Albums Unnecessary in Digital Age

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More and more artists are coming to the realization that there is no longer a need for “albums” in the digital age. The latest artist to solidly back digital distribution is the lead singer of Third Eye Blind saying that he disliked “album filler” and thinks the “album is an arbitrary concept.” I like this guy already.

Stephan Jenkins, lead singer of alternative band Third Eye Blind, is the latest person to agree that the album format is better off dead. Jenkins, whose band is known for such hits as "Semi-Charmed Life," "Jumper" and "How's it Going to Be," gave the keynote address at the SanFran MusicTech Summit on Monday.
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Buying singles at a retail store would suck.

Removing the option to buy music at a retail store would suck.
 
I think the only thing that would "suck" is that MP3s predominate the online distribution market.

Lossless audio FTW.

FLAC = yes please!
 
I still like MP3's, they work in my home, my car, my portable music player. FLAC sounds great but it only works on my PC.
 
The more credence you give to the unholy all-digital solution, the more credence you grant to DRM and heavier licensing restrictions... At least with a cd, I still technically have the right to copy it to my pc and any portable devices under my possession. ITunes is a decent enough solution, but a combination of drm and download restrictions seems a bit draconian to me.

One of my favorite artists, Nine Inch Nails, employed my favorite solution with 2 of their more recent cd releases -- buy (or pre-order) the cd for $10, and when it's officially released you get a download link to your choice of mp3, ogg, FLAC, 24bit pcm, and even the original multi-track (usually available by torrent only, unless you get the DVD limited edition). I get professionally made FLAC's (my preference) plus get to enjoy the pretty packaging of the cd when it gets here a few days later -- doesn't get much better than that...
 
Steve said:
More and more artists are coming to the realization that there is no longer a need for “albums” in the digital age. The latest artist to solidly back digital distribution is the lead singer of Third Eye Blind saying that he disliked “album filler” and thinks the “album is an arbitrary concept.” I like this guy already.
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Perhaps the problem is that Jenkins doesn't have the ability to write many good songs.

I've got plenty of albums where I liked the majority of music on the CD.

I can't come of up with a reason to buy a single. Radio already played 500 times today.

If this was 1974, Dark Side of the Moon would have consisted of Money. if this was 1975, Wish You Were Here at best the title track would have been released...everything else is too long for radio and wouldn't warrant a single.

Singles are for lazy listeners that only buy songs they're already familiar with. It's certainly an easy way to listen to music...but while the song is popular, I don't need to own it, and by the time radio quits playing it, I'm sick of hearing it....besides, if the band is worth a crap, the single probably isn't the best music on the album.

Sticking with Pink Floyd, does anyone actually think Another Brick in The Wall was the best track on that album? It's not the worst song on the album, but it's not a great song either....it just happened to the hit single.

I could have just as easily used Genesis (where their single(s) were often the worst songs on the album), POE (whose Haunted pretty much perfect), Radiohead's Kid A, The Bends or OK Computer, PM Dawn's Jesus Wept, Dove's Last Broadcast or Some Cities....and the list goes on.
 
If we're talking Label CD Album fine cool I agree, but take NIN for example or Peter Gabriel. Its very common for them to produce a concept album where its basically a story told over the course of an album.
 
If album as-in "collection of songs" is what they meant, it really depends on the artist. I tend to listen to many artists that cohesive albums, rather than assortments of unrelated tracks. So, I do enjoy "real" albums; but that's hardly a necessity for every artist.

If album in the "physical, on a CD or whatever" sense is what they meant, two things must happen for me to play along: no DRM and higher quality than CD in every way (lossless, 24 bit/96 KHz, 2+ channel surround mix options a definite plus if competently done; FLAC would work, I can make my own MP3/Vorbis/other-lossy-option from those).
 
nilepez said:
Perhaps the problem is that Jenkins doesn't have the ability to write many good songs.

