The Death of The Disc02.06.09
I was listening to some old jams from the criminally under-rated, and now defunct, Movielife tonight while running when it quickly dawned on me that the whole concept of an “album” – you know, those 10-12 songs on a disc with some artwork – is a rapidly declining commodity.
I’m not just being dramatic.
In the era of the MP3 player, instant downloads, mashups, EPs, and remixes, there is a very real decline the appeal of creating an “album” from both ends of the music spectrum.
On one side you have the artist, who, when faced with the ever increasing costs of actually creating an album – be it touring, promotion, production, or label pressures – don’t have the resources to actually create a whole album, so instead they opt to put the real gems for an EP or put something online. Besides, if you make a 10% margin on a tshirt someone buys at a concert and only 1% on a CD…you’re soon going to be wanting to give your music away to anyone & everyone in hopes they like it and come out to see you on tour.
On the other side you have the listener; who, with the luxury of picking and choosing individual tracks they like from services like iTunes & LaLa rather then a whole album that may have some duds, isn’t going to drive demand for a full album – just worthy singles.
The more I ponder this, the more I think the death of the album has already happening I was looking at a friends’ ipod yesterday and they had no more then 3 or 4 tracks from each artist. When I asked them why they told me those were the songs they heard on the radio. It is not like the radio is going to use precious airtime to play an entire album, so they are going to just play the best and that is ultimately what most people end up knowing/buying/listening to, even if the rest of the album those tracks are on are worth it.
Even now, I am going through some of my favorite records from the first half of 2009 and while I can find lots that I love because or one or more tracks, there are only a couple which I love in their entirety – namely, “Hollow Crown” by Architects, “Fist of God” by MSTRKRFT, “Mean Everything To Nothing” by Manchester Orchestra, and recently “New Hopes, New Demonstrations” by The Ghost of a Thousand.
I am not at all angry about this progression mind you. The evolution of music distribution, marketing, and creation over the past couple years has definitely been a step in the right direction. There are loads of artistis out there that have great albums waiting to be released in one form or another, and there will always be a way to get to experience them the way the artist intended – be it in the conventional “album” format or otherwise.
Just look at what the superb band Mae is doing with their music. Instead of releasing one singular album, they have opted to release three EPs throughout the year (cleverly titled (M)orning, (A)fternoon, and (E)vening) that create a singular experience, but will each have their own theme – very cool indeed.
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