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Our intrepid reporter offers up more compelling CMJ panel coverage from the wild, untamed conference rooms of NYU's Kimmel Center. In this installment, he listens in as people debate the future of the album.
Panel 2: Oct. 17, 3:30 p.m.
Biting the Dust: The Decline of the Album Format
Is the album is a dead format? This panel discussion explores what artists can do to continue to profit from their passion in the face of extreme change and the importance of the digital single. Topics discussed include the shifting landscape of single sales and the new angles of approach for artists emerging in the world of the digital single.
The panel was moderated by none other than Suhrid Manchanda, Online Marketing Director for World's Fair, and star of yesterday's CMJ attendee video ("Manhattan Meats"), and the panelists were David Pak (sales/marketing Manager, Caroline), Jim Welte (music news editor, MP3.com—yeah, I know! I guess it still exists!), Jordy Tractenberg (VP licensing/A & R, The Orchard), and Molly Neuman (director, label relations, eMusic).
This is a topic that's been bubbling around in the industry for years now, but there was some decent discussion coming out of this panel, I think because they were mainly focusing on the business side of things. In the end, there seemed to be a general consensus that the album format, while still in relatively good health, is in (at least a bit of) a decline, and a lot of the focus here was on how to add value to the album format, in the face of a consumer base that was rapidly coming to be more singles-oriented. I was especially enjoying Tractenberg's input, for some of the off-the-wall sorts of things he was offering up, for example (and I'm paraphrasing here):
"What about artists making constantly-changing, evolving albums? Like, here's the album, then next week, he adds two songs, then next week, he takes away a song, and re-records another..."
That sounds completely, well, crazy to me, but props to the man for thinking "outside the box."
I love the album format, but even I am becoming more singles-oriented. And all I mean by that is that whereas once, if I downloaded a lone MP3 from somewhere and really dug it, I would go and seek out the band's full-length. But nowadays, I find that I'm often content with just enjoying that lone MP3. Because, jeez, who has the time to seek out and listen to every single song on every single full-length of every single band that ever put out an MP3 that they liked?
Besides mp3 bloggers, I mean.
(Note: As interesting as this panel was, I confess I'm kinda bummed that I forgot there was another panel starting at 4:00 called "MUSIC WEBSITE GURUS." I console myself with the knowledge that I still have Friday's panel, "THE ALMIGHTY BLOG," to look forward to.)
Comments
Take all the things fans love about the album: being able to listen to a cohesive work of art, in the listener's own space and time, and if it's a great album, having something you know and can return to.
Throw that all away, and you have Trachtenberg's suggestion.
How do you "take away" a song from the fans? It sounds like some sort of grim myspace future where music can only be heard streamed from the band's crummy advert-ridden website. Which is precisely what the labels want. The listener can't be trusted with a physical copy of the music, but if they can be lured back week after week to be fed more bullshit, that's just the kind of consumer the industry would like!
the album will be dead in a few years mainly because of western society's ADD. there's too much competing for our attention right now that most people just simply are not able to focus on a 78 minute album. not to mention that we're being constantly bombarded with cross-promotion which means we're hearing these songs in TV shows, commercials, movie trailers, etc. and notice i didn't even mention the narrow, highly repetitive radio station playlists.
it gets to a point where the consumer is like "what do i need the album for when I can just pop on the CW and hear 'Glamorous' in every other commercial for one of their TV shows."
in my completely humble, and possibly naive opinion, i think if labels want the album to continue to be a viable format, they need to back off a bit and stop assaulting the consumer with their product. leave some bit of mystery for them so that they want more.
I highly doubt the album will ever be dead. The presentation of music is evolving, just as any other art form. Sculpture's been around forever, but its manifestations change as in the emergence of Alexander Calder's mobiles. What's going on now is a progression in the medium and a resurgence in that artists don't have to be confined by the LP or album format, as they have been in the past.
Singles are relevant again due to the ease and low cost of digital distribution as they were hindered by cassettes and CDs. A rise in single popularity won't kill the album format. What has replaced a good portion of album volume aside from singles? EPs. The EP has grown in popularity in the past eight, ten years for good reason. It fits that spot between enjoying the single and enjoying a full 40-minute album. EPs are barely trickling into mainstream music, as with Coldplay's Talk EP, but have been on a tear in the underground as musicians tweak their sound. Releasing an EP, then receiving criticism on their strengths and weak points give artists a much easier platform than investing hundreds or thousands into producing a full on LP to find no one cares.
I've seen numerous bands around the Chicago and Midwest region start with one, two or three EPs before their LP even comes out. It provides their best means to get their sound out and build a base. It's cheaper for the consumer in that, if it sucks they didn't waste $10 v. $5 compared with an album or LP. It's a more natural progression nowadays. Albums will remain because there will always be the genre or artist that needs it to present their vision in their art.
ha, Molly Neuman! i take it she's no longer managing the Donnas and still not returning Joe Queer's calls.
The simple problem is there are too many depressingly average artists out there making records packed with filler, since they only have the ability to make every third or fourth song a stand out, rather than every track, which they would have had to learn how to do back in the days where writing more misses than hits would have meant you couldn't survive as a band, let alone expect to be able to charge people money for subpar work.
This wouldn't be such a problem if critical reviewers like Pitchfork had the ability to actually be critical, instead of vernerating substandard writing, sloppy arrangements and lazy musicianship as somehow being 'authentic'.
Can you honestly tell me that Stephin Merritt signs off on his recordings with the knowledge that he's pushed himself as hard as he possibly can? And he's supposed to be our Cole Porter?
If albums are irrelevant, it's our own fault.
see, most of the problem here is the SEVENTY EIGHT minute alBUM. the means of production changed the content. 45 minutes for an alBUM is about right (plus it fits on one side of a C90, old skool piracy fans), it's these bloated 78 minute beasts, full of fillers and skits that have killed the alBUM...
also i thought the missed panel was called WEBSITE GURLS, which sounds more interesting than GURUS to me...
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