Official releases
This category constitutes releases connected with an official production (live or film), or releases that otherwise in some way bear the blessings of the creators, Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber.
Promotional recordings
As the name suggests these are recordings that usually have the same professional sound quality as official releases but they have either not been released for the public or they were only briefly available for sale in small numbers at specific venues. Usually made for promotional purposes only, in some cases these recordings are exclusively given to members of the cast or the crew.
Radio broadcasts
This isn’t really a specific category but sometimes live performances or even special cast albums are broadcast exclusively on radio. Quality may vary due to age but they are usually high quality recordings.
Bootlegs
A bootleg recording is an audio or video recording of a performance that was not officially released by the artist or under other legal authority. The process of making and distributing such recordings is known as bootlegging.
Soundboard recordings
A soundboard recording is a term used to describe an unreleased audio recording (usually made by the crew) by connecting a recording device directly to the mixing table (a soundboard). Soundboard recordings often have great sound quality and are the next best thing to a official release.
Audience recordings
A audience recording is either a audio or video recording, recorded (as the name would suggest) by someone in the audience. The quality may vary, depending on where the person might be seated, but overall it means that the quality is significantly lesser compared to a soundboard or pro-shot recording.
Miscellaneous Audio
Consists of recordings that include work in progress versions of certain songs, orchestrations and backing tracks or any other JCS related audio files that don’t fit anywhere else.
For other information regarding trading or sound quality ratings, please check out the Trading Info page.