Film Music Credits

[cigarjoe]

Somebody who knows please explain the difference between credits (see below) and how they are determined for an extra bonus. 😎

For instance take John Williams on IMDb he's got:

Composer (155 credits)

Soundtrack (390 credits)

Music department (220 credits) 

 

Italian Ennio Morricone credits are:

Composer (518 credits)

Soundtrack (326 credits)

Music department (158 credits)

 

Elmer Bernstein credits are:

Composer (252 credits)

Soundtrack (131 credits)

Music department (147 credits)

 

[LawrenceA]

I'll give it a whirl.

"Composer" means that they composed the score for the film, meaning any of the orchestral music heard, excluding pre-existing songs that may be used throughout.

"Soundtrack" means that some song or piece of orchestral music that the person wrote is heard on the soundtrack. Like if a comedy uses a snippet of the Jaws theme, then John Williams gets a soundtrack credit.

"Music department" can mean a lot of things: they played an instrument in the orchestra/band, or they may have advised one or more people in charge of music for the film, or they just sat in on the recording sessions and gave their thoughts.

[cigarjoe]

So if a composer wrote the music for the entire film, he would not have a soundtrack credit.

[LawrenceA]

Just now, cigarjoe said:

So if a composer wrote the entire soundtrack, he would not have a soundtrack credit.

No, but he would have the "music by" or "composer" credit, which holds the most weight of the three, and is usually included in the "up-front" credits on a film.