Earnie Shavers
Rock n' Roll Doggie VIP PASS
Don't underestimate how much the core relationship between artist/fan is going to change. It's not just about a change in delivery and presentation.
Will the 'Album' disappear?
- Thread starter BVS
- Start date
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If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
Yeah it's very interesting to think about, but I don't think that the recording and releasing of songs in album form will disappear just yet because it provides a very good "unit" for encompassing an artist's work within a short-to-medium time period, don't you think? Well maybe a longer time period, if you happen to be Axl Rose, or U2 for that matter. 
Are artists going to hop between producers and their lineups be in upheaval between individual songs? Not likely if they wanted to survive beyond the first recording, but between albums, between longer phases of creative collaboration? Sure.
Then again, would releasing no album mean less pressure, no rushing to finish a load of tracks before a contracted tour? Would tours be able to operate more flexibly?
As someone has also already pointed out though, for genuine artists an album is a very desirable milestone, especially given the potential for awards and comparisons with historical works including their own.
I agree with others who've said that there will probably be some change though, both in the releasing as well as of course the purchasing methods. There will be change because the possibilities are so open. Artists will innovate because they can, and why not? Maybe I'm putting too much faith in genuine artists but I'd hope that they would never completely disregard the institution of the album though, even if the consumers are more keen on buying individual songs.
On the method of delivery itself, I can see it eventually going all through the net and am all for it despite the warm satisfaction of having the full packaging. Maybe there will be provisions for the hardcore fanbase who want their glossy packaging and trinkets, but why not provide the overwhelming majority of music via the net when there is the means and the price can't be beaten? Less production costs, less materials waste, less emissions.. c'mon. And hopefully more money for the artists themselves. And the graphic designers can still get paid to do their album artwork and multimedia, but it gets bundled with the download and of course showcased on the website.
Of course there's always one thing which has to spoil the party, and that thing is Christmas. If there's no more packaging for music or movies or games, what is everyone going to put under the tree? Vouchers??
What is interesting and somehow sort of scary is the possibility of artists shifting a lot more towards versioning their songs, reworking them, changing them a little or a lot, re-releasing them in the space of weeks or even days. Can anyone else see that becoming more prevalent?
Are artists going to hop between producers and their lineups be in upheaval between individual songs? Not likely if they wanted to survive beyond the first recording, but between albums, between longer phases of creative collaboration? Sure.Then again, would releasing no album mean less pressure, no rushing to finish a load of tracks before a contracted tour? Would tours be able to operate more flexibly?
As someone has also already pointed out though, for genuine artists an album is a very desirable milestone, especially given the potential for awards and comparisons with historical works including their own.
I agree with others who've said that there will probably be some change though, both in the releasing as well as of course the purchasing methods. There will be change because the possibilities are so open. Artists will innovate because they can, and why not? Maybe I'm putting too much faith in genuine artists but I'd hope that they would never completely disregard the institution of the album though, even if the consumers are more keen on buying individual songs.
On the method of delivery itself, I can see it eventually going all through the net and am all for it despite the warm satisfaction of having the full packaging.
Maybe there will be provisions for the hardcore fanbase who want their glossy packaging and trinkets, but why not provide the overwhelming majority of music via the net when there is the means and the price can't be beaten? Less production costs, less materials waste, less emissions.. c'mon. And hopefully more money for the artists themselves. And the graphic designers can still get paid to do their album artwork and multimedia, but it gets bundled with the download and of course showcased on the website.Of course there's always one thing which has to spoil the party, and that thing is Christmas. If there's no more packaging for music or movies or games, what is everyone going to put under the tree?
Vouchers??What is interesting and somehow sort of scary is the possibility of artists shifting a lot more towards versioning their songs, reworking them, changing them a little or a lot, re-releasing them in the space of weeks or even days. Can anyone else see that becoming more prevalent?
Irishteen
Blue Crack Addict
If the album disappears I will be really disappointed, if I love a band I don't want one track, I want an album, I want about a dozen tracks, that in all in some way belong together.
I mean there's so many bands I would of never got into if it was just single tracks and no albums. I mean some albums and albums and don't work other ways, I mean Dark Side of the Moon is brilliant but that's because it is a full album if it were a just single tracks it wouldn't be as good.
Oh and if the CD disappears, I would no longer pay for music because there are very few bands that I would ever pay just to get a file. I want packaging, I want something I can see, not something on my hard drive.
