Comments on: Sufjan Stevens on the Existential Crisis of the Album

By: Forrester’s New Music Release Strategy for Independent Musicians | Hans Erik

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 19:33:06 +0000

[...] album is dead they say, or at the very least, the CD is on it’s way out. A few months back Forrester Research [...]

By: refe

refe — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 17:30:54 +0000

True – I should have clarified that the album originated 100 years ago, but your right – it only became dominant in the last 40 years or so. Still – it’s been at the top a while now!

By: refe

refe — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 17:29:54 +0000

Thank you!

By: shakti sawan

shakti sawan — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 16:44:59 +0000

what’s the point of music? what’s the point of eating food…its just gonna pass through the body and end up in the gutter isn’t it. profit is profitable up to a point. ultimately everyone faces at one time or another a deskilling of sorts. the best thing would be to select a line of work that doesn’t get automated or computerized (which btw is damned difficult today)…artists have always starved while their scientific counterparts lived in the lap of luxury. sorry but thats the way it has been (who said life was fair)

By: Paul

Paul — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 13:14:24 +0000

Perhaps saying the more frequent release schedule has “little merit” was a bit strong but I would still be interested in hearing about some concrete examples, maybe from bands or artists who have tried things both ways over the past few years.
In the end, bands and artists should do what feels right for them and keep track of what works and what doesn’t and then decide how much they are willing to let the realities of contemporary commerce dictate over their artisitic method.

By: Cookie Marenco

Cookie Marenco — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 08:19:34 +0000

I appreciate your sentiments and agree that the artist makes the choice of a single or a album or a concept. Too many artists are wrapped up in fashion and what the ‘other guys’ are doing. Just cuz Walmart is selling a disc for $9.95, why do indie artists feel they have to do the same? More to the point, if you only have 3 good songs, why fill up an album with 12, most being filler crap? Sell the singles. For that matter, why stop at a 72 minute album? Why not a 16 hour song cycle? Vinyl was optimum with 18 minutes per side. Good times!

But, for the record, the album’s dominance only came about in the 70’s. Prior to that, singles kept the music business alive. A return to the single isn’t unusual.

At our label, we sell both one of a kind singles and albums formats. Though we sell fewer album downloads, the dollars between albums and singles are equal at the end of the day. That being said our physical product outsells downloads by 3 to 1 on a dollar basis. If you’re an artist who is also in business and cares about your customers, you should to consider what they want … or you decide what to give them and let the buyer decide whether to support you.

Eventually, artist and fanbase settles into a comfortable spot. Either you make enough money or you don’t to keep your art alive…. or you marry someone rich, as in the words of Lou Harrison, an acclaimed American composer.

By: Blaise Alleyne

Blaise Alleyne — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 20:02:43 +0000

Agreed, strongly.

Now… if we could just get Sufjan to realize this!

(ps love your blog)

By: refe

refe — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 17:45:12 +0000

I disagree with your second paragraph, because I think that the way the majority of listeners are consuming music today is much different than it was when the traditional 2 year album cycle became prominant. The single as a fomat has experienced a huge resurgance. Smaller, higher quality releases more often capitalize on this.

That doesn’t mean this is true for every listener, of course, in the same way that the article points out that not every artist should feel compelled to give up the album. But Artists should be aware of the benefits to this new approach, just as they are aware of the benefits of releasing a full album.

By: refe

refe — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 17:38:14 +0000

I think that’s an important distinction. The album is no longer necessary as a delivery format, but can still be very effective as an artistic platfom. This is good news, because (optimistically speaking, anway) we now have the opportunity to get rid of the filler but keep the high-concept high-quality works from artists like Sufjan Stevens.

By: Blaise Alleyne

Blaise Alleyne — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 06:37:28 +0000

I think it’s true that the album is no longer necessary. It used to be a necessary container for music, but that’s no longer the case given the internet and all that jazz.

However, that doesn’t mean that the album can no longer be useful. Most of the time, there’s little reason to group songs together but for distribution or convention, but Sufjan Stevens would be an exception. His albums are truly albums. There is a reason the songs are together.

I’d hate to see him stop making albums.