VGMdb
Go Back   VGMdb Forums > Discussion > Video Game Music Discussion > Album Discussions
Register FAQ Calendar Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read

Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
  #1  
Old Jun 4, 2010, 05:16 PM
Myrkul's Avatar
Myrkul Myrkul is offline
VGMdb Staff
VGM Artist
 
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: France
Posts: 3,124

Like Dag said on another post..

That release date is a bit stupid.
We all know the album could not be released on iTunes in 1992. (but that's actually the date you can find on iTunes)

We just need to find the date it was posted on iTunes but it's probably hard.
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old Jun 4, 2010, 06:12 PM
Revoc's Avatar
Revoc Revoc is offline
VGMdb Advisor
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Posts: 801
Default

Considering the release date of this and this, the release date could be also May 10, 2005. Look at this news item published in May 11, 2005. I don't know if Square Enix released FFV OST on iTunes before FFI and FFII OST, though.
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old Jun 4, 2010, 06:35 PM
Nisto's Avatar
Nisto Nisto is offline
VGMdb Advisor
 
Join Date: Sep 2009
Posts: 1,189
Default

Maybe you could send the 'iTunes staff' a mail or something and ask about this specific release?
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old Aug 28, 2022, 07:02 AM
zierts zierts is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: May 2012
Posts: 285
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Revoc View Post
Considering the release date of this and this, the release date could be also May 10, 2005. Look at this news item published in May 11, 2005. I don't know if Square Enix released FFV OST on iTunes before FFI and FFII OST, though.
Very nice detective work! Indeed, we can now confirm the May 10, 2005 as the original iTunes release date for 16 Final Fantasy albums, including this FF5 OST.

Here's the official press release from May 10, 2005 for archival purposes:

Quote:
Originally Posted by Square Enix
SQUARE ENIX LAUNCHES FINAL FANTASY(R) SOUNDTRACKS ON ITUNES(R)

Original Videogame Soundtracks Available for the First Time on iTunes and in the U.S.

Contacts:
Kumiko Hakushi/Felice Wu, Square Enix, Inc., 310.846.0400
Doug Schneider/Natalie Svider, Ruder Finn, 310.479.9929

LOS ANGELES, CA (May 10, 2005)
Square Enix, Inc., a leading interactive entertainment company known for its FINAL FANTASY(R) and DRAGON QUEST(TM) franchises, announced today the availability of sixteen FINAL FANTASY soundtracks on the iTunes(R) Music Store. This is the first time any of the soundtracks from the acclaimed videogame series will be sold in the United States, and the first time original game soundtracks will be available on the iTunes Music Store. The dedicated FINAL FANTASY page on the iTunes Music Store will feature music from FINAL FANTASY I through XI, Music from Dear Friends, and two Black Mages albums.

“We’re expanding our business sphere beyond the traditional videogame in many ways,” said Ichiro Otobe, President and COO of Square Enix, Inc. “I’m excited to bring FINAL FANTASY music online by collaborating with Apple, an innovator in this arena. The iTunes Music Store is the perfect platform for our videogame soundtracks, which began as an early form of digital music.”

“I am thrilled that our soundtracks will finally be available to all the supportive American fans who have enjoyed our music over the years,” said series composer Nobuo Uematsu.

FINAL FANTASY is one of the best-selling video game franchises in the world, with more than 60 million units sold worldwide. The first FINAL FANTASY was released in 1987 in Japan and 1990 in North America. Spanning multiple platforms, the long-running series has introduced the world of cinematic role-playing games (RPGs) to millions of gamers around the world. The collection available on iTunes will span music from the sounds of the first primitive consoles to the latest orchestral compositions.

An accomplished composer and musician, Nobuo Uematsu has been responsible for the sweeping, epic scores in the FINAL FANTASY series. Well known for its ability to stir emotion in players, his music has changed gamers’ perceptions and the standards of video game music forever. The music has led to a successful line of soundtracks and solo projects for Uematsu and has been brought to new life in live orchestral concerts since 2002. The music from the game series has grown to such popularity that veteran composer Uematsu was named as one of the "Innovators" in Time Magazine's "Time 100: The Next Wave—Music" feature. The Black Mages made their debut in February 2003 with a self-titled album comprised of FINAL FANTASY battle music arranged in a rock style. Uematsu leads the band, performing as organist.

About Square Enix Co., Ltd. and Square Enix, Inc.
Headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, Square Enix Co., Ltd. (Square Enix) develops, publishes and distributes entertainment content including interactive entertainment software and publications in Japan, North America, Europe and Asia. Square Enix brings two of Japan’s best-selling franchises – FINAL FANTASY, which has sold over 60 million units worldwide, and DRAGON QUEST, which has sold over 35 million units worldwide—under one roof. Square Enix is one of the most influential providers of digital entertainment content in the world and continues to push the boundaries of creativity and innovation.

