Has streaming ruined "the album"?

[rokket2005]

I only buy/download music as whole albums, and if there's a song I find that I like I will do everything I can to find and listen the whole album it comes off. I figure if I like a song from an artist I'll probably like more from them. This has been particularly challenging since for the past year I've been getting into a lot of Japanese pop that isn't licensed for release in the west.

 

[USMarine75]

I remember when Richie Kotzen had some new songs come out around 2019. I was excited. By the third song I’m like damn this is gonna be a good album. Then I discovered he’s just releasing single and single.

I have mixed feelings.

On one hand you can get your music out there immediately - write good song, release good song. Done. And as mentioned, no filler.

But on the other hand, you miss out on discovering the “b side” hits. Dyer Eve is one of my fav Metallica songs yet it’s at the end of the album. Same with Soilwork. There’s a joke that they save the best song on the album for the last or next to last song. With individual singles dominating music distribution you miss out on this (or even just the one b side of a single record back in the day).

 

[gnoll]

I think the attitude of "boo hoo we can't make albums because social media" is ridiculous. Yes you COULD make an album if you wanted to. But what is the purpose? Is the purpose to try to be relevant on social media? To get fame and fortune? Or is it to make an artistic statement? If the main goal is making art, then the artist can choose to present the art in whatever format he/she pleases.

Albums are cool. I struggle to take music seriously if it's not in album format. An artist releasing only singles makes me think "social media addict" rather than "artist" and I'm not inclined to check out the music.

 

[Crungy]

But on the other hand, you miss out on discovering the “b side” hits.

That's what I enjoy about listening to more than singles, finding those other gems. The thrill of the hunt!

 

[Crungy]

Albums are cool. I struggle to take music seriously if it's not in album format. An artist releasing only singles makes me think "social media addict" rather than "artist" and I'm not inclined to check out the music.

I somewhat agree with that. If they have something that gets my attention I'm still going to check them out. If they only have singles, oh well. If that's their goal so be it.

I think where it is hurtful is to the artists that don't want to go that route but are expected to have output like that.

 

[KailM]

I only buy music in full album format, and the bands I listen to still make full albums.

I’ve never had a use for a streaming service.

 

[Crungy]

There was always something special about album release day back in the days of CDs. Going to record store on Tuesday, hoping that they wouldn't be sold out before you got there. It was cool to experience some of the iconic releases like the Use Your illusion albums that way. But, time moves forward. Streaming gives us to a chance to hear more diverse music. Ola's first solo album is one of my faves in recent years and if this were 25 years ago, we don't get to hear stuff like that.

For sure, I loved those days. I remember being a teen and getting Soundgarden's Down On the Upside the day it came out.

I don't hate streaming by any means, I love the access we have to music now. It's crazy to think about my daughter knowing that as the only way to access music.

 

[USMarine75]

That's what I enjoy about listening to more than singles, finding those other gems. The thrill of the hunt!

It’s like dating a girl but secretly hoping she might introduce you to her hotter friends.

Hello Symphony of Destruction. Oh, hey who’s your friend Ashes in Your Mouth?

 

[Crungy]

It’s like dating a girl but secretly hoping she might introduce you to her hotter friends.

Hello Symphony of Destruction. Oh, hey who’s your friend Ashes in Your Mouth?

That's one of looking at it! Lmao

I haven't listened to that album since I was a teen.... When I think of that album foreclosure of a dream always pops in my mind out of any other track.

 

[Moongrum]

I have an hour of commute time to and from work and when I exercise (I've been slacking on that lately!) I have earbuds in. That affords me time to listen to something in full or mostly in full if I'm in the mood.

That isn't the only way I listen though. I like finding new or new to me music and honestly I prefer doing that than replaying an album I've listened to for 10-20 years or more. There are times I need to listen to an album in full or listen to most of the album for like a week lol

That makes sense. I honestly should make more of an effort like that to be like "over this week, I will listen to this entire album", because like you, I did like the feeling of getting lost in an album and haven't done it in a long time.

 

[soul_lip_mike]

It's kind of better since there are so many bands that put out albums that have just 1-2 tracks worth listening to. Finding an album with songs you'd listen to start to finish without hovering your finger over the next track button are pretty rare.

 

[wheresthefbomb]

I listen to full albums on walks (often an intentional "I need to devote time to just listening to this album") and also while doing housework. I used to BMX a lot through my teens and did a lot of album deep-dives on long trail rides. I just had a CD player so when I got to the end of the album I'd just start it over. White Pony, Around the Fur, Lateralus, Aenima, and Brave New World were heavy heavy rotation. I trashed all of those discs through consistent use. I still very much appreciate a well thought out album but I don't know how representative my viewpoint is.

