Are Albums Going the Way of the Dinosaur?

[MylesBAstor]

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/11/...topper-shows-how-far-album-sales-have-fallen/

 

[Bill Hart]

Not for us Neandrathals. The whole rationale for digital delivery online was a demand for singles, because the big, bad record companies* were forcing people to buy whole albums with tracks consumers didn't want.
But, some compilations of tracks work well together - think side 2 of Abbey Road.
Since my main system relies on this antediluvian format, I'm not an objective voice. While i have digital files of albums (for other music systems), I do tend to listen to specific tracks in that format, rather than whole albums, but that's because I'm focused on listening to something very specific.
Right now, listening to an WLP copy of Aqualung- superb. And I'm listening to each track in order, both sides.
But back to your question- will people someday go to a museum to see a plaster cast of Katy Perry's bones assembled on a stand, with a little plaque that says " Back in the 21st century, entertainers sang into primitive devices called microphones and performed on stage and 'recorded' their performances for later playback over so-called digital systems. This, of course, was before crystal oscillation direct brain injection systems."
Dunno. Maybe an asteroid will take us all out.

____________
*Note: Facetious characterization. Just repeating the mantra, since I remember Napster all too well, and everything surrounding it at the time MP3 finally pushed to the mainstream.

 

[Andre Marc]

Not for us Neandrathals. The whole rationale for digital delivery online was a demand for singles, because the big, bad record companies* were forcing people to buy whole albums with tracks consumers didn't want.
But, some compilations of tracks work well together - think side 2 of Abbey Road.
Since my main system relies on this antediluvian format, I'm not an objective voice. While i have digital files of albums (for other music systems), I do tend to listen to specific tracks in that format, rather than whole albums, but that's because I'm focused on listening to something very specific.
Right now, listening to an WLP copy of Aqualung- superb. And I'm listening to each track in order, both sides.
But back to your question- will people someday go to a museum to see a plaster cast of Katy Perry's bones assembled on a stand, with a little plaque that says " Back in the 21st century, entertainers sang into primitive devices called microphones and performed on stage and 'recorded' their performances for later playback over so-called digital systems. This, of course, was before crystal oscillation direct brain injection systems."
Dunno. Maybe an asteroid will take us all out.

____________
*Note: Facetious characterization. Just repeating the mantra, since I remember Napster all too well, and everything surrounding it at the time MP3 finally pushed to the mainstream.

I posted this thread over at Hoffman. http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/theory-the-rock-and-pop-album-is-a-dead-art-form.322234/

Some anecdotal info:

A few weeks ago I saw Jake Bugg at the House of Blues (you might really dig his 1965ish/Dylan/Pre-psychedelic/ sound)

Over hearing a few conversations in the crowd, I heard folks saying they listened to his album on Youtube. I heard about
streaming etc. Nothing about owning. Conversely, the opening act, honeyhoney, a TERRIFIC rootsy band played a dynamite
set and people lined up to buy their CD, and that is because the band them selves were at the merch table.

I see folks at other forums posting about being perfectly happy with MOG and Spotify. The idea of ownership of music
is bizarre to these folks.

Today, an album is like vapor. There are a thousand cable channels, video games, smart phones, apps, and youtube to compete with.
When I was young you had three choices to entertain yourself..watch a movie, put on a record, or read a book.

Here is a quote from Josh Tillman, who I saw two nights ago at the House Of Blues. Utterly brilliant performer and songwriter
who bills himself as Father John Misty. He was in Fleet Foxes, the celebrated Sub Pop band, until he left after the second album.

"Consumerism is different than consuming. It's a state of mind where you're trying to achieve everything, or experience everything, in life through the act of buying things. You have to choose for yourself what things are worth buying, and in large part the public has decided that music is not worth buying. There's something interesting in drawing people's attention back to it as a commodity, and the only way to give it physical value is to make it limited edition. It would be absurd to accuse small record stores of imbuing the culture with consumerism by releasing things once a year that are rare and have value."

 

[Bill Hart]

I posted this thread over at Hoffman. http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/theory-the-rock-and-pop-album-is-a-dead-art-form.322234/

Some anecdotal info:

A few weeks ago I saw Jake Bugg at the House of Blues (you might really dig his 1965ish/Dylan/Pre-psychedelic/ sound)

Over hearing a few conversations in the crowd, I heard folks saying they listened to his album on Youtube. I heard about
streaming etc. Nothing about owning. Conversely, the opening act, honeyhoney, a TERRIFIC rootsy band played a dynamite
set and people lined up to buy their CD, and that is because the band them selves were at the merch table.

