Why have albums commercially just died?
Looking at the best selling albums of 2015 so far a large percentage of them are just left overs from last year. The top three are Sam Smith, Ed Sheeran and George Ezra which is the same top three as 2014.
Is it because there is a lack of mainstream alternative artists around who used to do very well in the album market and today's biggest music trend is dance music which never does much in album sales?
Is it because there is a lack of mainstream alternative artists around who used to do very well in the album market and today's biggest music trend is dance music which never does much in album sales?
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In the old days you had to purchase the whole album - now you don't, you can just download or stream the tracks you like.
Services such as Spotify have divorced us from actually owning music in the way we did.
There are other factors as well, maybe there just has not been that BIG release so far ?
It also doesn't help when artists release a new album and there are 3 or 4 obvious singles amongst a sea of filler. So why buy an album with 12 songs when chances are you're only going like 3/4 songs.
Also like the above points, streaming has completely changed the way people overall consume music.
I think you have to be careful of making such sweeping statements because streaming affects some grnres far more than others. For "Urban" music, for example, Hip-hop, Rap, etc, that is undoubtedly true, but I wouldn't say it has had the same impact on Rock music, where most fans still buy CDs and vinyl.
If you want people to buy your album, don't have so much filler. Simple.
There are still plenty of independent artists making good albums from start to finish but it's few and far between in the mainstream.
Fair point, but rock (and indie) have really suffered since 2008.
There was a number of bands around that time who were releasing some of the most crap music and I think this had a knock on effect on rock/indie music. It was as if we had entered a world of watered down bland guitar led music that left nothing to the imagination.
The only band in the last couple of years who have successfully bucked the trend are Arctic Monkeys with their latest album AM. Other than that, I'd say Foo Fighters are the only other rock act at present who have continued to be successful - but even their albums don't hang around for months on end.
Whether a new band comes along and has the same type of hype and success similar to Arctic Monkeys achieve in 2005/2006 with their debut is left to be seen.
God bless you always!!!
Holly
P.S. I also remember a thing being out there named Lime Wire.
Me too. I buy far more albums than I do singles. I can't remember the last time that I bought a single.
So you don't accept the much-touted claim that people who download illegally spend more on music than people who don't?
Genuine music fans will listen to albums because they believe in an artist and appreciate their sound signature and know that what is or isn't a single is irrelevant to how good a song is.
Most people are casual music listeners who only want to hear what they heard on the radio or on TV. They do not view music as an art form. They do not like being challenged and don't have the patience to listen to a song for more than 2 minutes unless that song was a top 10 hit then all of a sudden it's worthy and shall be put on repeat throughout the day.
I'd love to know how I start "cherry picking" songs from Stadium Arcadium when I know each and every song will have an insane guitar solo, a killer bass line and an infectious drum beat.
"Cherry picking" must be really easy when you listen to Katy Perry however.......
People will only download the single or maybe a specific album track they have heard elsewhere. People just can't be bothered to listen to a whole album these days. It's a massive shame and pure lazyness.
It's because they are uninspired. The music they listen to isn't good enough to warrant listening to an album. The best artists are the ones who've made great albums.
Isn't 'mainstream alternative' a contradiction in terms?
You've nailed it.
So much snobbery
Students nowadays really do have much less disposable income in general than even ten years ago, and when you have to choose between buying an album or going to the pub for your Friday night, which will it be? The student market is a large chunk of the music-buying population that's just gone, or at least dramatically reduced.
But true.
It's a massive generalisation and I don't agree it is true
I agree with you. Starting to talk about genuine music fans is a good sign of snobbery.
I listen out to hear good music on single or album. Albums were originally (and still largely are) just a format for presenting a collection of songs. Even the concept or thematic album works the same way.
The three minute single has been the defining form in pop music. The Beatles were great at that form. You don't have to listen to every last album track to be a 'genuine music fan'.
To answer the original question about the commercial impact of albums. Adele's last album was a big seller which now appears on many best of all time lists. Last year Ed Sheeran, Sam Smith, George Ezra and Coldplay sold well and there was only a small slip in overall sales. Albums streaming contributes to album charts. So I suspect that the demise of the album is some what premature.
Album sales are a fraction of what they once were, albums used to routinely sell over a million if they were any good. There are other reasons but it's hard to ignore the illegal downloading factor.
It's hard to ignore it, true. The question is whether people illegally download albums they would have otherwise paid for. My suspicion is that the hardcore illegal downloaders have hard drives full of albums they have little or no interest in and would never have acquired if it had cost them any money.
Illegal downloading may have damaged the music industry in a different way, though, since it kicked off the trend for people to believe that music should be free. That in turn led to the free streaming model which many musicians see as a bad thing since it reinforces the idea that music has no value. And that in turn may have led to the idea that albums are a bad deal, since you're paying for something that's not worth paying for.
Of course I disagree. I still buy vinyl albums, CDs, and legal downloads. But I don't pay for streaming music because whilst I think the music is worth paying for, I don't think the service is.