Square Enix, Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Square Enix Co., Ltd. with offices in Los Angeles, CA and Seattle, WA. It handles operations in North America, including development, localization, marketing, and publishing of Square Enix titles. More information on Square Enix can be found on the Internet at http://www.square-enix.com.

(c)2005 SQUARE ENIX CO., LTD. All Rights Reserved. SQUARE ENIX and the SQUARE ENIX logo, DRAGON QUEST, FINAL FANTASY and other names of products mentioned herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of Square Enix Co, Ltd. in Japan and/or other countries. The names of companies and products mentioned herein may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.
Per this archived page from just a few days later which listed the corresponding soundtracks with their iTunes Music Store links, we can confirm the May 10, 2005 date without any reasonable doubt. The original iTunes link for the FF5 OST is this one. And this URL was archived by the Wayback Machine in slightly truncated form. Even though the Internet Archive only has an iTunes loading page, the URL was there in 2005 already, again confirming the May 10, 2005 date for the following albums (some don't have a dedicated page for the digital release as the track lists are the same as the CD versions):



By the way, it's interesting to note which tracks they omitted on the iTunes releases.

For FF8 and FF10, it was clearly licensing issues with "Eyes On Me" (long rumored as such) and the voice acting of Masakazu Morita and Mayuko Aoki (Tidus and Yuna's VAs, respectively). And they got rid of all the MC tracks from 20020220 which also featured Morita and Aoki, also removing "Tuning" as they probably didn't consider the iTunes release a complete concert recording anymore. The other album changes take some more explaining to do.

For FF5, they might have removed the bonus tracks/jingles 2.23 to 2.33 because they didn't add much to the album and there might have been a risk of licensing issues without extensive research on the original composers (Uematsu arranged some classical music with these tracks).

For FF1, they did away with 1.01 to 1.03 and 1.23 to 1.35 from the PlayStation soundtrack. Meaning, they kept the exact tracks that were already on the Famicom soundtrack, in that same exact order. You might infer that the other tracks and the PlayStation arrangements were indeed done by Tose employees (see this post of mine for an earlier analysis).

For FF2, they removed 2.01 to 2.03, 2.20 and 2.21, and 2.25 to 2.27, again using the track order from the Famicom soundtrack. 2.01 to 2.03 and 2.25 weren't in the Famicom version, so it's the same situation as with FF1. 2.20 and 2.21 again were probably omitted out of fear of licensing issues as it's classical music. Now, 2.26 and 2.27, those are the most interesting ones with their album credits: "Original phrase by Nobuo Uematsu, Music & Arrangement by Tsuyoshi Sekito". I take it that means Uematsu actually did some minor composition work on FF2's PlayStation version and he might have renegotiated his contract with Square ca. 2000 to receive royalties for his new compositions. This is speculation, of course, but it would explain why these tracks were omitted once Uematsu had left the company.



Anyway, I'll go ahead and correct the FF5 OST and 20020220 digital release dates and add notes on the digital release dates wherever needed.

Edit: I'm done. I didn't list the iTunes release date on most of the physical albums as I have a feeling it's policy not to list the information in the notes field in most cases. I also tried creating a new entry for the digital FF10 album with the "Copy to Draft" system, but once I deleted the artist links for Masakazu Morita and Mayuko Aoki and clicked on "Preview" under "Preview Draft", I got the following error message: "This album could not be displayed. Either an invalid album identifier was specified, or the album has been removed from the database." "Existing Entry Type" was at "Album" and had ID 0. I retried by changing ID to 8 but that then created "Artist Draft" 10405 rather than an album draft. I gave up after that so as not to muck up the database any further. Someone else do it. Here's the note field I prepared: "Digital album originally released on iTunes.

The listed release date of August 1, 2001 is based on the album [album=8]SSCX-10054~7[/album]. Tracks 1.01 "Zenbuhanashiteokitainda" and 4.20 "Omoidashitekudasai" which featured voice actors Masakazu Morita (Tidus) and Mayuko Aoki (Yuna) respectively were removed from the digital album."

Last edited by zierts; Aug 28, 2022 at 05:00 PM.
Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
SSCX-10071~2: FINAL FANTASY & FINAL FANTASY II Original Soundtrack Kaleb.G Album Discussions 22 Jun 22, 2023 08:09 AM
FINAL FANTASY VI Original Soundtrack (iTunes) (reprint) Secret Squirrel Album Discussions 17 Mar 13, 2013 06:50 AM
D25DR3192: FINAL FANTASY GUITAR SOLO COLLECTION Selected by Original... James O Album Discussions 2 Jan 15, 2013 02:18 PM
Final Fantasy III Original Soundtrack (iTunes) (reprint) seanne Album Discussions 2 Jan 17, 2012 08:00 AM
SQEX-10087: BEFORE CRISIS -FINAL FANTASY VII- & LAST ORDER -FINAL FANTASY... TheGazelMinistry Album Discussions 0 Apr 1, 2010 05:06 PM