 

[budda]

It's kind of better since there are so many bands that put out albums that have just 1-2 tracks worth listening to. Finding an album with songs you'd listen to start to finish without hovering your finger over the next track button are pretty rare.

It is? Most artist and albums i regularly listen to are non-skip ones.

Maybe its worth asking why you only find those one or two songs good, find artists similar and enjoy whole albums?

 

[jaxadam]

The only time I'd recommend album listening to someone else is for those rare concept albums where each song is like a chapter in a book. Any one song from "Dark Side" is great, but the album really demands a full listen all the way through. Different strokes I guess.

When Sasha and Digweed dropped Northern Exposure 2:East Coast edition they didn’t pick all of the best songs, they picked all of the right songs. That album is a masterpiece because it works as one. It will always be one of those road trip events.

Another album that works in that context is OutKast’s ATLiens. There are quite a few bangers on that album but the whole conglomeration of songs/lyrics/feel/production can only be found by starting that one at the beginning and letting to go until the very end.

I can remember quite a few albums growing up that gave me that experience, but I think music has drastically changed and it’s not really there anymore.

 

[crushingpetal]

I'm not adding anything new, but I too like albums. I only buy a CD (yeah... CD...) if I like the whole album (or most of it, or if it's from a favorite band).

I recently started using streaming and I almost exclusively listen to albums.

 

[nightsprinter]

Fwiw, Vola's "Witness" was the only record in recent memory for me where I felt it was all killer. I'm fine with whatever artists wanna do. I know where the "next" button is and more often than not I'm just jamming the hits that coerce feelings out of me onto playlists unless it's a concept album.

 

[STRHelvete]

It's kind of better since there are so many bands that put out albums that have just 1-2 tracks worth listening to. Finding an album with songs you'd listen to start to finish without hovering your finger over the next track button are pretty rare.

Not for me. I always find musicians with albums I love. The Midnight, Greg Puciato, Trevor Something, are some of the most recent.

 

[spudmunkey]

While we had record albums and 8-track when I was very young, we started buying tapes pretty early in my life. I got Appetite For Destruction on tape when I was 7 in '87. So until I got a CD player (sometime after Metallica's black album was already out, and the tech had gotten cheap enough to afford a CD player), the only way you could easily skip around to your favorite songs was to use the FF and REW buttons. But we knew that using that too much was bad for the tapes, and you'd have to hunt around for the start of the song you were looking for, etc. I didn't get a "smart" tape player that could find tracks until much much later. What I'm getting at is that once I got a CD player, I noticed I listened to full albums much much less because it was so easy to skip the tracks you didn't like. It was also a bit easier to make mix tapes/CDs of just your favorites. And chances are, you'd cut off the between-track comedy skits, or trimmed off long instrumental intros because you wanted to fit more "songs" on the limited space on the blank tape or CD.

It wasn't until I got a MP3 CD player in my car with an alphanumeric display did I realize I had stopped learning song titles for a long time...it was just "track 3" or "track 7" from a particular album...now with the mp3 player with a display that could show song titles, I was learning more of them.

I think we've been on a downhill trajectory for "albums" for a long long while, well before social media.

 

[SalsaWood]

Albums may have been going downhill because you can't as easily get away with writing two good singles and then hide eight completely unremarkable tracks behind it on a CD for 10-15$. Folks also tend to be able to preview all the tracks from releases these days, meaning no more getting blindly swindled into buying some bullshit concept album or other manner of abstract "artistic" deviations from the band's normal material. If I enjoyed throwing away a tenner to watch a bunch of kids sell themselves out I'd pay for Twatter/Ex.

On the other hand there are great albums out there where leaving a song out is almost like leaving a chapter out of a book. Those are a lot more uncommon these days, or maybe my tastes have just become old and I don't like the current wave of whatever "it" is in music.

 

[The Mirror]

Well. I listen to albums exclusively and always have. I never put on a single song and I rarely listen to music while doing something else.

Dunno if it is elitist or whatever, but if I get a new record I put out some whiskey and seat myself alone and put that shit on for however long the album takes.

Also I usually listen to proggy artists and especially Devin who always fades songs into one another. So I am as far away from the spotify shuffle customer as possible.

But meh. Who cares. The album will never fully die as long as there are musicians who write songs that are 10+ minutes long.