Albums C/D

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Smothething that occured to me reading the RIAA article below ... they're stil thinking in terms of albums.

But I haven't tried to download all tracks from or reconstruct an album since last year. And although I bought some albums and copied some, around 4 months ago, I never listen to them in their entirety. All my fanatical downloading and burning is going towards making ever more diverse and eclectic mix CDs. I'm pretty much listening to music I've bought this way too ie. putting one or two tracks from different albums onto compilations.

I don't want filler. I don't even want the homogeneity of albums by single bands. Maybe I'd still be interested in concept albums, where the whole is meant to be significant. But as a format for just agregating songs I'm through with it.

So can the album format survive? And is music downloading killing it?

phil, Tuesday, 2 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

Not exactly. Downloading is killing singles (which are overpriced right now) and act as a "survival of the fittest" filter for albums.
The mp3 distributes a grainy, tinny inferior copy of the "hit single" and acts as free advertising for the album.
If it turns out that that song is the only worthwhile track on the album, theres no longer a need to buy the album. Hence, Albums have to not only improve their track quality but also increase their sound quality. An album where each track sounds markedly better than a (320 bitrate VBR) mp3 is one that might be worth buying. Especially if it has a plethora of great choons (and buying it is more convenient than painstakingly trying to assemble a copy piecemail from the P2P services.
So, yes...the album will survive...but only if they
a) vastly improve the sound quality.
a) drop the Hits Plus Filler trick, which will soon become suicide in the post-Napster media ecology.

Lord Custos III, Tuesday, 2 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

Not exactly. Downloading is killing singles (which are overpriced right now) and act as a "survival of the fittest" filter for albums.
The mp3 distributes a grainy, tinny inferior copy of the "hit single" and acts as free advertising for the album.
If it turns out that that song is the only worthwhile track on the album, theres no longer a need to buy the album. Hence, Albums have to not only improve their track quality but also increase their sound quality. An album where each track sounds markedly better than a (320 bitrate VBR) mp3 is one that might be worth buying. Especially if it has a plethora of great choons (and buying it is more convenient than painstakingly trying to assemble a copy piecemail from the P2P services.
So, yes...the album will survive...but only if they
a) vastly improve the sound quality.
b) drop the Hits Plus Filler trick, which will soon become suicide in the post-Napster media ecology.

Lord Custos III, Tuesday, 2 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm just too lazy to assemble songs onto mixes or getting all the tracks of an album. I just walk into stores and pick up CDs. Maybe I'll start downloading some songs and try doing that to save some money, but I'm not at that point right now.

A Nairn, Tuesday, 2 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

I still like albums. I buy many more albums than singles, most singles aren't priced competively. This also holds true for my downloading, I always download full albums and never bother with single songs.

Jeff, Tuesday, 2 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

I was astonished to discover, while googling for other things in the last 2 days, that a number of albums have now been issued in "DVD format". It wasn't obvious that there was any point to this - there were next to no extras compared with the CD version, for example - but the examples I saw may have just been rip-off attempts. Are there any good examples in current release of the use of this format?

To answer the question, I am gradually getting more into downloading and hope to start burning my own CDs soon, but I expect to continue to buy as many CDs in the future as I do now.

Jeff W, Tuesday, 2 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

most singles aren't priced competively
I second that motion. Lets compare: $5.00 for a single...or $19.00 for an album. That pro-rates to $2.50 per track (assuming the single is the hit plus a remix of the hit) vs ~$1.90 a track (assuming theres 10 tracks.); Also, even in slimline cases, you can fit more music onto your shelf because 2 slimlines with a total of four tracks is not as efficient as a normal sized jewel case with 10+ tracks. And some jewel cases are designed to carry two cds.
And I've never seen a 24-bit mastered Mobile Fidelity Gold Ultradisk version of a CD single. So sometimes the sound quality is better.

Lord Custos III, Tuesday, 2 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

Is this whole "I can't stomach an album, i can't stomach filler, I need compilations" thing a sign of humanity's ever-eroding attantion sp... Oooh, isn't Big Brother interest... Oooh, isn't The World Cup gr... Oooh, isn't Wimbledon fantas...

Nick Southall, Tuesday, 2 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

Oh...um...sorry...what were you saying, Nick? I was momentarily distracted. Sometimes, something catches my eye and I forget what I'm....oooooooh....shiny toenail....