I see folks at other forums posting about being perfectly happy with MOG and Spotify. The idea of ownership of music
is bizarre to these folks.

Today, an album is like vapor. There are a thousand cable channels, video games, smart phones, apps, and youtube to compete with.
When I was young you had three choices to entertain yourself..watch a movie, put on a record, or read a book.

Here is a quote from Josh Tillman, who I saw two nights ago at the House Of Blues. Utterly brilliant performer and songwriter
who bills himself as Father John Misty. He was in Fleet Foxes, the celebrated Sub Pop band, until he left after the second album.

"Consumerism is different than consuming. It's a state of mind where you're trying to achieve everything, or experience everything, in life through the act of buying things. You have to choose for yourself what things are worth buying, and in large part the public has decided that music is not worth buying. There's something interesting in drawing people's attention back to it as a commodity, and the only way to give it physical value is to make it limited edition. It would be absurd to accuse small record stores of imbuing the culture with consumerism by releasing things once a year that are rare and have value."

Only thing here I would take issue with is that the record stores have any control over any of it. They are, to the extent they still exist in some form, middlemen. At least the brick and mortar stores. And even in digital, Amazon, while it yields huge clout, probably has little to say over the form and format of the digital files, CDs or vinyl it sells.
It goes back to consumer preference- no physical media, 'free' in many cases on the web, and sound quality be damned.
In terms of the album format, there are lot's of 'full length' LPs that are simply compilations of individual tracks - perhaps there is an overall theme, but not necessarily a reason why one would need to listen to the album tracks in order to fully appreciate what the artist sought to achieve as an entire 'work.' Then again, I never got into things like 'Tommy,' so suppose I'm somewhere in between in terms of the album vs track thing. But, I'm still cuing records to play tracks, not pulling them out of the ether.

 

[Gregadd]

Some of my favorite selections are "deep cuts" You can go on Amzon,sample all the selections on album and purchase the ones you like. That's one advantage of digital. The problem that iI only warmed up to some deep cuts over time., or after I got bored with the "hit."
O also regard the album as though it is a muscal performance. I try to listen to the whole thing.

 

[jazdoc]

To amplifly whart's observations and as a tie in to the Rick Rubin thread, here is a link to an interesting NY Times article about Rick Rubin and the state of the recording industry from 2007:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/02/magazine/02rubin.t.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

At the end of their paid internships, the students took part in focus groups that were closely observed by Steve Barnett, Rubin's co-head at the label, and Mark DiDia, whom Rubin brought in as head of operations, as well as by other Columbia executives. The focus groups may have been the real point of Big Red — Barnett and the New York executives, especially those who had been at Sony for years, wanted to try to take the pulse of the elusive music audience. "The Big Red focus groups were both depressing and informative, and they confirmed what I — and Rick — already knew," DiDia told me afterward. "The kids all said that a) no one listens to the radio anymore, b) they mostly steal music, but they don't consider it stealing, and c) they get most of their music from iTunes on their iPod. They told us that MySpace is over, it's just not cool anymore; Facebook is still cool, but that might not last much longer; and the biggest thing in their life is word of mouth. That's how they hear about music, bands, everything."

 

[garylkoh]

Here is a quote from Josh Tillman, who I saw two nights ago at the House Of Blues. Utterly brilliant performer and songwriter
who bills himself as Father John Misty. He was in Fleet Foxes, the celebrated Sub Pop band, until he left after the second album.

"Consumerism is different than consuming. It's a state of mind where you're trying to achieve everything, or experience everything, in life through the act of buying things. You have to choose for yourself what things are worth buying, and in large part the public has decided that music is not worth buying. There's something interesting in drawing people's attention back to it as a commodity, and the only way to give it physical value is to make it limited edition. It would be absurd to accuse small record stores of imbuing the culture with consumerism by releasing things once a year that are rare and have value."

Did nobody else get that Josh was referring to the Record Store Day vinyl pressings?

 

[Andre Marc]

Did nobody else get that Josh was referring to the Record Store Day vinyl pressings?

Gary, you are correct. Here is the full interview for context.

http://edit.rollingstone.com/music/...lm-score-new-father-john-misty-album-20131029

 

[FrantzM]

Some of my favorite selections are "deep cuts" You can go on Amzon,sample all the selections on album and purchase the ones you like. That's one advantage of digital. The problem that iI only warmed up to some deep cuts over time., or after I got bored with the "hit."
O also regard the album as though it is a muscal performance. I try to listen to the whole thing.

I agree.. "Try" is the important word.. Not at all times but , it is often interesting and rewarding to listen to an entire album... To go beyond the simplicity of liking some tunes but rather deep understanding and/or sharing of the Artists intent, message or emotions.