Oh and I don't want to sound like I hate single tracks, I use shuffle a lot and don't listen to full albums as much as I listen to songs but I just love having the album there, I mean songs like 4th of July are songs I'd never listen to on shuffle but on the album I like them being there. I mean sure no albums could mean no filler but it would also remove these lovely atmospheric tracks and I think it would cause music to become a lot more commercial, if every song had to stand by itself it would have to "single material", an album has usually 1-3 songs like this and the rest are songs which would never work like that, so yeah I would just rather keep tracks like that, brilliant tracks which would never see the light of day if bands only released singles.
I mean there's so many bands I would of never got into if it was just single tracks and no albums. I mean some albums and albums and don't work other ways, I mean Dark Side of the Moon is brilliant but that's because it is a full album if it were a just single tracks it wouldn't be as good.
Oh and if the CD disappears, I would no longer pay for music because there are very few bands that I would ever pay just to get a file. I want packaging, I want something I can see, not something on my hard drive.
Oh and I don't want to sound like I hate single tracks, I use shuffle a lot and don't listen to full albums as much as I listen to songs but I just love having the album there, I mean songs like 4th of July are songs I'd never listen to on shuffle but on the album I like them being there. I mean sure no albums could mean no filler but it would also remove these lovely atmospheric tracks and I think it would cause music to become a lot more commercial, if every song had to stand by itself it would have to "single material", an album has usually 1-3 songs like this and the rest are songs which would never work like that, so yeah I would just rather keep tracks like that, brilliant tracks which would never see the light of day if bands only released singles.
OP
OP
BVS
Blue Crack Supplier
LemonMelon said:
No mind-expansion needed. Beck did that last year, and I'm pretty sure Bjork has done it as well.
I'm pretty sure Beck just released the Information last year, what are you thinking about?
LemonMelon said:
Well I don't think any artist would release anything DVD only, people still want music in their cars.
the album will never completely go away, but the time in between albums certainly could expand, and artists can fill that time with a shortened EP, digital only release.
the last hard copy CD i bought was how to dismantle an atomic bomb, and the only reason i bought it was to have the special edition booklet, as a sheer collecter's item. i don't think i've ever actually played the physical CD it's self.
as the technology improves, the lossless files will come down in size and thus the quality of what you can keep on your iPod or other mp3 type player will improve.
but the whole concept of the album as a collection of songs will not go away, and every now and then when someone puts out an album with one running theme throughout, the way it used to be, it will be hailed as genius. see american idiot.
the last hard copy CD i bought was how to dismantle an atomic bomb, and the only reason i bought it was to have the special edition booklet, as a sheer collecter's item. i don't think i've ever actually played the physical CD it's self.
as the technology improves, the lossless files will come down in size and thus the quality of what you can keep on your iPod or other mp3 type player will improve.
but the whole concept of the album as a collection of songs will not go away, and every now and then when someone puts out an album with one running theme throughout, the way it used to be, it will be hailed as genius. see american idiot.
Salome
you are what you is
I love albums
we hear more and more that 'artists' make their money nowadays through their live shows, not through their albums/singles
personally I would never go and see someone because I like 1 or 2 of their singles
I want to check out the album first and see how I like that
that's just me of course
we hear more and more that 'artists' make their money nowadays through their live shows, not through their albums/singles
personally I would never go and see someone because I like 1 or 2 of their singles
I want to check out the album first and see how I like that
that's just me of course
angelordevil
Rock n' Roll Doggie VIP PASS
Zihua said:On the method of delivery itself, I can see it eventually going all through the net and am all for it despite the warm satisfaction of having the full packaging.
Of course there's always one thing which has to spoil the party, and that thing is Christmas. If there's no more packaging for music or movies or games, what is everyone going to put under the tree?
What is interesting and somehow sort of scary is the possibility of artists shifting a lot more towards versioning their songs, reworking them, changing them a little or a lot, re-releasing them in the space of weeks or even days. Can anyone else see that becoming more prevalent?
Excellent points!
I love albums, in every sense of the word. It's great to have something tangible, with artwork and so on. One of the coolest things is being able to pour over the lyrics and images of your favourite artist and see how they've developed over time. To me an album is like a journey. There's also something very special about falling into someone's album collection and imaging what they've gone through as a listener.
What Radiohead have done is pretty interesting, and I'm sure we'll see more of that...a lot more of that. It's astonishing how much access we have online to music; I feel like a kid in a candy store everyday. However, I can't really imagine the album concept disappearing completely, because you'll always have the hardcore fans who believe that unique artwork accentuates the music. As Headache suggests, it could also be a cyclical thing, where people fall in love with the idea all over again. Silly human beings.
As far as vouchers under the tree, I'm not so high on that, either.
Zoots
Blue Crack Supplier
corianderstem said:I don't like the idea of a USB stick.
I mean, how is that supposed to fit onto my CD shelves? Talk about messing up the visual of my CD collection.
Exactly! I want my CD liner notes dammit!
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