Back in the 1950s-60s it was the 7" single that drove the music biz... one or two hits on each long player, with some filler to round out the platter. Then, along came The Beatles, Beach Boys, et. al. with the artistic vision to make the Long Player into a whole, unified piece unto itself. Considerations such as sequencing, and even (for better or worse) concept albums became the norm. Not that the hit-driven mentality of the business disappeared all together, but the LP as an entire piece became the norm.

Now, with the rise of the MP3 and individual song downloads starting to drive the business more and more, are we slowly headed back to the mentality of the past? Will the artistic vision veer more toward the micro/single level and away from the wholistic/album approach?

I haven't seen it yet, but it sure looks like things may be trending that way.

What say you?

well, pop music has always been singles-driven. i don't think that's changing. i do think mp3s as promotion (itunes weekly free download, mp3 blogs, etc.) have pushed the single (or, at least, just one song) into the forefront instead of looking at every band as an album maker. certain genres will always be better as album-driven, though, so i don't see it as a major change in the near future if current trends stay.

(great topic for the last hour of work on a friday afternoon... this has potential and will probably get buried.)

speaking of instant gratification, i am going to go get some chicken kiev.

as for the question, which i have to admit is one of poptodd's better topics, i will say this...

the attach rate of itunes downloads is 20/ipod. that is nothing. seems to illustrate that many people are like me and most of the users on this board and are loading their mp3 players with records they own. and i don't believe that illegal d/ls have any impact on cd purchases. in fact, i think that illegal downloads are evidence that listeners are less likely than ever to tolerate filler. if you release a single + filler as your record, your shit is gonna get ganked. so, i expect that albums are here to stay.

People have been saying that for ages, pretty much since the 70s. They'll be around as long as there are "artists" and not just performers. Someone is always going to want to make the audio equivalent of a movie.

I don't think the album format will go away either. It'll disappear for pop music, maybe, but, again, "artists" will continue to put out music that is meant to be a collection of songs that flow in a certain order and "mean something," etc. I also don't see the CD dying for that same reason - it'll go into serious decline like vinyl did, but it'll stick around in the background. Jazz and metal people in particular want the real deal, not downloads.

Decent, legitimate musicians will still release full albums that are strong all the way through.

Crappy, actresses-turned-popstars will probably release just a handful of singles until they have enough for a greatest hits disc.

From a music-as-a-cultural-force perspective, I think artists will continue to create solid albums (or as solid as they can - do you think those one-hit-wonder bands were satisfied with their one single? that they really just wanted a glimpse of the charts and 15 minutes of fame? no, they settled for one hit because that's all their talent and/or luck could muster). sometimes one-good-song+filler albums happen not because there is an intent to play the singles game but because that's all the artist has happening for them in the skills dept.

From a music-as-a-business perspective, I think the industry will use whatever format and medium that makes the most money. Right now it seems to be a mix of physical product and digital downloads. Hard to say if either one will make the other obsolete.

In almost direct relation to Todd's query, I do think there seems to be a drift towards making more "marketable" music now than there was in the 90s. There are labels/promoters/distros popping up now with the sole purpose of signing bands who want to make music for commercials.

A bump for that very reason.
Hell, I even forgot about this topic until I stumbled on it just now.

I am hoping that we'll see more material made available for sale (primarily in digital format), material that was left off The Album Proper but still has value otherwise. Digital vending allows more music to be released, at negligible cost, not less (by focusing on the single). From a marketing perspective, particularly in the realm of musics we listen to, I think it makes sense for bands and labels to keep at the fore of their listeners' conscience by continually supplementing main releases with extra material. I also think doing so can drive physical sales in a number of ways.

I want cheap 7" vinyl.

I don't have an MP3 player, but if I could grab some 7" singles for a couple bucks at my local record store, I'd be all over it. I mean, I see a few come out, but not enough to really get me excited about it.

I have actually picked up a few 12" singles lately...which is odd for me as I usually do grab albums.

