Freakaholic
not just an addiction
Im in the process of reading a great article on Rick Rubin, and it occurred to me that it cannot be long until artists give up on the notion of the album entirely. Or at least of an album released all at once. Obviously iTunes, and song-by-song downloading are the main culprits, but the seeds have been there a long time. Pop music has long been about two or three hits on an album, and the rest is filler.
In this article, Rick Rubin discusses his process for producing albums:
As they write, they come over and play the songs for me. For some reason, most people will write 10 songs and think, That's enough for a record, I'm done. When they play the songs for me, invariably the last two songs they've written are the best. I'll then say, 'You have two songs, go back and write eight more.'
and:
"And you wonder why people don't buy CDs anymore," Rubin says. "One song is great and the other is. . . . "
This long, drawn-out process could easily lead many artists to simply releasing songs as they are made and recorded. Dont have enough money for 2 weeks of studio time? Record that one song, and release only it. Isnt our pop-music standard based on the 7" anyway? Early Motown artists had only their 7" releases, the albums coming later in "Greatest Hits" formats.
Finally, a subscription service for labels, artists, or even genres would be the final nail in the coffin for the album. Why would anyone go through all the trouble to create a whole album's worth of material to be released at once when they could get each song as it is released....
I say this could begin to happen as early as next year. No later than 2010.
In this article, Rick Rubin discusses his process for producing albums:
As they write, they come over and play the songs for me. For some reason, most people will write 10 songs and think, That's enough for a record, I'm done. When they play the songs for me, invariably the last two songs they've written are the best. I'll then say, 'You have two songs, go back and write eight more.'
and:
"And you wonder why people don't buy CDs anymore," Rubin says. "One song is great and the other is. . . . "
This long, drawn-out process could easily lead many artists to simply releasing songs as they are made and recorded. Dont have enough money for 2 weeks of studio time? Record that one song, and release only it. Isnt our pop-music standard based on the 7" anyway? Early Motown artists had only their 7" releases, the albums coming later in "Greatest Hits" formats.
Finally, a subscription service for labels, artists, or even genres would be the final nail in the coffin for the album. Why would anyone go through all the trouble to create a whole album's worth of material to be released at once when they could get each song as it is released....
I say this could begin to happen as early as next year. No later than 2010.
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