The end of the album?

[Jake]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/ne ... 751533.stm

By today's standards albums like Dreamtime would have reached number one instead of barely making the top 20, 10,000 copies to get to number one, I think Dreamtime sold something like 40,000 (quite possibly a lot more) to make the top 20. Surely 'Giants' must have sold more than 5,000 copies, hmmmm. I personally don't think we should be so quick to write off the album, but looks like that is the way 'the industry' is going

[theraven1979]

I'd hate it if bands stopped making albums though and just released one off singles now and again. An album is a real statement of a time and context.

Jim

[Jake]

Agreed Jim, even if most albums contain fillers and duff tracks that is all part of the package to me. I hope this won't mean much to real artists, but it's a worrying trend really. I think it makes for a lazy and dull creative landscape if artists resign themselves to just releasing songs and not full albums.

[jason]

It would be terrible if albums died out, this surely won't happen

[TWO SUNSPOTS]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/ne ... 751533.stm

By today's standards albums like Dreamtime would have reached number one instead of barely making the top 20, 10,000 copies to get to number one, I think Dreamtime sold something like 40,000 (quite possibly a lot more) to make the top 20. Surely 'Giants' must have sold more than 5,000 copies, hmmmm. I personally don't think we should be so quick to write off the album, but looks like that is the way 'the industry' is going

It will never happen. If anything more bands are releasing albums (and singles) now than for many years.

[Jake]

True artists will continue to release albums ofcourse they will, it just means all the mainstream shite will be singles I guess. CD's are becoming the way of vinyls, they still sell, but it's a niche market, those who want their music as physical copies and those happy to have downloaded stuff only. I like CD's and vinyls but I don't go and buy a lot of new releases, to be fair there hasn't been a lot of new stuff I have desperatley wanted for a while anyway. CD's obviously aren't selling anything like they once did, but I hope we'll see this handy format around for at least another 20 years (by which time the CD will be 50 years old)

[mickinblack]

Music like we know it is coming to a end.
Its all MP3 download etc etc.
No new bands have anything to offer, Kids today taking all sort of courses to get in the music business. Myself learned to play Guitar from a book, so did most people born from mid 70s down.
Most today seem to have lessons because mom and dad paid for lessons, you aint going to have anything new or original to offer once you have lessons..
So few pubs today will let new bands have a go. Its all big TV and all sorts of sport being showed. When the kids today do get a gig they turn there nose up if only a few turn up to watch, ok there a few pubs here and there but its nothing like it once was...Music is dying well the music we all know and love..

[zontar]

Timely topic, Mr Jake. In the Twitterland that is today, this is sad but possible.

[MiB81]

Music like we know it is coming to a end.
Its all MP3 download etc etc.
No new bands have anything to offer, Kids today taking all sort of courses to get in the music business. Myself learned to play Guitar from a book, so did most people born from mid 70s down.
Most today seem to have lessons because mom and dad paid for lessons, you aint going to have anything new or original to offer once you have lessons..
So few pubs today will let new bands have a go. Its all big TV and all sorts of sport being showed. When the kids today do get a gig they turn there nose up if only a few turn up to watch, ok there a few pubs here and there but its nothing like it once was...Music is dying well the music we all know and love..

Fancy Another Werthers Original Grandad?

[Jon the Impaler]

It would be terrible if albums died out, this surely won't happen

I said that about vinyl - too many people bought vinyl to replace it with CD . I said the same about video and DVD ....now Blueray is replacing the thing I didn't think would replace video . I think people may just buy tracks they like so - take Rattus for instance - no , lets take Giants - a better example - I may buy 4 or 5 of the tracks on that and totally skip the rest if I'm a casual buyer ( I'd buy all Rattus ) . Its unfortunate but people may just buy what they like and leave what they don't want . Don't know how the singles market works these days but I'm sure its not how it was in '77 when the shops sold singles , you bought it and whoever sold ost was no 1 ( unless it happened to be a Stranglers song and it accidentally got credited to someone else ) . Times are changing , and as times go by they change faster .

[Bear Cage]

The 'album' market may change and downloads increase, but I still think most serious bands and artists will continue to produce albums (collections of work) rather than opting to drip release tracks one at a time as they make them.
Also, because the majority of income now comes from live work, an album is a good entity to 'hang' the tour onto and differentiate the latest tour from the last.

There is still some of us out there who, if they here a track they like, will go and buy the album, not just the track.

[Jake]

I'm not sure I like the way artists are releasing albums these days if Pledge is the future to be honest