Albums Are Dead - Ola Englund's Thoughts

[mambo4]

What was the LP record and Radio play
Has been almost completely replaced
by well maintained , quality You Tube Channel Content
and a consistent social media presence.
That's just how you do it now.

 

[InternetAlias]

Once physical media goes from "necessity for the availability of the feature" to "a more expensive luxury" it is going to start dying out. Oh wait, that's exactly what's happening now. Only collectors and traditionalists buy physical media nowadays. Or people who want to support bands that (for some unknown and unfathomable reason) have no digital album.

Physical media is also worse for the environment, and considering how often people move nowadays, having to haul physical media of something you can have digitally is kind of insane when you think about it.

 

[hardtop]

...to $.001 for a single song stream on Spotify and stop there.

I'll have to look at my last statement, but that seems a bit high. The amounts paid out vary based on time and location of the stream. A prime time listen in a premier market might yield that... but, don't forget, publishing and distributor own a percentage of that amount, and, in most cases, the record label. I don't care how brilliant you are, no "underground" musician can devise a way to make any real money off of Spotify.

 

[Altitude]

I'll have to look at my last statement, but that seems a bit high. The amounts paid out vary based on time and location of the stream. A prime time listen in a premier market might yield that... but, don't forget, publishing and distributor own a percentage of that amount, and, in most cases, the record label. I don't care how brilliant you are, no "underground" musician can devise a way to make any real money off of Spotify.

Maybe. The last time I put an album on Spotify (which, admittedly, was back in 2011), I paid a flat $30 for digital distribution with CDBaby and they took no cut on the streaming revenue. They did take a cut on downloads or CD sales directly from their site.

I agree broadly that nobody is making money off of Spotify. For sure. People are probably undervaluing the distribution vehicle and how that can get you exposure away from your home territory though. It's probably a better lever to support touring revenue at this point than physical media is.

 

[retslock]

No more albums makes sense for a consumer population that has come to only expect to pay for what they need when they need it. Why own a car when I only need an uber to the bar? Why own a cabin on the lake when I only need an airbnb for a week a year? Why own an album when I only need one or two songs and there's ten or twenty ways I can get those songs right now wherever I am through my phone? Spending is rapidly shifting toward disposable services rather than goods which means that your grandkids are going to be hosed when it comes time to inherit their parent's sweet record collection or their place on the lake up north with the fishing boat.

And yes, get off my lawn. It's mine and I'm not renting it.

Convenient, instant gratification reigns supreme these days but sadly, quality has fallen by the wayside. Quality hi-fi audio has lost it's relevance now and it doesn't seem to be missed except by those who know what it was. I still prefer to listen to an album on my 36 year old English speakers that still sound beautiful.
I like the "body of work" nature of albums and the way they can make a statement about the artist and the times. I know I'm a dinosaur but it doesn't matter. I have little interest in being spoon fed whatever Spotify or Pandora thinks I want to hear. I check out new stuff from time to time but I'm not hearing a lot that interests me. Whatever the latest listening trends are, they'll be different in 5 minutes so who cares.

 

[InternetAlias]

Maybe. The last time I put an album on Spotify (which, admittedly, was back in 2011), I paid a flat $30 for digital distribution with CDBaby and they took no cut on the streaming revenue. They did take a cut on downloads or CD sales directly from their site.

I agree broadly that nobody is making money off of Spotify. For sure. People are probably undervaluing the distribution vehicle and how that can get you exposure away from your home territory though. It's probably a better lever to support touring revenue at this point than physical media is.

Probably the cheapest way to make the most money via digital distribution nowadays is using Distrokid. If you don't know what it is, I highly recommend you check it out. I am in no way affiliated with them, but my mate's band is using it and they've actually earned some decent money through it despite being an obscure band based in Eastern Europe.

So it works, but yeah, might not be the "real money" people are looking for. If you're looking for thousands of dollars of revenue every month while not being famous, it's obviously not going to happen. For a three parter band based in Eastern Europe, the money is actually pretty good. If you live in the US where the standard is many times higher, it's probably going to be way less effective. The upside is that it's easier to get famous if you're in the US.

