How to save the album By Quincy Jones

Posted about 1 year ago

From Yahoo.comLOS ANGELES (Billboard) - Ever since Shawn Fanning launched the original Napster -- and even more so now that legitimate downloading has taken off via iTunes -- I've been hearing lots of talk about the death of the album. It's getting louder and louder, and it has our industry running scared. As you all know, single tracks -- whether they're purchased legitimately or downloaded illegally -- are cutting into the sales of albums, which are far more profitable.The big question is, What, as an industry, should we do about this? Do we deny consumers the freedom of choice of buying single tracks, as Jay-Z did with his "American Gangster" album? That's one way of preserving the art form known as the album, but I think there's an even better solution.Artists, producers, songwriters and A&R folks: Rise up to the challenge and make your album so good that fans will want to buy the whole thing. I realize every album can't have six or seven top 10 singles, like Michael Jackson and I were blessed with on "Thriller" and "Bad," but you've got to try. If it's good enough, the fans will buy it. Maybe they'll want to whet their appetite by only buying a track or two at first, but if you keep coming out with good tracks and pique their interest, they'll be back.There's actually an opportunity here to sell more than just the album. Release a digital track early. That's an easy sell, but make sure the rest of the album delivers that same kind of quality and excitement, and they'll be back to buy additional tracks and/or hopefully the entire album as you conceived it. And don't forget special packaging for the physical product. If you and your team deliver quality goods, the fans will want to buy it.Can you imagine a world in which people only bought a single download of Miles Davis' "So What" instead of the greatest jazz album of all time, "Kind of Blue?" Or "Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)" instead of Marvin Gaye's complete masterpiece "What's Going On?" Or even a single track from Herbie Hancock's Grammy Award-winning "River: The Joni Letters" instead of the whole collection?We need to stop complaining about single-song downloads and instead focus on making better music that'll make fans want more than just one song.http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080419/music_nm/jones_dc;_ylt=AkYGLUUgSCVgZKgnHZjUq8kjtBAF

Comments (12)

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Cody B says Well we've talked about the album at length..I say make 'em shorter. The single and the album used to coexist just fine. It is nice to challange the artists when you already have your money like Quincy does:) But are listeners up to the challange?

Permalink posted 04/22/2008
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davesonic says True enough. Good point on the length, myself I've always like albums that are around 45 minutes.

Permalink posted 04/22/2008
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Cody B says I mean for the most part we were bitching about the live double and triples of the 70's and attention spans haven't gotten any longer.. The album is in a tough spot. Sure there are many fans, but the power of the single and the shuffle, plus the DJ/control my music crowd is growing daily. You can thank the CD for this problem I believe. I was always bowled over in the early CD days when people described the song they liked on an album as "track 3." You could tell things were headed south at that point. In the end the album is somewhat of an artificial construct..Folks like me grew up on them, but truthfully they are only for the hardcore nowadays. Not too many are willing to wait for something to unfold..most folks are ready to flip at the first unfamiliar/difficult sounds.

Permalink posted 04/22/2008
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democlez says Makes sense on the surface, and ultimately it's a good way to think of it. However, I doubt there are many artists that make albums thinking 'Well, I have a single. Now to come up with 17 more filler tracks.' Regardless of how much time and effort is put into making the album the best it can be, there will be those that only like one track. Fact is, people have been consuming music through singles either through the radio, TV, or compilation CDs years before napster. Personally, I only buy a full album when I know I like at least three tracks on it.

Permalink posted 04/22/2008
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brz says dave- another great post. cody- you pose an excellent question about listeners being up to the challenge. as much as i'd like to agree with Quincy (and as much as i already do) the jig might be up for finding a large enough consumer base with the patience and devotion (etc. etc.) to appreciate an album as a whole. at this point i could launch into a whole "kids these days" tangent, but i think we get the idea. music seems like it's being viewed more and more as a commodity (to be given away free with purchases of other goods) and an accessory (as a ring-tone to "personalize" a cell phone). even if you cut an album down to 45 minutes, you can't have a 45 minute long ring tone. and while the idea of a 45 minute ringtone is absurd, i think it makes a point about attention span, it's getting shorter for everyone. i remember when CDs were new and record companies were trying to sell their virtues over tapes. one of the selling points was the ability to skip directly to a song. i think that had to be one of the first nail's in the album's coffin. if you were listening on tape and you wanted to get to that certain song, you had to either go through the messy process of fast-forwarding (likely missing the beginning of the certain song), or just being patient and listening to whatever came next. some songs don't jump out immediately, but when given repeated listens have the potential to really sink in. anyway, this comment is already long enough. rather than test the limits of your attention spans, i'll quit here. good food for thought dave! peace brz

