Will the single kill the album?

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Will the single kill the album?

Postby Don » Mon Jun 17, 2013 3:40 am

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13645_3-57589 ... the-album/
by Steve Guttenberg

Is an album a more substantial work of art than a single? Or is a well-crafted single all we need? There were always singles, but in the days before the Internet, fans were sometimes "forced" to buy albums to get the music they wanted, even when most of the album's tunes weren't great. The hugely entertaining "The Great Debate: Singles vs. Albums" held last Monday at the New Music Seminar in NYC covered the issue in depth.
Robert Christgau, one of the first generations of professional "rock critics," was there to defend the album as an art form, but his admiration for great singles was never in doubt. He's always been drawn to "smart, catchy songs with a good beat," and an album is a collection of good songs.
He rates James Brown's 1965 single "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" as a game changer because "that's when funk went pop and rhythm established itself in the pop realm, and it was every bit as significant as Bob Dylan's lyrics and the Beatles' 'Sgt. Pepper's' concept album." In that time the most adventurous bands like the Doors and Jefferson Airplane were making Top 40 hit singles, played on AM radio. The bands and their record labels had bigger ambitions than that, and saw the LP as a way to make more money.
Christgau has written more than 13,000 album reviews, and for each one he listens to the album between five and 10 times.
DigSin's CEO, Jay Frank, noted that singles outsell albums 11 to 1, and songs are the way people have wanted to hear music "since the dawn of time." He said people in churches didn't sing the entire hymnal front to back, they sang individual hymns. Today attention spans are shorter, and no one has time to listen to entire albums. He thinks that releasing more singles, spread out over time, keeps the fans better engaged.
Niles Hollowell-Dhar from the group Cataracs said that if a young band invests a year into making an album, they were insane; a great single might make a bigger difference, and he admitted he is biased because he credits all of his success to singles. His biggest one, "Like A G6," was a huge seller.
Billboard magazine's Bill Werde was quick to point out that there is a major generational divide aspect to the album vs. single story; the people listening on Spotify or YouTube rarely listen to albums. The over-40 set rarely listen to singles, and Christgau reminded the crowd that older people still buy albums.
Anand Wilder from Yeasayer was definitely on the pro-singles side. He said he thinks that CDs and LPs are outdated and no longer necessary. He won't shed a tear when the day comes and physical formats roll over and die, but I spotted LPs for sale on his Web site.
Jay Frank again took a more pragmatic tone, and pointed out that merely typing in an artist or band name into Pandora will unleash an endless string of singles, and that's why the album is on its last legs. Frank said he thinks that if artists focus on making great singles, they'll "win" because it's never been easier to access only the most popular songs on YouTube or other services. He summed up his argument by saying the business doesn't understand the music consumer and the business side needs to "wake up," and more fully embrace the singles market.
The thing I love about albums is that sometimes the songs that at first didn't jump out later become my favorites. Those tunes would never click as singles, but not everything has to be designed to catch the ear in just a few seconds. If the band has real talent, it should be able to put together 10 or 12 worthwhile tunes.
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Re: Will the single kill the album?

Postby No Surprize » Mon Jun 17, 2013 4:13 am

I hope not. I buy both. Todays bands don not have the work ethic to put their nose to the grindstone in the studio, do retake after retake and work on songs until they are ALL good songs. They would rather put out one single, hope it sells well and all is good. It's not. How about a tour that follows. Do you have one good tune or maybe two? I wouldn't pay one red cent to see a wannabe band like that. Albums are a body of work that the artist put's his heart & soul into. Listen to it as a whole and it all comes together. Damn I miss Pink Floyd!
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Re: Will the single kill the album?

Postby slucero » Mon Jun 17, 2013 5:07 am

Majors do not bring great artists to us anymore... because most of those great artists have the choice now to remain independent, retain creative control, and reap a greater share of their net revenue. The paradigm has changed. It means music lovers have to dig for the great stuff now.

The days of major label "endless recording budgets" are gone.. so artists don't have the ability to simply move into a studio for 6 months at a time to write songs like Pink Floyd did for DSOTM.. Further, the major labels that remain only sign a few "can't miss" artist now, as opposed to before when they actually had a large roster of artists "under development", and were willing to let them mature...

That being said.. there are LOADS of great artists out there, just not in the mainstream... and those artist have their own small, home studios, where they hone their songs, and put them out independently..

Case in point. Fitz and The Tantrums.

They recorded their debut album at the lead singers house with an old version of Pro Tools LE (version 6) and one microphone. Instead of re-recording the whole album (as is the norm) once they got signed to a major, they used the original tracks for their debut single "Breakin the Chains".

Great music is out there.. under the radar.. and there's lots of it.. you just have to go find it.

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.


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Re: Will the single kill the album?

Postby Jonny B » Mon Jun 17, 2013 11:14 pm

Most of the time, I actually look for at least one listener-friendly single that I can plug into my iPod road playlist. When you have that one song that everyone remembers, it can actually help enhance and even hide the fillers on an album. Case and point. I'm gonna use a couple symphonic metal groups as an example. Take Epica and Nightwish for instance. Epica have never in their lives written a single, not a sellout-type, not even one that's remotely close to being commercial. Musically, they're one of the best of the genre, but I would care less about their music, because they don't have that one standout single. Nightwish, also an excellent group, but also never really saw any kind of major sales...at least until they released 'Nemo,' ....and after 'Amaranth,' they never looked back. Singles like those are the reasons why Nightwish sell out big shows today and Epica does not.