 

[hardtop]

Maybe. The last time I put an album on Spotify (which, admittedly, was back in 2011), I paid a flat $30 for digital distribution with CDBaby and they took no cut on the streaming revenue. They did take a cut on downloads or CD sales directly from their site.

I agree broadly that nobody is making money off of Spotify. For sure. People are probably undervaluing the distribution vehicle and how that can get you exposure away from your home territory though. It's probably a better lever to support touring revenue at this point than physical media is.

Absolutely agree with that. For instance, looking at our band's Spotify numbers, our home market is 3rd in "Where people listen". The number 1 and 2 cities are about 1000 miles away and number 4 is London; So getting exposure outside of our regional market is definitely the main advantage. Our band doesn't even consider how badly it pays a this point, we just accept that it's a vehicle for getting our music out there which, hopefully, will result in people coming to our show when we're playing in their area.

 

[retslock]

The examples above are just people that don't care about music. They just listen what the media feeds them.

Being young or old has nothing to do with your musical knowledge.

So true. My wife teaches a couple of teenagers singing and guitar. They are both interesting kids and talented too. They are drawn to good music in the same way we were as youngsters. I helped the 14 year old boy with the purchase of his first electric guitar - a nice little Epiphone Les Paul. As we drove to the seller's home we chatted and it turns out this young kid knows a thing or two about where the music has come from. He knew who Les Paul was and something of his relevance to popular music as we know it.
He was very interested to know that Les and his wife Mary were the pioneers of multi-tracking. There will always be the ones who go looking and they will always be fewer than the ones happy to be fed pulp.

 

[phillipkregg]

Personally, I think an album makes perfect sense if it has a theme - like a concept album - and the songs transition seamlessly into the next to create a vibe.

Steve Vai's Passion and Warfare album comes to mind. Pink Floyd's The Wall and Sturgill Simpson's A Sailor's Guide to Earth also come to mind.

If it's just a "greatest hits" type collection though that isn't working to invoke a particular feeling in the listener, than I agree that it would be no different than creating a spotify list of your favorite songs by an artist.

 

[40Hz]

Streaming is here now. Grumbling about it is probably counterproductive.

Best shut your mouth and "lie back and enjoy it" is neither a smart way to embrace change or serve as a viable business model.

Smart businesspeople will figure out how to use the change to their advantage, as smart businesspeople always have.

They already have. They do it by controlling distribution channels and exploiting the content creators.

In short, it's just another example "business as as usual."

What I find particularly clever is how the streaming industry has convinced so many that there's actually a way to win playing with ther stacked deck if you're just clever and industrious enough.*

Gee! Ain't playing Three Card Monte fun?

————————
* P.S. - Want to win in this game? Own a streaming media service - like they do.

 

[retslock]

+1 to this. I still love looking through liner notes, reading the thanks yous and looking at the pictures and lyrics. Some of the younger people now probably don't even know those things exist. Especially since they buy vinyl just to hang it on the wall as "art".

I always wanted to read the lyrics and who played on what. The personnel was always important.

 

[Altitude]

Best shut your mouth and "lie back and enjoy it" is neither a smart way to embrace change or serve as a viable business model.



They already have. They do it by controlling distribution channels and exploiting the content creators.

In short, it's just another example "business as as usual."

What I find particularly clever is how the streaming industry has convinced so many that there's actually a way to win playing with ther stacked deck if you're just clever and industrious enough.*

Gee! Ain't playing Three Card Monte fun?

————————
* P.S. - Want to win in this game? Own a streaming media service - like they do.

With that kind of positivity, surely there's no problem too daunting in your life.

 

[Son of Wobble]

Best shut your mouth and "lie back and enjoy it" is neither a smart way to embrace change or serve as a viable business model.



They already have. They do it by controlling distribution channels and exploiting the content creators.

In short, it's just another example "business as as usual."

What I find particularly clever is how the streaming industry has convinced so many that there's actually a way to win playing with ther stacked deck if you're just clever and industrious enough.*

Gee! Ain't playing Three Card Monte fun?