Lord Custos III, Tuesday, 2 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

I never understood why the video of the single isn't included on all singles. When I see the single of a good song, I usually don't care because $5-7 for 1-2 good tracks is indeed too much, but if they include the video (pref. in MPEG-2 or MPEG-4 based format) I am much more tempted to buy it. I bought the Playgroup Number One and Magnusson Arrived From Fjörnebö Mary Go Around singles because they had the videos...

Siegbran Hetteson, Tuesday, 2 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

Albums have died off in interest because every bugger decided that because the CD offered 74 minutes then they should fill it. And they filled it with crap.

I think attention span has very little to do with compilation albums versus real albums... the amount of effort and time etc is loads. The problem as Phil says is that filler is all you get.

Also, when was the last time anyone sat and listened to music for 60, 120 or even 180 minutes without doing something else like reading or cleaning or whatever. Most of the time you don't even listen to the music and that's why bands can fill their albums with so much shit

Lets force bands to not record more than 39 minutes long - that will sort out the problem.

As for downloads... not until I have a faster modem

That way I can listen to one album b4 I get to work in the morning versus the first 6 or 7 tracks

sonicred, Tuesday, 2 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

I agree. Put a video on it and the single might be worth it. Half of what made "Can't Get You Out of My Head" so good was the video.

Lord Custos IV - The One with The Old Guy with a Bundle of Sticks on his Back, Tuesday, 2 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

I still listen to Album length, 74 minute CDs. But I need them to have the diversity that only compilations can give.

phil, Wednesday, 3 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

Diversity is overrated. Its just an excuse to fill up empty space with egregiously bad "hits" that were already hopelessly stale back when they were topping the Billboard charts the first time. (exceptions: comps made by Rhino...and some of the more recent ones by...who woulda thunk it...K-Tel.)

Lord Custos III, Wednesday, 3 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

Heres something vaguely related that might add some new bullet points for debate:

Where is the RIAA and distributers? (Score:4, Insightful) by ImaLamer on Thursday January 24, @10:54AM
At this point, the question needs to be asked:
Why doesn't the RIAA come out with their own damn P2P?
(Custos: They did, and it bit the big beef braunshweiger.)
It could be fully under their control. They would be able to block certain songs, and maybe only let certain 'hot' singles out. Most of all, this would give them stronger legal basis when fighting current P2P companies and networks. They can point to their own network saying they own all rights to distribute their music, and thus other programs are violating their own legal market. Their refusal to distribute music electronically has hurt them more than anything else. We 'steal' music online, because there isn't one good for-pay network out there.
But, of course we still don't buy into the fact that P2P has hurt music sales. I believe one problem is the fact that a average CD costs $15! When I was still paying for music a CD usually cost $12.99 - if it was $15 I wouldn't buy it. I was shocked to see "SALE!" signs over CD's at Media Play reading in the upwards of 15-16 bucks.
But by their own account P2P saves the Recording Industry money. They haven't admitted this out loud, but read this from their website: [speaking on why the price on a CD isn't .30 cents]
Then come marketing and promotion costs -- perhaps the most expensive part of the music business today. They include increasingly expensive video clips, public relations, tour support, marketing campaigns, and promotion to get the songs played on the radio. For example, when you hear a song played on the radio -- that didn't just happen! Labels make investments in artists by paying for both the production and the promotion of the album, and promotion is very expensive. New technology such as the Internet offers new ways for artists to reach music fans, but it still requires that some entity, whether it is a traditional label or another kind of company, market and promote that artist so that fans are aware of new releases. Huh? Makes sense... kinda'. But when I search for an artist I find all sorts of new songs. Many of which are great, but never make it to the radio.
If the RIAA adapted the Fast Track technology [and of course make other than Windows clients] they could promote their own music on that main page. They could even tag certain songs as "hot" or "new".
I mean, they can iron out the details, but considering they've got loads of cash. They've got the marketing minds that brough us O-Town and the like. Why can't they put this together?
(Custos: Because it still implies a partial loss of control on their part. They want to control the distribution at every possible chokepoint.)
Why are we hard at work marketing their songs? Why are we using our bandwidth and time? Why are we donating our computers to distribute music? Why are we bothering with P2P?
Simple: It works. We've found a better way. It's not free music. It's because they refuse to step into the year we live in.
(Custos: Amen, brother...testify!)
Wake up RIAA, you can't fight it any longer. Go after the guy pressing thousands of CD's and making money off of your work. Leave us alone, we aren't making a thing. It's wrong to be making cash on their works. It's not wrong to refuse to go back to an old system that is dying quickly.
Every computer today is sold with a CD-RW. Let us do it.

Lord Custos III, Wednesday, 3 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)


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