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Albums Are Dead - Ola Englund's Thoughts

#321
I dunno about you, but I (a young 18-year old) still like to walk into a record store, buy a CD (with cash no less) and listen to it from start to finish.

From what I see in my fellow younglings, the only musical genre that doesn't care about the concept of albums is pop and electronica (Yes, even rap enthusiasts place quite a bit of importance on albums).

I'd be really sad if I couldn't be able to buy a CD in person. I don't have a music streaming app or anything like that, and I don't plan on subscribing anytime soon.

The other great thing about CDs is that you can then burn the songs into your computer, and listen to that album on your mobile!
 
#322
The guy in the video makes sense, but I've tried to talk people out of making albums for a very different reason. I work in software development, where big infrequent releases are very old-fashioned and small, frequent releases are now the norm. The reasons are twofold. One, the sooner you get stuff out to customers, the sooner it's bringing them value and the sooner you're getting paid. Two, more interesting for music, is that the sooner you get stuff out to customers, the sooner you see how they really react to it and what they really think, and then incorporate what you learned from that into the next release.

This is especially important for people who, for whatever reason, don't play live much, and can't test out unfinished songs on audiences at gigs. Every single is an opportunity to get real feedback on what works and what doesn't, so next time you do more of what works and fix the stuff that doesn't. Release one album a year, and you can only make course corrections once a year.

Having said that, Aleyna Tilki (most of you don't have to know who she is, she's a Turkish pop singer who turned 18 this year) releases one single per year, and so far all three have been huge. So, frequent releases isn't the only way.
 
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#323
pklima said:
The guy in the video makes sense, but I've tried to talk people out of making albums for a very different reason. I work in software development, where big infrequent releases are very old-fashioned and small, frequent releases are now the norm. The reasons are twofold. One, the sooner you get stuff out to customers, the sooner it's bringing them value and the sooner you're getting paid. Two, more interesting for music, is that the sooner you get stuff out to customers, the sooner you see how they really react to it and what they really think, and then incorporate what you learned from that into the next release.

This is especially important for people who, for whatever reason, don't play live much, and can't test out unfinished songs on audiences at gigs. Every single is an opportunity to get real feedback on what works and what doesn't, so next time you do more of what works and fix the stuff that doesn't. Release one album a year, and you can only make course corrections once a year.

Having said that, Aleyna Tilki (most of you don't have to know who she is, she's a Turkish pop singer who turned 18 this year) releases one single per year, and so far all three have been huge. So, frequent releases isn't the only way.
Click to expand...

That's cool the Turkish Pop star who drops but a single a year.
That is the true superstar way to do it, for sure.

Another reason to drop albums in smaller bits a la John Mayer - and remember, even he in that video clip groans at the prospect of having to digest a new album by an artist he loves because it is a "deep dive" all of 12 tracks in length -- is because the news cycles turn so quickly now. As an example, a page or two back I referenced the latest album by Beyonce and Jay-Z, and how it made noise at the time of its release, which I was going to guess was ten months ago, until I looked up the release date to see it dropped in June, which already seems ages ago.
 
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#324
I don’t think the Ola was saying anything about albums not being interesting as an artistic statement. I think he was pointing out the business side of things for up and coming artists. He’s also a YouTube guy, so of course he’s biased (though not necessarily wrong because of it).
 
#325
tumblr_pdkia5fQWY1rb28u5o1_500.jpg
 
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#326
There can be good practical reasons to make albums - if you're doing live jazz, it's no more effort to record the whole gig than it would be to set up to record one track. If you're doing death metal or some other subgenres of classic rock, having the same drum sound on every song on the album is kind of expected, plus spending two hours transporting and setting up drums to record one song and then repeating that every two weeks for another song gets tiresome and expensive. So, it makes practical sense to record the drums for 10 songs in one or two days, and if you're doing that, you'll need to have 10 songs finalized in form and dynamics, and then might as well make it an album.

But, in general, I try to talk friends out of albums.

One thing that does not really seem to work, though Kanye's tried it, is releasing a song and then releasing updated versions of it. At the amateur level, I've seen quite a few people who put an unfinished song or half a song or preview online, got a fair amount of attention, and then got a lot less attention for the real, finished version. It also happens a ton with drawings - the first sketch on Twitter gets all the attention. Of course playing unfinished songs live is a great way to test updates and changes out on audiences without that problem. Which is why I also try to talk friends into gigging a lot.

I suppose at this point somebody's going to say I'm lying, and I don't have any friends.
 
#328
Son of Wobble said:
That's cool the Turkish Pop star who drops but a single a year.
That is the true superstar way to do it, for sure.

Another reason to drop albums in smaller bits a la John Mayer - and remember, even he in that video clip groans at the prospect of having to digest a new album by an artist he loves because it is a "deep dive" all of 12 tracks in length -- is because the news cycles turn so quickly now. As an example, a page or two back I referenced the latest album by Beyonce and Jay-Z, and how it made noise at the time of its release, which I was going to guess was ten months ago, until I looked up the release date to see it dropped in June, which already seems ages ago.
Click to expand...

For young people news cycles may be fast, but for older people, albums might still be worthwhile. And current technology does allow a mix of options. Streaming service channels/stations, which are personalised, you might view as somewhere between a radio station and an album of tracks from various artists.
 

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