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Record Labels Struggle With the Album's Demise
Supplying yet more evidence, if more were needed, of the dire straits the music business increasingly finds itself in — reader cphilo sends us a NYTimes article about the death of the album as the mainstay of profit, and the record labels' struggle to adopt to the new realities. The article notes the trend of the labels signing artists for a single song, maybe two, and a ring tone.
About 30 years ago, Boston self produced their first album and it was a huge hit. In those days, the state of the art was still reel to reel tape recorders.
Excuse me, but please get off my Pennisetum Clandestinum, eh!
The problem as I see it is that the value to me as the consumer is exactly the opposite.
Most movies worth watching are only good for one or two viewings. A good one a few more, and a great one maybe a couple of times a year.
On the other hand there's Floyd, Maiden, Dylan, Clash, NMA, Godsmack, BB King, Sublime, Trent, Stevie Ray, the Stones, the Band, Janis, Hendrix, etc. The replay value is astounding. I wouldn't want to even try to figure listen count for even a single month much less years. Even books, which are my real addition, have anywhere near that level of continued value. So while the cost to produce for a movie may be ludicrous, it's value to me is fairly limited. A CD though I will listen to regularly for years. Burned copies for the car, ripped copies for portables, but at home it's usually the CD changer that provides my music fix and certainly the CD that I count on for my 'master' copy.
Not that I am advocating the out of control album prices these days, it just gets me that they are the same price for such vastly differing levels of value. I understand the price point stuff, it just bugs me. I'll shut up now.
Sig? What if I prefer Glock?
I know you're joking, but actually the entire creation of the umbrella term "R&B" music was to sell black music to white audiences. The music known as R&B used to be sold as "race music." It was made by and for black audiences. Some exec saw the opportunity to sell this music to a larger audience, but didn't think white people would buy "race music" so he changed the name. Oh, and the original R&B music actually *was* rhythm and blues. Most music sold today as R&B music is more like neo-soul/funk than the original R&B.
A similar thing has happened with the "urban" music genre. There's not really a musical distinction between urban music and other genres, it's just a marketing distinction for music made (mostly) by African-Americans for African-Americans.
In 1972 Jethro Tull released the LP "Thick as a Brick". There is one track on the album, and it's about 44 minutes long (If you owned the LP version, you did have to flip it over in the middle of the song).
5 minutes might have been daring in pop and rap, but 5 minutes-ish was not all that uncommon in late 70's and 80's rock
You must be even younger. There once was this thing called "Long Playing Records"... Big round black things with a label in the middle?
One of the major reasons that singles used to play the big role in the recorded music industry was that was all you could record on a record. 78 rpm records ruled the land for a good many years holding, at best, a few minutes of recording per side (and they didn't always have two sides).
The development of the LP and its greater storage capacity was what allowed more than a single tune per side, and that's when the album concept took off. Albums used to be a collection of single discrete records before that (and is where "album" comes from). When faced with how to distribute singles, 45's were born. They were a lot smaller than the old 78's, using "denser" recording methods like the LPs to make a much smaller record with a single song on each side.
You kids today with your CDs and computery things and MP-whatzitmajiggers... And get off my lawn!
It seemed to be more like the norm, when it comes to good music. Thinking about Mike Oldfield, Vangelis, Tangerine Dream etc.
c++;
That is exactly what eMusic does. Granted they are distributing non-RIAA labels, but for your example, substitute Naxos for EN, and you've got the same thing.
A house divided against itself cannot stand.
the machinations of the RIAA (which, let's face it, was a pretty benign organization until fairly recently) or the "music industry."
Not so much. For all their bellyaching, both the record and movie industries were founded on piracy. The music industry took advantage of new technologies that weren't covered by old copyright lays, like records and radio, to avoid paying musicians and songwriters royalties. The movie industry didn't settle down in California just for the nice weather, they also did it to get away from Thomas Edison's film patents.
European and Japanese releases with extra tracks are very simple, really. Your US-release albums have historically cost a hell of a lot less than our ones, and sometimes even come out earlier. Chucking a couple of tracks not deemed worthy of being used for the 'proper' album, or even single b-sides, is a way of trying to persuade fans to pay the markup. You're not the ones being screwed, we are.
The mark-up isn't much of one at all, really. If you know what the shop pays wholesale for albums, the ratio to what you pay is about what the top up the retail price of the import copy by. And they have to buy those imports retail, because they can't get them wholesale for export without the RIAA, BPI etc. throwing dolls out of their prams and claiming that selling imports is effectively the same as selling pirates, since those discs weren't licensed for sale abroad.
"I Know You Are But What Am I?"
This is why there has been a trend in the last 10 years towards music tracks getting longer. In 1990 a track that lasted 5 minutes was daring, and one that lasted 10 minutes would be unheard-of -- except on the revered EP, of course. Nowadays 10 minute tracks are nothing out of the ordinary, and 20 minute tracks are often seen.
Iron Butterfly "In A Gadda Da Vida" (Late 60s, 16 mins)
Pink Floyd "Echoes", "Atom Heart Mother", others ('70s, ~20 mins)
Quicksilver Messenger Service "Who Do You Love" ~'67, 22 mins)
Arlo Guthrie "Alice's Restaraunt" (~70, 18 mins)
Cream "Spoonful", "Toad" (~'67, 15-20 mins)
Black Sabbath "Black Sabbath" (~'68, ~10 mins)
Frank Zappa & the Mothers of Invention "Billy The Mountain", others (~70, ~20 mins)
... and shiploads more that I can't remember off the top of my drug-addled hippie head right now.
What goes around comes around.
At home, I listen to my MP3s and such. At work, we're not allowed personal media, but are allowed radios, so I listen to the local rock station. They've actually been playing some of the leaked songs, which has gotten me pumped for the new CD. (Supposedly, some of the first songs were leaked by leaving flash drives in bar/club bathrooms or something.)
Before this, I never really had interest in NIN. Now I'm looking at all the websites they've put up and can't wait to buy the CD myself.
You are completely right. These guys get it.
Has anyone else caught wind of the NIN viral marketing that they are doing right now for a new album? They "GET IT" with how to use the new media and Internet. If the **AA actually got it we would not be having news stories like this.
Nothing Records is a member of the RIAA.
RIAA member page