Albums have been around in some shape or form since popular music took off earlier last century.
In their hayday The Beatles were releasing a couple of albums a year which would often sound completely different.
Since the early days albums have moved from vinyl to bytes of data on peoples computers via cassettes, cd’s, mini-disks and many other debunked mediums.
It’s been a long and winding road for the album but is the trend of downloading and streaming music spelling the end for the album as we know it?
News last week that Radiohead have no plans of a conventional album in the near future and the fact that they have gone and released their latest track ‘These Are My Twisted Words’ on its own as soon as production was complete shows the album is not needed in the way it once was to promote new music.
Is it too early to plot the albums demise? That’s what Indiescreet aims to find out.
The attention span of the average human is now just under 1.2 milliseconds. If something doesn’t catch peoples attention straight away these days, that’s it, it’s gone, never to be heard of again.
People don’t want to wait to hear the best tracks a band or artist can offer halfway though an album which has been released two years after it was first announced. They want them there and then, streamed online for next to nothing.
So should artists and bands cease production of albums all together?
I’m not sure and I’m certainly no expert. I emailed a few record labels asking their opinions and what they have planned for the future, but I received no feedback from anyone, which was a shame.
Albums are obviously not going anywhere soon, they’re just too much of a proven seller to be scrapped.
What are the other options available then?
Bands could concentrate more on producing 4/5 track EP’s featuring a main single and other tracks? These would be released more frequently but would probably receive less press and attention than full albums do.
The trend these days is to download music, some die hard fans however are still willing to go out and buy hard copies of material to support bands and artist. Could this approach be adapted to suit those die hard fans?
Sure it could, in fact a few bands are already doing this.
The Cribs did it recently with their latest single. They offered ‘Cheat On Me’ for download three weeks before it’s physical release, granted this was because the track was leaked but no matter.
Pixies recently announced details of their Minoutar box set which features their entire back catalogue exclusively packaged for a tidy $495.
Arctic Monkeys released ‘Crying Lighting’ physically through Oxfam shops (UK charity shops) in the UK on 7″ vinyl last week, as an incentive they included a couple of tickets to Reading & Leeds Festival to a few lucky fans.
Good ideas in principal but would it really be worth the time and money invested to please a few die hard fans? Possibly, for more established bands and acts it would be feasible but for most it just wouldn’t be cost effective.
Albums are cheaper to buy and produce now than ever, maybe sticking with what you know is for the best.
Overall I believe albums may change in the future but for now it’s not worth the risk for bands and artists who are either not established or not multi millionaires.
This is more of a discussion topic than anything. I don’t have the answers to the question but I’ve put forward my views, now I’d like to hear yours.
What do you think the future holds for albums?
Think what Arctic Monkeys and Pixies are doing is a good idea?
Do you still always buy physical copies of albums?
Is downloading and streaming now your main way to listen to new music?
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