————————
* P.S. - Want to win in this game? Own a streaming media service - like they do.

Great post. However it is worth underscoring that Spotify is not showing a profit either:

Spotify said revenues amounted to $5 billion in 2017, up from $3.6 billion in 2016. Losses, however, topped $1.5 billion for 2017, from $662 million the prior year.

This while they are the platform with the greatest market share, to boot.

 

[bassmahn]

One man's thoughts on the state of things. I can't say I strongly disagree with him.

(a bit of NSFW language)


He's not a household name, but he's got 225K YouTube subscribers, with over 56 million video views. He's been in some decent metal bands, and he's started his own guitar company. I'd say he might be worth listening to for 5 minutes.

I watched the video earlier this week, and I totally agree with what he is saying. I doubt that I will release a full length album again with my prog metal band moving forward. Thinking of releasing a song when its complete, and when the track numbers get to a full length album size, look at loading all of the tracks, play though videos, and tabs on a branded USB disk.

 

[monsterthompson]

Great post. However it is worth underscoring that Spotify is not showing a profit either:

Spotify said revenues amounted to $5 billion in 2017, up from $3.6 billion in 2016. Losses, however, topped $1.5 billion for 2017, from $662 million the prior year.

This while they the platform with the greatest market share as well.

Spotify and streaming gets mention quite a bit here, but I haven't seen much chatter about the Patreon business model, which has been pretty legit for some artists.

 

[40Hz]

Streaming is here now. Grumbling about it is probably counterproductive.

Perhaps. But by the same token "best shut your mouth and lie back and enjoy it" is neither a smart way to embrace change or serve as a viable business model.

Smart businesspeople will figure out how to use the change to their advantage, as smart businesspeople always have.

They already have. They do it by controlling distribution channels and exploiting the content creators.

In short, it's just another example "business as as usual."

What I find particularly clever is how the streaming industry has convinced so many that there's actually a way to win playing with ther stacked deck if you're just clever and industrious enough.*

Gee! Ain't Three Card Monte fun?

————————
* P.S. - Want to win in this game? Own a streaming media service - like they do.

 

[br1qbat]

True. But I would submit that any Tony Orlando & Dawn song had a higher degree of talent and musicality in every aspect of its production than 95% of pop songs produced today.

I'd have to respectfully disagree. Mush is mush.

 

[BassBrass]

Streaming is the medium replacement. The profits are extracted through advertising spot sales associated with the various streaming platforms. Unless a new medium that has constant pop-ups and targeted advertising gets invented, all physical media is done.

One Carrington Event and digital media is done. One such CME missed Earth in 2012. We don't have the materials at hand to repair the grids for years after. In 2012 where I live we had an ice storm in late October when all the trees still had their leaves so the branches and trees came down is great numbers. We had a blackout for a week where I live, and if you didn't have CASH you didn't get any firewood or batteries. Just a week that time, but any year now we can get a weather event that puts the lights out for a long time as well as the furnace or air conditioner (just as necessary this year) People think the internet is eternal. It isn't. Solar storm of 1859 - Wikipedia Of course people can't live with the expectation of doom, but we aren't even paying attention. As usual.

 

[mapleglo]

One Carrington Event and digital media is done. One such CME missed Earth in 2012. We don't have the materials at hand to repair the grids for years after. In 2012 where I live we had an ice storm in late October when all the trees still had their leaves so the branches and trees came down is great numbers. We had a blackout for a week where I live, and if you didn't have CASH you didn't get any firewood or batteries. Just a week that time, but any year now we can get a weather event that puts the lights out for a long time as well as the furnace or air conditioner (just as necessary this year) People think the internet is eternal. It isn't. Solar storm of 1859 - Wikipedia

This ^

I'm going to start buying vinyl again, so during the next Carrington event, I can listen to music with a sewing needle and a hand crank.

 

[BassBrass]

This ^

I'm going to start buying vinyl again, so during the next Carrington event, I can listen to music with a sewing needle and a hand crank.

Get the kid to ride the bicycle generator. They'll be too busy to compare themselves to the media image.