A complicated question. With Mp3 and other formats and downloading individual cuts are more emphasized, without question.

But I think there will always be a need or interest to aggregate these "singles" to get a better sense of the artist. The recent "Oh You're so Silent Jens" by Jens Lekman is a good example. he was generating interest and buzz by a couple years of releasing these singles digitally... but only when they were compiled in "Silent" did you get a sense of the magnitude of his genious, and only then did he become a true pop wizard and international star.

I'd wager a guess that mp3 downloads are such a low % of the music marketplace that its really not making much of a difference. I do think though that its become so cheap to record and release records that the idea of really working hard on crafting an album full of songs has been diminished. A lot of ryan adams/bob pollarditis where "artists" think if they write and record for 12 songs, they have an album worth releasing. The records have more of a feel of some of the early 60's records where there were a few key singles and a bunch of filler. I don't really think its intentional though.

Anyone else have something to add?

By the way, thanks for the several very thoughtful replies that are here.

there hasn't been a big single in the entire world since Hey Ya.

"since u been gone"? that was pretty enormous.

I disagree to an extent. I think digital sales are exponentially increasing and physical sales are on a steady descent. Part of that impression is empirical. It's not cheap to record or release records at all. It is extremely cheap to record and release works digitally, however. Those that still buy records (CDs & vinyl) seem to be the residual members of a sect of music listeners that appreciate enough to buy and COLLECT music. The rest are buying digitally or, more likely, downloading freely, and are completely swept up in the collect, store & discard whirlwind of participating in 21st century music. It's almost as if this group of consumerous people cannot get any smaller. I think the challenge is to nurture the collectors' growth while also nurturing the digital music business.

truth. at tower records over the weekend, even with 30%+ discounts, i heard numerous people saying something like "oh, i'll just download it."

piggybacking on ish here, if i remember where i kept those numbers in my butt...*digging around*...oh, there they are, i think online digital downloads generate about 10% of music industry profit these days, up from approx. 8% and 6% the two years prior. i know jack poop about business so i don't know if 10% is a lot, but I bet it's making enough of a difference so that labels are getting in on the game, especially when the stats say that those %s will continue to rise.

i can't imagine any big label not going towards digital downloads with the reasoning that it'll hardly makes a difference to their bottom line.

And Nobody, if you're into pop punk, let me know, i've got a slew of bands/labels that are still holding the 7" single torch and putting out some killer gems at 45 rpm.

I would wager a guess that for some labels now, perhaps more so on an independent level, the ratio of digital to physical is a lot closer to even than 10% digital. It's also hard to envision that any label would not be involved in digital vending. Even boutique or vinyl labels can benefit from selling their stuff digitally.

Digital music sales represented 4% of US music sales last year, and I'd imagine that % is much less worldwide. I just don't think that kind of volume could have an impact on how people are recording their music. We are a ways off from that kind of impact.

I think its expensive to market and get mass distribution of an album, but just to record and release it, that's a lot cheaper than it was 10-15 years ago. I don't think that could even be debatable.

Maybe you're right, but we do see digital exclusives all over the place. I anticipate that we'll see that more and more.



True. It costs money to sell records then, to make money. It costs A LOT of money to sell records.

I'm not trying to disparage the internet or the mp3 as a marketing or distribution tool. Do some people use it effectively, sure. But I don't think we are seeing any systemic change in the recording process/artistic vision placing greater emphasis on the single as a result.

If anything its more a breakdown in the philosophy that labels had of not wanting to make singles available for purchase for fear that it would hurt overall album sales. eg I'll just buy the single rather than the full album.

Right, but The Single or the possibility of it is still everything to the label.



And I would tend to agree, except the trend I see at work is individual track income usually surpassing album income slightly. Because you can buy The Single - which is still an important if not crucial tool for the success of the album, not a detriment - or you can buy any single. Cut away the filler, you can custom buy 7/12ths of an album for less than 7 bucks.

i still don't understand the concept of paying for digital music.