Academy Reverses Decision on Dark Knight Score!
I posted this a while back regarding the awards Academy disqualified the score of TDK, well Variety reported yesterday that the Academy has reversed its decision.

The Music Branch Executive Committee of the Academy has reversed its Nov. 10 decision declaring their score for "The Dark Knight" ineligible for the 2008 Academy Awards.

After reviewing information submitted by the affected parties, the committee concluded that two, Zimmer and Howard, were responsible for the score's authorship.
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Original Post 13.11.08
The score for "The Dark Knight" has been disqualified by the executive committee of the Academy music branch.

Formal letters to that effect are expected to go out this week to composers Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard, who collaborated on the music.

Their previous collaboration, on "Batman Begins," was similarly disqualified in 2005.

Sources inside the committee said that the big issue was the fact that five names were listed as composers on the music cue sheet, the official studio document that specifies every piece of music (along with its duration and copyright owner) in the film.

Zimmer said, in an interview with Variety prior to this week's Acad action, that listing multiple names on the cue sheet was a way of financially rewarding parts of the music team who helped make the overall work successful. (Performing-rights societies like ASCAP and BMI use the cue sheet to distribute royalties to composers.)

Zimmer, Howard and the other three individuals -- music editor Alex Gibson, ambient music designer Mel Wesson and composer Lorne Balfe -- reportedly signed an affidavit stating that the score was primarily the work of Zimmer and Howard.

That apparently wasn't enough for the majority of the committee, which was also supplied with documentation indicating that more than 60%, but less than 70%, of the score was credited to Zimmer and Howard.

The "Dark Knight" score -- and the whole issue of multiple-composer collaboration, which is on the rise in Hollywood these days -- has occupied about four hours of discussion over the past two executive committee meetings.

Some members sided with Zimmer and Howard; citing the originality and cutting-edge nature of the music, they urged others to keep the "Dark Knight" score eligible despite the cue-sheet issue.