I've got plenty of albums where I liked the majority of music on the CD.
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And there are albums where my favorite tracks turned out to be the obscure/non-commercial ones that never got any airplay at all, and I would have never been exposed to them if I hadn't purchased the total package.
 
Not sure I like that much. What would the new filter of choice be? Year maybe?

I can see releasing songs one at a time, but at some point they should be grouped by something other than artist.
 
I think albums are cool to have. I just picked up the new AC/DC one today. Albums are good for kids like me who still don't have a credit card, or don't want to have to deal with itunes.
 
I think albums should stay. Do you see people buying chapters of a book?
 
Songs as singles? How lame.

I think there would be more kinds of albums other than just "LP" and "EP".
 
i enjoy cd's and mp3's. i don't see a need to favor one over the other (but the ability to store more songs say on a 120gb mp3 player in a small space works great, hell, even a 2.5 inch portable harddrive would be awesome).
 
I only listens to artist who can put out a decent, cohesive experience in the form of an album. The way I see it, if you can't write enough good music to fill up an album, without resorting to filler, then you really have no business making music in the first place.

It's really no surprise that it's a member of pop rock group Third Eye Blind who's espousing the virtues of ditching albums altogether. There's an example of a band who write a few singles, then throw a bunch of filler on the album to pad it out.

This doesn't really bother me though, because I know the only artists who would take this "easy way out" are the artists who write their music for the radio, and I have no desire to listen to them anyway.
 
Evil said:
I still like MP3's, they work in my home, my car, my portable music player. FLAC sounds great but it only works on my PC.
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Yes, but FLAC sounds great, and has support for tags. Not to mention, to get your MP3s on those items, you probably need a computer. That computer will transcode FLAC and all the taggin info to a format of choice. With the cost of disk, and the time it takes to actually rip a collection of CDs, FLAC is the right choice for the library.


nilepez said:
Perhaps the problem is that Jenkins doesn't have the ability to write many good songs.

I've got plenty of albums where I liked the majority of music on the CD.
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Yeah. When you put out heavily commercial albums, very often there are only a couple of good songs, and a bunch of useless filler.

But there are albums that are solid form end to end, sometimes more than solid.

Then there are plenty of bands trying to make a buck by putting out a couple tracks that are plaayable on the radio, but the rest of the album is what the fans actually want. Think the power ballad. How many bands would have lots of great tunes vaporized if all that ever got sold was their power ballad?

But definitely, why make low-talent corporate shills crank out more than their singles?
 
nilepez said:
Perhaps the problem is that Jenkins doesn't have the ability to write many good songs.
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Listen to the lyrics/chords of Anything, Wounded, The Background, God of Wine, 1000 Julys, Alright Caroline, Thanks a lot, Motorcycle Drive By, Darkness, Slow Motion, My Time in Exile, Faster, Tattoo of the Sun, Scattered, Gorgeous, I could go on. These are all unreleased songs as well. Jenkins is a musical genius, and his lyrical talents are rivaled by few

Trust me when I say (as an avid Third Eye Blind fan), Jenkins' problems do not stem from his inability to write many good songs.
 
Edit to post above: Meant to say those songs were not released as singles.
 
ManCannon said:
There's an example of a band who write a few singles, then throw a bunch of filler on the album to pad it out.
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You couldn't be more wrong and uninformed :)

I'll not waste my time posting why your post was laced with ignorance, but research Third Eye Blind and their history with Elektra prior to dropping them
 
Reality said:
You couldn't be more wrong and uninformed :)

I'll not waste my time posting why your post was laced with ignorance, but research Third Eye Blind and their history with Elektra prior to dropping them
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Ok, we get it. You like Third Eye Blind. Plenty don't, accept the fact that you are a fan and unbiased.

Besides, it's the guy you like suggesting all the music you like shouldn't be published, so why harass people who think he is wrong?
 
