Catalog Albums Outsell New Records Online for the First Time

[SisterNightroad]

they poke their nose in and decide they know what people want in new product (and don't)

That's certainly true but market laws have always been the same, always working this way.
I think it's a combination of a new culture of fast-music that quickly lose interest in music products and prefers hit singles instead of the over the quality of a whole album and the musical industry that takes advantage of it in a mutual circle.

[wetcamelfood]

Originally Posted by SisterNightroad

That's certainly true but market laws have always been the same, always working this way.
I think it's a combination of a new culture of fast-music that quickly lose interest in music products and prefers hit singles instead of the over the quality of a whole album and the musical industry that takes advantage of it in a mutual circle.

Yes, the fact you can buy just a song now instead of a whole album has added to this as well (I guess it could be argued you could buy singles "in the old days" but that still cost a lot more than downloading 1 mp3 now).

John

[SisterNightroad]

Originally Posted by wetcamelfood

Yes, the fact you can buy just a song now instead of a whole album has added to this as well (I guess it could be argued you could buy singles "in the old days" but that still cost a lot more than downloading 1 mp3 now).

John

Bingo and you can also pirate all the music you want on the web.

[TrueFaith77]

I bet Rumours outsold many new releases

[PenguinHead]

I believe in the sustainability of the album format as an art form, even though technology now allows consumers to self-select individual songs -- not taking the time to respect and see the album as a whole. Personal instant gratification takes precedence. In this instant process of pick and choose, songs they might grow to love in time aren't given a chance and are discarded.

Perhaps because of the easy accessibility of music from generations past, listeners are discovering a world of artists and groups that they were unaware of; music that is appealing to them. There is so much great music previous eras that holds value. It's like discovering buried treasures. Just because something is new and currently popular doesn't mean it's better that what came before it. In fact, most new music owes it's viability the influences of past artists.

I'm always impressed when an contestant on American Idol or The Voice chooses a great song generations behind them. It shows they have a depth of reference and influences beyond their current demographic. If they choose a more current or recent popular song, it reveals they influences have only scratched the surface.

[SisterNightroad]

Originally Posted by PenguinHead

I believe in the sustainability of the album format as an art form, even though technology now allows consumers to self-select individual songs -- not taking the time to respect and see the album as a whole. Personal instant gratification takes precedence. In this instant process of pick and choose, songs they might grow to love in time are given a chance and are discarded.

That's very true, I think one of the results of this tendency is the disappearance of the "concept album". In the past they were very present, The who, Pink Floyd, Beatles, Beach boys, David Bowie and the Kinks widely used concept album as an artistic mean but the only modern concept album that I know of is American idiot, and that was 10-15 years ago.

[PenguinHead]

Originally Posted by SisterNightroad

That's very true, I think one of the results of this tendency is the disappearance of the "concept album". In the past they were very present, The who, Pink Floyd, Beatles, Beach boys, David Bowie and the Kinks widely used concept album as an artistic mean but the only modern concept album that I know of is American idiot, and that was 10-15 years ago.

I just saw and corrected an unfortunate misspell in my previous post ( though it matters little now).

In this instant process of pick and choose, songs they might grow to love in time aren't given a chance and are discarded.