Netflix really dropped the ball on The Witcher. No, not the show. That’s really fantastic. I’m talking about the soundtrack. Anyone who’s watched the series about the cranky mutant anti-hero has “Toss a Coin to Your Witcher” playing on repeat in their skulls. But try to actually listen to it on any streaming service or—if you’re old school—buy it, you are out of luck.
It makes no sense that Netflix wouldn’t make the soundtrack available—at least on the music streaming sites, and skipping the whole physical CD. They’ve already done the hard part of having the music composed. Uploading the soundtrack to the music sites is the easy part … and profitable. Netflix, and presumably the composer Sonya Belousova, could be getting paid for additional music that’s already served its purpose on the show.
There’s no reason not to put your soundtrack on Apple Music, Spotify, or any number of streaming services in these halcyon days of digital instant gratification. Even if there was no coin to be earned on making the soundtrack available, it would be a free promotion for a studio’s show or movie. The Grateful Dead understood this. That’s why they encouraged their fans to record their concerts. The fans became their brand ambassadors as they shared their totally legal bootlegged concert music with their friends.
Disney gets this for all the right reasons. Beyond marketing their shows and movies in every way possible, Disney has never been one to turn down an opportunity to squeeze every cent out of a franchise. Their strategy of dropping the soundtrack for each episode of The Mandalorian the same day it posts to Disney+ is what every fan wants and expects given our age of digital instant gratification.
After watching each episode of The Mandalorian (first thing in the morning), I head to my office and open up Apple Music to play the latest soundtrack by Ludwig Goransson on repeat for the rest of the morning. Unlike TV soundtracks of the past, where the music is bundled together from the season and made available for purchase at some later date, The Mandalorian’s soundtrack is available straight away, and on every music service and even in CD format.
Netflix and other studios should follow Disney’s strategy. I assume as more new Star Wars, Marvel, and Disney content comes to Disney+, they will expand this strategy to these shows. That is a win for both fans and studio. So, toss a coin to your Witcher, O’ Valley of Netflix, and give us the soundtrack already.
