Is this the end of the great music albums?

[Flint]

Stevie Nicks has declared the current form of the music industry discourages putting a massive amount of energy into recording the best album ever since it will never sell.

http://societyofrock.com/after-17-studio-albums-fleetwood-macs-stevie-nicks-confirms-the-inevitable/

While some artists do still try to put out great albums, like Flying Colors, Neal Morse, Dream Theater, and others, most are putting out collections of singles or even half-assed studio recording which can easily be played live, such as Eisley, Beck, and Coldplay. Will we ever see another Aja or Wish You Were Here?

 

[Zing]

Will we ever see another Aja or Wish You Were Here?

Highly, highly doubtful in my opinion.

There was a time when a "Gold" record meant something you could be proud of. Today it just means the album is a failure. I think that if an executive producer doesn't feel the artist's album has a chance of going Platinum, they likely won't throw any extra money at the project.

 

[Flint]

The cost of a CD hasn't changed in 30 years, in fact they are getting cheaper in many cases. With inflation, a $17 CD in 1985 should cost $38.50 today in order for the seller to get the same buying power from the profits. So, in many ways, a gold album is worth less than half what was worth in 1985.

Basically, it would be less lucrative to sell a CD or LP today regardless of declining sales. Add to that the extreme drop in overall sales and we have a problem.

Inversely, art is art. If a great artist wants to make a great album, they can still do it. The difference is the promise of great financial reward for that effort.

 

[Zing]

If you ask any artist where their bread and butter comes from, I'd expect all of them to say it comes from shows, not album sales. People simply aren't buying recorded music like they used. So why throw good money after bad?

 

[Flint]

Sometimes it is about art and getting your art into the world. It isn't always about money, otherwise we wouldn't have had a Monet or Kandinsky.

That said, I get it. There was a short period of time in human history where the cost of buying a work of art in the form of a 40 to 60 minute album was worth the cost to consumers and resulted in artists and music labels earning millions of dollars in return. Tours were to promote the recordings, not the other way around. Those days are gone.

 

[Zing]

I believe there are (or were) artists who do (or did) indeed make an album in the name of their art, such as Prince. But as good as his work is, I don't think he ever made an "Aja" or ever would have. And I just don't see anyone else ever doing so anymore.

All artists attempt to write the best music they can. At that point, it's up to the record producer, executive producer and/or the record label to determine the direction and expected goals for the album. Adele spent more than 4 years working on her most recent album to get it "perfect". Whether she succeeded is subjective but I think that qualifies as putting a massive amount energy into a recording which would make it the exception that proves the rule. Still, I doubt people will be listening to "25" forty years from now - let alone buying it - like people do and have done with Aja.

 

[MakeMineVinyl]

Maybe the real problem is the uninspired, derivative music? If something was truly as great as the classic albums I think the profits would be there.

Maybe it's time to think beyond the mold.

 

[Akula]

Nowadays a lot of music is purchased digitally, with people buying just the songs they want. They aren't buying the full album, just the 3-4 songs they like.

Weird Al said not that long ago he was going to eschew the traditional record format in order to be more topical- he'll still release songs, but instead of waiting until he had enough for a full album, he can throw out even a single song or two or three at a time. If you're an artist and you have just a few great songs, why waste time working up some filler? Just put them out there and get a revenue stream now instead of hacking together some album filler.

 

[Flint]

But that's just it... of the 5,000, or so, albums released in 1975, how many are considered classics to this day and are considered "albums" as a whole rather than a few good songs and some filler? We like to look back on the past and remember the best of the best as assume that was common, but it was far from common.

So, if we look at today, I could argue the great albums still get made, they just don't go platinum in the first month and continue selling in the top 400 for a decade like they used to because the options are so vast.