A great example of a band who (IMO) is really padding their albums with garbage, sans a small handful of good songs is TOOL. Granted there were great songs on Aenima, Lateralus, and 10,000 Days, these albums had their fair share of "sound effect", borderline useless tracks (Lipan Conjuring, Lost Keys, - Ions, Cesaro Summability, Die Eier Von Satan, Intermission, Message to Harry Manback, Eon Blue Apocalypse, Triad, Faaip De Oiad), and released a few radio hits that were absolute garbage (The Pot, Jambi)

And I say this, as a huge Tool fan
 
If you think albums are outdated, you obviously don't listen to progressive rock. Jethro Tull, Floyd, Rush all masters of arrangement.
 
I'm obviously old. I still like buying CDs, and my favorite albums are ALBUMS, pieces that are best listened to from start to finish. Singles only musicians aren't nearly as interesting for me.
 
Reality said:
You couldn't be more wrong and uninformed :)

I'll not waste my time posting why your post was laced with ignorance, but research Third Eye Blind and their history with Elektra prior to dropping them
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I've listened to their music, that's really all I need to see that they write singles, and then pad the rest of the album out with filler.

Unless their label held a gun to their head and said "You're going to write a bunch of shitty music and then write 3 or 4 catchy singles" then I have no desire to read about their history with their undoubtedly shitty corporate label. I've read that story a million times before, and I've seen much more talented bands rise above that bullshit and still put out top quality music.

If you're a fan of Third Eye Blind, that's great, more power to you. They're hardly the worst band to ever be played on the radio, and I will admit they do write some catchy pop rock. But in my opinion their music lacks substance, and I'm not surprised to hear this kind of bullshit coming from the lips of their lead singer.

I can understand being fed up with meddling record labels, but I can't understand calling for the "end of the album", because as a fan of music, I find a truly great album to be much more enriching then a catchy single.

And I agree with you wholeheartedly when it comes to Tool. I love the music they make, but I definitely get sick of all the unnecessary filler and joke tracks. Which is why my favorite album by them is Lateralus. All I have to do is skip the final track, and I can listen to it all the way through. Aenima would be a much better album if it weren't for all the bullshit on it.
 
I don't think albums should go away. In the interest of full disclosure, I still buy vinyl records (I'm 25 y/o) I download music from iTunes, Amazon, and Rhapsody. I still love having a CD or Record with album art. I love buying a CD from a store going to my car and rocking it out on the way home.

I do like buying individual tracks from certain artists, but I still look at albums as a whole as what the artist wants to convey to the consumer (Dark Side, Sargent Peppers, The Wall or more recent Emotive by APC). I may be too idealistic and or out dated, but I don't want that too go away.
 
I hate 3EB and I hate Stephan Jenkins even more. I had a friend in High School who would go on and on about how they were the greatest band of our generation and so on. Jenkins is a self righteous bitch and their music is craptastical (subjective, I know, but I dislike them very much). I also hate their crappy guitar work, when they play, they have the most ridiculous tuning schemes so they have to play the least amount of notes on the guitar (Think of a Drop D type of idea that some crap bands use so they only need 1 finger for a power chord and times that by 10).

On to the topic at hand, I love buying albums, and having entire albums. I'm kind of OCD about my music like that, if I have one song from an album, I need to have the whole thing. If bands only wrote for singles we'd be missing out on so much great music.
 
ManCannon said:
I can understand being fed up with meddling record labels, but I can't understand calling for the "end of the album", because as a fan of music, I find a truly great album to be much more enriching then a catchy single.
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I think this quote sums up my entire viewpoint. ;)
 
I still like artists who create albums, and currently frequently buy mp3 albums over singles, though there are a few cases of getting "best of..." albums which I couldn't pass up due to a nice deal.

While 'album filler' is wholly unnecessary, one cannot fully appreciate the art created by bands like Pink Floyd without listening to the entire album. However, the art form IS changing, and the focus on the single has long been the claim to fame of pop music. For me, I enjoy the album if it is composed as an album -though I'm sure I'm in the minority these days.
 