Permalink posted 04/22/2008
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davesonic says Obviously convenience has brought the LP to it's current with the cassette already demised and CD's to follow. Myself I plan on going out today to buy Elvis Costellos new album that is available only on vinyl and comes with a free digital download of the album. Give the people what they want and they will but it. Make it good and they will come back.

Permalink posted 04/22/2008
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Cody B says I think in a few generations, the album will be an esoteric thing like baseball..plenty of fans, but not the sway over the masses it once had. The 'net may seem all new, but as far as I'm concerned this is back to the early days of recorded music, the 20's and 30's, when one good tune on a 78 was all you needed.

Permalink posted 04/22/2008
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Scotch says Everyone here each makes at least one valid point. Here we have a great musician who's simply out of tune *rimshot* with reality. It's easy for Q to say "stop sucking," but even his albums have a few tracks that stand above the rest in terms of public opinion. Public opinion is really what it's about, because there are thousands of tracks that blow, yet people buy them like mad. There are even more great tracks ignored for any number of reasons, but that doesn't make them less great, only less popular.

Permalink posted 04/22/2008
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davesonic says I think his point is put more thought into the album instead of just a couple of singles and then adding filler(a practice that is nothing new to the industry...New Wave anyone?) I think great albums are slowly making a comeback (Spoons Gimme Fiction and the Decemberists The Crane Wife are two examples from the last few years) But it's been a long time coming, and who knows if they'll have staying power like The Wall or Dark Side.

Permalink posted 04/22/2008
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Universalis says My view of this problem is a bit different, think of a band coming to record an album in a studio, they have 40 pieces ready all written with a certain state of mind and arranged such as to fit together, telling a whole story. They will record 25 of them and publish a CD with only 13 tracks (+1 bonus, OK :) I can see no fillers here, only missing pieces and spoiled work/time/energy (unless the other recorded tracks are to appear on a bootleg or for the next album...). The same band will then play live the album's 14 pieces, but as they always play a tad faster live than when recording they also play all the other pieces (even those unrecorded). And now the audience will learn there are other tracks, unpublished, several of them are way better than those from the album, but you know, the record company finally chose the tracks, not the musicians (unless they are rich...). If you want to do your own CD with 76 minutes of your music and choose all what goes on it you have to pay everything in order to keep the control ! (Or it's dad, or you married with the daughter of the boss... :)))) Some albums are created as full featured concepts art pieces, and they shall be listened to this way, would you tear off a chapter from a book because you don't like it as much as some others ? These albums will remain, as long as creators will think and work that way regardless of the market and sales. Now, the "best of" mania also probably took a part in the problem, why buy 6 albums when you can have all the top charter tracks on a single one ? (not to mention downloads, and copies even before the internet was born). All this reminds me about similar thoughts on another subject, the endless debate on the evolution of the duration of musical works, 2 minutes or 3 minutes ? and so on... Since mankind exist there's always been music, singles or albums is only like 1 or 2 cubes of sugar in your tea cup ?, you need the tea first ! I want music, not singles, not albums, not CDs, not Mp3 or 4 or 9, just want some music. U.

Permalink posted 04/22/2008
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Jonh Ingham says Quincy also makes his point referencing 4 of the greatest artists to make records. To make a direct comparison to Marvin Gaye, does anyone think of The Temptations as an album act? We think of "Papa Was A Rolling Stone". Do people buy Sigur Ros just for the one track? The main point is the right one though - make your music the best it can be.

Permalink posted 04/22/2008
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brz says dave- didn't you do a post a few months back about albums that are good start to finish?

Permalink posted 04/23/2008