Meanwhile, the new reviews of older scores is the area in which the site truly flourished in 2025, amassing over 100 such reviews in the queue for publishing at any given time. Most of this coverage has been dedicated to filling out the filmographies of top composers, concentrating on the second-tier of popularity among the composer ranks.
In late 2025 and into 2026, the all-new reviews of older scores have shifted to include a wider variety of composers that have long been underrepresented in the coverage at the site. A remarkable 145 such reviews were completed in 2025, and with my day job commute time eliminated, I should be able to continue that writing pace in 2026. These reviews are still purely discretionary, however, and other needs may arise that diminish the quantity written this year. The goals for 2026 will increase modestly in the new reviews of older scores to call for 125 reviews to be "touched" overall. That's far less than the 232 that were touched in 2025, though it's possible that year was an aberration. If everything stays stable, however, similarly great numbers may result in 2026 as well.
By the numbers:
2025 Goals:
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New Reviews of New Albums: 45
New Reviews of Old Albums: 30
Re-Writes: 35
2025 Final Stats:
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New Reviews of New Albums: 44
New Reviews of Old Albums: 145
Re-Writes: 43
2026 Goals:
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New Reviews of New Albums: 45
New Reviews of Old Albums: 45
Re-Writes: 35
2025 Summary of the Overall Site:
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While there was no major back-end change to Filmtracks in 2025, the site experienced a significant server migration in January of 2026 after initial preparations in late December. The new server is much faster and represents a vital software upgrade for all the tools that run the website. A few minor alterations to the front-end presentation were tossed in with this transition, including the mobile version of the composer tributes showing full filmographies when available. Better fraud detection in the voting booths on the reviews is also installed and will periodically adjust the totals as needed. Minor bug fixes were applied the Scoreboard software, RSS feed, and other areas, too. More information about this server migration is available at the Scoreboard.
With the server situation stable for the next six to eight years, it's my hope that I can make time this year or next to tackle another redesign of the site. Filmtracks' information architecture won't be altered, but its 2015 front-end display could use improvements despite the site's intentional embrace of a look from yesteryear. The site isn't fully accessible, which is a distinct irony given that I suffer from low-vision issues and manage accessibility compliance for my employers' digital products. While traffic to Filmtracks declined slightly in 2026, that reduced readership was not likely the product of the designs. Rather, the focus on older reviews from the late 1960's to 1990's is simply not as popular with the bulk of the site's current readers.
It was my hope that the next design of Filmtracks could phase out many of the advertisements and perhaps even completely eliminate the purchasing links on the reviews, but revenue alarmingly decreased in 2026 due to reduced advertisement returns and diminished reader donations. Last year, my personal subsidization of the site reached the highest amount in the 2020's, and the only solution may be to increase advertising to cover that liability. It's a painful decision to have to make, because I hate the ads as much as everyone else does, especially vignette ads that pop over the entire browser window when a link is clicked. Unfortunately, that's how meaningful ad money is made these days.
Along with a slight decrease in traffic to the site as a whole has come a commensurate reduction in participation in the Scoreboard, with an even greater portion of the traffic to the forum reading but not posting. What changes 2026 brings for these readers will depend on several factors in my personal life, as I continue to be heavily involved in my forest restoration project and strive to lead at my workplace, the City of Seattle, where my workload has become increasingly stressful each year since my team is understaffed. What you can count upon are composer-specific series of all-new reviews followed by new or expanded composer tributes. There are several major holes in Filmtracks' coverage, even within its focus from the 1970's forward, and this work will help the site become more comprehensive for broader audiences.
Best wishes to all in 2026, and enjoy the extensive amount of new coverage set for debut!
Christian
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