Death Of The Album, and The Death Of Music

Does anyone else feel fed up and bored with music these days? Does anyone else feel less excited upon hearing new music? And do you remember the last time you actually went out to buy an album, and not only that, but then were really blown away by it? And I mean the whole, entire album. I have been feeling this way for quite some time now.

Let me first say that the most important thing to me is composing new music. Depending on my mood and the piece I'm working on, it can still be one of the most thrilling and spiritual experiences I can obtain. My personal passion for writing music is as strong as it ever was.

That being said, let me bring us back to the current state of music.

More and more people are downloading their music instead of buying physical albums now. This story is by far nothing new and has been covered to death over the course of the last several years.

Why does this matter?

Well, in someways it matters not. People want music, which is good, and people get music, which is also good.

One of the biggest arguments against this is artist compensation, as a lot of people will download the songs they want for free through file sharing programs instead of buying the album. Should the artist be able to make money selling his or her art? Absolutely. Should a huge record company take the majority of the profits and leave the artist in debt to them? Not so much.

So how is downloading for free any different then making a copy of a friends cassette tape only a few decades ago, or burning a CD from someone, as some of us still do? Well, in my mind nothing. I've done both of these many times as I grew up. Many times, if I had burned off a CD, or made a good ol' tape of an album my friend had, if I really liked it, I would eventually go out and buy my own copy. Not always, mind you, but sometimes I would.

Now the point of this is not to address piracy or anti piracy, but to pull up a little dirt behind a few reasons, psychologically, we (see: some of us) download over buying the album.

For the sake of answering them later, let me ask a few questions out loud:

Do people want to buy albums?

Regardless of buying, do people even want a whole album anymore?

Do people just want the hit single(s)?

And if so, why?

Everyone loves to point blame at the fans and consumers. It's easy. THEY are the ones downloading right? THEY are the ones not going to record stores and buying the new hot album the radio tells them to buy. That means that the fault is all theirs! People just don't like albums anymore. That was easy. Case closed.

This a good theory to avoid the fact that soilent green is people. The machine is recycling it's own waste and giving it back to you. Let me illuminate.

Well, I for one, do not put the blame entirely in the consumer's hands. Sure, everyone should always take responsibility for their share of involvement, but also recognize when there are other factors leading to their decisions. The underlying subconscious motivations that have been building up for some time.

Let me pontificate on why many of us have become so used to, and in fact prefer to download a few songs here and there versus buying a whole album.

Ready for this? I blame the music itself. Yes, the music. And who is responsible for that music? The artists and the labels.

"So why do you blame the music?"

Follow me on this for a minute. If bands and artists no longer put out albums that are worthy of your time and money, people will eventually feel that - get this - albums are not worth their time or money. Startling!

How many times have you purchased a new album based on hearing one or two songs, say on the radio (if anyone still listens to that) or TV or something, only to be disappointed by the rest of the record? I'm going to assume a decent amount. At least where mainstream music is concerned, which is where this writing is primarily focused.

So now you have an album you just spent upwards of $18.99 list pice (remember Tower Records?), and you only like maybe two songs, or worse, just one. That renders the other 12 or so songs worthless, doesn't it? Why did you just waste your money? I bet you wish you could have just bought the song (s) that you liked. . . .

Hmmm. . . . ah HA!

One of my theories is that mainstream music has continually released mediocre and soul-less collections of "music" onto an unwitting public for so long that eventually the public responded like someone who has been burned one too many times in relationships. They move on.

So what happened? Do artists no longer care about putting out actual 'Art'? Do record labels really push their artists (or songwriters and producers in this case) to write a few "sure thing" songs that will sell and then quickly slap the rest together so they can start making money? Yes.

Lets start with easy easy one. Record labels.

Sure, they are like the faceless, evil corporations we love to hate in books and films, but are they all bad? No, of course not. But what started as engineers and producers who were not only in the actual, literal music business, and also really loved good music, turned into a giant corporate mechanism that churns out plastic discs.

Record labels will sign new bands and artists for financial reasons only. I'm sure you knew this one already. Most labels do not care how creative or talented the artist is, not to mention if they personally are moved by, or even enjoy the music that artist makes . Most often it is based on a mathematical formula involving the theory that "THIS band sounds really close to THAT band. If THAT band sold X amount of albums, we can market THIS band to those same fans, they will at least sell Y albums." Yes folks, no art. Just math. Again, nothing earth shattering here. But it is another point along the path.

Record labels do not care about art. Art means risk, and risk means it's not a sure thing.

This brings us to the second offenders, the artists themselves. If we follow the path I've mentioned so far we already have a band signed to a label not because of their creative potential, but because of quick turn around profits. So it's going to be difficult to depend on this average, to below-average talent pool to come up with a poignant piece of art. They may get lucky with those one or two songs you bought the album for, but everything else on that record is, unfortunately, filler.

What a sad term we had to coin. Album filler. Literally writing a song or songs just to take up space on a CD to pad in between the songs they actually spent a bit of time on. Is that the kind of record you want to buy? An album that even the artists themselves don't really care about enough to make it worth your while? This is the biggest thing of all for me in this chain: If a band or artist does not take the idea of music and an album of music seriously, guess what? The fans will eventually feel the same. If music is not treated as art, it won't be appreciate as art. It's hard to get excited about the food if the chef who makes it shrugs and says, "eh, it's ok". Boy, I really want to eat here again!

To add insult to injury, and then insult the injury again, there is a gross over saturation of "music" in the market place these days. There are just plain and simple, too many bands. Everyone you talk to is in a band. Everyone. And I'm sure you are familiar with the concept of percentages. With so many new bands and artists out there, that means there is a whole bunch of really great music now right? . . . . And with the current trend in music pointing towards the super simplification of music, and the glorification of people who cannot play their instruments well, it's no wonder music seems to be so dull and lifeless now.

I have always felt that, at least for me, music should be art. Music should move people, make them think and feel. Music can be impactful and life-changing. Music can help us through difficult situations and inspire us to grow and better ourselves. Music has the potential to help shape the general consciousness and literally change the world. Yes, I really do believe all of this. But most of the music right now has dropped the ball. In fact, I so strongly believe in the power of music that I think a lot of the music out right now is actually helping to regress us as a social consciousness. Yes. Move us backwards on the path to continued enlightenment and self awareness. I told you it's powerful shit.

It's as simple as this. If people are given an album worthy to purchase, they will purchase it. Do people want a really good album? Hell, I know I do, but it is getting very hard to find at the moment.

Once the industry as a whole understands that people don't really enjoy the taste of feces, and would rather have fillet mignon, maybe, just maybe they will see why they no longer have a job in the music business.

Let's bring art back to the people.