I don't care if the artist is independent or under a record label, you NEED a single. Would anyone talk about Joan Jett if her self-released debut didn't have 'I Love Rock & Roll?'
"I once had an understanding that everything would go my way. But now we’ve come too far along for me to hold on to my own beliefs" -- Delain
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Re: Will the single kill the album?

Postby brywool » Tue Jun 18, 2013 1:09 am

Need new bands that produce great ALBUMS to turn it around. We're back to the 50's mentality of "push the single". Sucks.
NO. He's NOT Steve F'ing Perry. But he's Arnel F'ing Pineda and I'm okay with that.
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Re: Will the single kill the album?

Postby The Sushi Hunter » Tue Jun 18, 2013 4:24 am

I'd say yes, only if that one single is the best song on the album but that one song sucks.
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Re: Will the single kill the album?

Postby slucero » Tue Jun 18, 2013 4:38 am

brywool wrote:Need new bands that produce great ALBUMS to turn it around. We're back to the 50's mentality of "push the single". Sucks.



The "singles mentality" is the reality of the majors(who no longer own the distribution system) trying to fit into and feeding the "new" system, which is a singles market. You will not have it served to you by the labels like it used to be, because that paradigm is gone. The only exception is country music, where that machine is still intact.

Albums are not going to make a comeback until there is a economic paradigm and distribution system that support the need for albums and make selling them profitable.


There's some great music out there.. you just have to go find it.


Hard Rock: Black Star Riders (album is great), Rival Sons, The Blue Van, The Fuzz Drivers (album was FREE in this forum)

Pop: Northern Son, The Kicks,

Americana: The Lone Bellow, Son Volt, Jay Farrar

R&B: Fitz and the Tantrums, Eli Reed, Vintage Trouble, Mayer Hawthorne.. all GREAT new R&B acts..

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.


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Re: Will the single kill the album?

Postby Don » Tue Jun 18, 2013 7:33 am

This is one way to move an album.

Jay-Z giving away 1 million early copies of new album to Samsung owners

http://www.theverge.com/2013/6/16/44368 ... holy-grail


It's been four years since Jay-Z’s The Blueprint 3 was released, but Hov is back next month, and this time with Samsung in tow. The new album is called Magna Carta Holy Grail, and Samsung has apparently inked a deal to give it away free to the first million Galaxy S III, Galaxy S4, and Galaxy Note II users on July 4th at 12:01AM ET, 72 hours before the official retail release.

People will be able to download the album with a free app that's coming to the Play store on June 24th, which promises an "unprecedented inside look into the album" with "personal stories and inspiration." The description immediately conjures to mind his book Decoded, which breaks down the lyrics and thoughts that went into the rapper's biggest hits. We'll have to wait until the app is released next week to see exactly what's inside, but the new project's website contains a behind-the-scenes video of the Brooklyn MC in the studio with frequent collaborators Pharrell Williams, Timbaland, and Swizz Beatz. "99 Problems" mastermind Rick Rubin nods along from a sofa, eyes closed and barefoot.

The deal is reportedly a huge one for Samsung. Earlier this month, The New York Post wrote that the "eight figure" contract is the largest of its kind at as much as $20 million. According to The Wall Street Journal, Samsung paid $5 each for the million albums it plans to distribute to its customers, giving the project a big cash infusion at the outset, although it's not known whether the downloads will count toward official Soundscan album sales numbers. The Grammy-winning lyricist's business acumen has been a trademark of his success over the years, but recently he's proven especially adept at navigating the tech space, growing his Life and Times original YouTube channel into one of the service's largest, with over 360,000 subscribers.
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Re: Will the single kill the album?

Postby WalrusOct9 » Tue Jun 18, 2013 12:09 pm

The CD killed the album.

Go back, listen to Toto IV or Rumours or Toys In The Attic.

Then go listen to Mindfields, Say You Will, or Get A Grip.


Sure, there's exceptions, but be honest: most bands come up with about 35-40 minutes of great music at a time, tops. CD's started pushing that length to 45-55 minutes, and eventually we were getting things like Waking Up the Neighbours clocking in at 74 minutes. People became used to watered-down albums. Even something with some great songs like Aerosmith's Nine Lives ended up losing it's impact because it had too many goddamn songs, when really only 8-9 of them were top-shelf Aerosmith. When people bought LP's, they expected greatness. By the time they were buying CD's in the late 90's, they were lucky to get 4-5 great tracks for their $15.

Of course, there were exceptions, but god, think of all the 90's albums that would've been so much tighter if they shed 3-5 songs and topped out at a single LP length: Toto's Tambu, the Stones' Voodoo Lounge, Genesis' We Can't Dance. Of course hardcore fans want to hear everything, but that's why b-sides/rarities compilations exist. I really think people flocked to Napster/bittorrent/iTunes/etc out of frustration of the number of $15 CD's they'd bought in the 90's that just didn't warrant the price tag. Just my two cents.
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Re: Will the single kill the album?

Postby collingwood » Tue Jun 18, 2013 8:14 pm

I get albums 99% of the time for the whole album. It's because I like that artist and their work.

Singles to me are there for the charts, top 40 or if the artist hasn't brought something out for a while as a taste for what's to come.
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