I think he's right.
Album are far from being a necessity nowadays.
But that will have some resistance from record labels who make a lot of money from selling full albums from pop acts that have one huge radio hit.

Personally, I'm more interested in artists who can make cohesive albums, without filler, but I know that's not always the case. Artists who really are interested in making an album (be it a CD or vinyl) can still do it -- if they make good music, I'll still buy it.
 
The "album" is only dead if you're a band who has to create filler to fill it up!

Plenty of bands still do some great things with the album format, be it concept albums, story arcs or just general themes. Not every band wants or tries to write singles.
 
there's alot to be said for a work of art which spans a full sixty minutes with songs that are clearly seperated yet seamlessly blend together... like the artist intended for them to.

yeah, i wouldn't want to listen to third eye blind's bullshit album filler either, but that's not to say there aren't other artists who know how it's done.

in my opinion, the 'hit single' bullshit is what's wrong ,as are the slack-jawed troglodytes who gobble up news like this and think it's progression.

the line between popped and cultured has never been more clear.
 
Traze said:
I think the only thing that would "suck" is that MP3s predominate the online distribution market.

Lossless audio FTW.

FLAC = yes please!
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if you can tell the difference between 320kbps MP3 and FLAC, you need to be disected for experimentation. yeah and that'd be great, having everyone worldwide have to update all their fucking hardware again and for what so that 0.0000000001% of the population that can tell the difference between high bit-rate MP3 and FLAC, i mean shit the average joe is still updating from CD->MP3.. i know people who have no way to play MP3 still..

hey next year they could come out with uncompressed hd movie downloads ;) LOTR trilogy the first 1EB download ;)
 
^^^
FLAC does have its place however, its in sound studios etc, not in your portable/home music player.
 
Thing is its just an excuse for new bands that really havent got the talent or the will to last more than a year before they just dissapear up their own skinny jeaned asses.

These are kids talking. Anyone over the age of 28 knows kids know jack.

Its laziness and lack of talent, thats all.
 
I prefer a full album over digital parsed-digital content any day of the week. There's something raw and wonderful a FULL cohesive covered album w/booklet that digital doesn't. It's really sad because people seem to be getting their jollies on all the digital content; but in reality you receive no person connection to it otherwise. Parsed content FTL!
 
daglesj said:
Thing is its just an excuse for new bands that really havent got the talent or the will to last more than a year before they just dissapear up their own skinny jeaned asses.

These are kids talking. Anyone over the age of 28 knows kids know jack.

Its laziness and lack of talent, thats all.
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why 28? are you 29?? lolz...

hate to rain on your parade... but i'm 27 and i know that shit ;)
 
nilepez said:
Perhaps the problem is that Jenkins doesn't have the ability to write many good songs.
<snip>

If this was 1974, Dark Side of the Moon would have consisted of Money. if this was 1975, Wish You Were Here at best the title track would have been released...everything else is too long for radio and wouldn't warrant a single.

Singles are for lazy listeners that only buy songs they're already familiar with. It's certainly an easy way to listen to music...but while the song is popular, I don't need to own it, and by the time radio quits playing it, I'm sick of hearing it....besides, if the band is worth a crap, the single probably isn't the best music on the album.

Sticking with Pink Floyd, does anyone actually think Another Brick in The Wall was the best track on that album? It's not the worst song on the album, but it's not a great song either....it just happened to the hit single.

I could have just as easily used Genesis (where their single(s) were often the worst songs on the album), POE (whose Haunted pretty much perfect), Radiohead's Kid A, The Bends or OK Computer, PM Dawn's Jesus Wept, Dove's Last Broadcast or Some Cities....and the list goes on.
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++ and ++ to all of these comments. I was going to say something very similar, but there is almost no need, other than to add the Beatles, Stones and Doors to the list... there are a LOT of great songs that would NEVER have made it as a single, at least if no one realized how great they were before they were released. How about "While my guitar gently weeps" for one? Otherwise, this says it all.
 
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