My parents had “real” record albums. At the time a complete musical work would require several discs to fully record it, so the discs were bundled into an, “album”, like a photo album. Thus, the term, “record album”. The discs were quite brittle and would shatter into a billion little pieces at what seemed like the slightest blow. After I broke several of them trying to play them, my dad told me I wasn’t allowed to touch the records anymore. So I had to ask my mom to play records for me. She broke almost as many as I did. A complete PITA.
Not sure I buy the idea that in their hay day, the modern (33 1/3 RPM) LP’s we are all so familiar with were a deep expression of the artists musical development, artistic thought, etc. Maybe in the more esoteric genres they were, but in Rock and Roll, etc., not so much I don’t think. What usually happened was the record company would release a few “hit singles” on an album. There were almost always several tunes, though, that the recording artists under contract were required to include. Record producers and others associated with the label would write this material and cash in on the royalties when fans purchased the albums for the tunes they really wanted. That was a major reason why the album format prospered so mightily. It was a way to cash in on a bands popularity. All the labels did it, when they could get away with it.
The story behind Chubby Checker’s, “The Twist”, is an interesting example of how this could back fire on a label. “Rumors”, by Fleetwood Mac would be a stellar example of what can happen when master musician / singer / song writers have complete artistic control over their releases.
I’m not sure it matters too much if people don’t buy as many “albums” as they used to as long as they purchase music, which seems to be the problem right now. The Music Modernization Act recently passed in the House of Representatives reportedly makes changes in how royalties are structured and paid to bring the process up to date for the digital age. We’ll see.
Not sure I buy the idea that in their hay day, the modern (33 1/3 RPM) LP’s we are all so familiar with were a deep expression of the artists musical development, artistic thought, etc. Maybe in the more esoteric genres they were, but in Rock and Roll, etc., not so much I don’t think. What usually happened was the record company would release a few “hit singles” on an album. There were almost always several tunes, though, that the recording artists under contract were required to include. Record producers and others associated with the label would write this material and cash in on the royalties when fans purchased the albums for the tunes they really wanted. That was a major reason why the album format prospered so mightily. It was a way to cash in on a bands popularity. All the labels did it, when they could get away with it.
The story behind Chubby Checker’s, “The Twist”, is an interesting example of how this could back fire on a label. “Rumors”, by Fleetwood Mac would be a stellar example of what can happen when master musician / singer / song writers have complete artistic control over their releases.
I’m not sure it matters too much if people don’t buy as many “albums” as they used to as long as they purchase music, which seems to be the problem right now. The Music Modernization Act recently passed in the House of Representatives reportedly makes changes in how royalties are structured and paid to bring the process up to date for the digital age. We’ll see.
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