|
Album redefined as music lovers create own mixes |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Written by Chris Macias, McClatchy-Tribune
|
|
Friday, 06 April 2007 |
|
|
|
|
Album sales are in a seven-year decline as the computer has replaced the brick-and-mortar store as the gateway to record shopping. But don't count the long-playing album out. Its meaning has only changed in this iTunes age.
Music fans are popping onto their PCs to buy their favorite songs, and that has sent sales of singles skyrocketing, to the tune of a 65 percent sales spike in 2006, according to the music tracking service Nielsen SoundScan. The phenomenon may seem novel, a byproduct of the Internet revolution, yet the single has ruled before, just as it rules now.
The album still hasn't spun into irrelevance — at least the album concept hasn't. Sales of digital albums were up more than 100 percent in 2006. But the essence of an "album" has changed. The meaning of "album" is now routinely determined by listeners who create their own mix from tracks they've downloaded or burned from a CD, instead of by the artist.
"I think a lot of people are sad to see the album on its way out, and I can understand that," says Mark Katz, author of "Capturing Sound: How Technology Has Changed Music" (University of California Press, $19.95, 276 pages).
"The positive side is that it's very empowering for the listener. The listener now gets to participate in creating musical meaning. (But) as empowering as it is to be able to create mixes yourself, there's a kind of authority that the artist has, and we're missing out on what that artist's vision is."
So what's the album's future?
Nielsen SoundScan reports that total album sales in 2006 were 588.2 million, a 4.9 percent drop from the previous year. Sales had already hit a nine-year low in 2005 with 618.9 million albums sold.
While the sales figures for full-length albums read like a requiem, digital singles continue to boom. Sales of digital tracks for 2007 are already up to 288 million, 46 million more than this time last year, Nielsen SoundScan says.
"Albums are still being produced and probably will be for a while, but I really do see them on their way out," says Katz. "People aren't listening to them whole, and complain that it's just one or two good songs (on an album) with a whole lot of filler. Albums are just a kind of packaging now. I think something is being lost."
The age of recorded music kicked off in 1877 with Thomas Edison's invention of the tinfoil phonograph. The 78-rpm record was the standard listening format during the first few decades of the 20th century, with each disc holding up to five minutes per side, just enough for a quick song by Duke Ellington.
Collections of 78-rpm records were typically stored in a type of photo album, allowing music lovers to flip through their favorite songs. The term "album" stuck, even as the long-playing record — boasting up to an hour of playing time — made its commercial debut in the late 1940s.
But the single has endured. The 45-rpm record was developed around the same time as the long-playing (33 1/3-rpm) album, and that 45 single filled jukeboxes and bins wherever music was sold.
"Popular music did not take advantage of the LP for quite a while," says Katz, who is also an assistant professor of music at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. "Those of us who grew up with albums tend to think the album has always been the way in which we experience music, as a collection of songs. If you go back further, before recording, the main unit of disseminating music was sheet music — the single song. I wouldn't call the album as we know it an aberration, but it's certainly not the way it's always been done."
The semantics of "album" are still around, even if its original meaning changed. Musicians say, "We're working on our new album" when talking about recording in the studio. "Album" still describes a body of musical work, whether it's on CD, vinyl or in the digital realm.
"That's what the Grammys use, it's 'album of the year,' " says "Bongo" Bob Smith, a Sacramento producer and owner of Bongo Post & Music studios. "It's not an album of vinyl. It's an album on CD. The word has a different connotation now. But the newer generation, I don't know if they have the intimate connection to the appeal of 10 songs that older people do."
That's someone like Janelle Gleason, 15, a sophomore at Sacramento's St. Francis High School. She downloads regularly from iTunes and thinks of "albums" as a term from days gone by.
"When I think of albums, I think of my dad's old Beatles records, which I currently have hanging on my wall more for decoration than their original intended purpose," she says. "The word 'album' has come to represent something old-fashioned and almost obsolete, and in the age of digital music, the term CD is headed in that direction as well."
The more meaningful term in 2007 may be "mix," an album constructed by the listener.
"What downloading allows you to do is create your own collection of songs," says Katz. "I wouldn't call them 'albums.' I'd call them a mix. We can create our own collection of songs that have meaning to us. And that's an interesting development."
Christian Kiefer, 35, still swears by albums. As a singer-songwriter with a literary bent, releasing singles simply won't do for this Sacramento-area artist. He's working on a three — album project with songs inspired by the 43 presidents of the United States, and his next album is a musical narrative about economics, complete with a bibliography in the academic world's MLA writing format.
"I think the era of the single is back in a big way, and that bums me out," says Kiefer. "I'm completely an album guy. If you're dealing with an artist with any kind of integrity or something to say sonically, the idea they can get an idea out in three minutes is ludicrous. Fundamentally, a good album is like a novel, and you have to sit with it and live with it."
Kiefer also frets that listeners are missing out on the sense of discovery an album provides. Sometimes the song that gets played for the umpteenth time on the radio isn't the best track on the album. Being a music fan means digging a little deeper.
"In my case, it's never the hit that gets you," says Kiefer. "The Stooges' 'Fun House,' you've got to listen to that all the way through to '11' to really understand the Detroit mayhem raining down on your head."
Some younger listeners have figured out there's a payoff to digging into albums.
"I still buy CDs because if you just buy the hit songs off iTunes, you miss out on all the great songs that aren't released as singles," says Natalie Offenbecher, 17, a junior at Folsom High School. "Most of the time, I buy a CD after hearing a single on the radio and then I end up liking another song even more."
Smith, the producer, believes that albums are being conceived differently. Instead of being the crux of an artist's career, the album is now viewed as part of an overall marketing scheme.
"Right now, the album isn't about 10 songs: it's about the artist," says Smith, who's worked on recording sessions with guitarist Joe Satriani and the hip-hop group D12. "It's about what they're doing with their videos, what they're doing on tour, what they're doing with their social causes. I've always believed the next 'Sgt. Pepper' will be a multimedia event. People are figuring out there are other ways to promote their artistry."
Could the album format once again come into vogue? For now, music listenership has come full circle with its emphasis on singles. But over time, fans might get tired of making mixes and living in a musical world of one-hit wonders.
"When we've lived with the new era of the single for long enough, I think people will start to miss the album and its possibilities," says Katz. "I see things as cyclic. The album is on its way out, but it won't die. Certain groups will always cultivate it. It might just not be the standard format." | Only registered users can write comments.
Please login or register. |
|
|  | "Humankind cannot gain anything without first giving something in return. To obtain, something of equal value must be lost. That is Alchemy's first law of Equivalent Exchange. In those days, we really believed that to be the world's one, and only truth." | |
|  | We're not that bright, even though in our own little world, we're geniuses. We like 80s hair bands and one-hit wonders, but among us we have respectable tastes, too. Metallica, Iron Maiden, U2. Pursuit of all things trivial is a lifestyle, not just a game. We like some sports, love other sports, and can find something to say about anything. We watch TV and movies and we've read a book or two, even a few classics (Yes, Classic Comics count!)
We call it insight, you call it what you will. | |
|  | Felix Wong is an outdoor enthusiast living in Fort Collins. A mechanical engineer by day, he is especially passionate about bicycling, running, and backpacking. | |
|  | Hola Amigos! I'm Sandra. I like to believe that people are 70 percent good and 30 percent dumb. I'm stickin to that story. Reading this blog might make you want to be good, but probably just dumb. | |
|  | Donovan Henderson is editor of NEXTnc. | |
|  | Here at Nextnc we have some characters. Get a sneak peak behind the curtain and find out what amusing antics our staffers get themselves into on a weekly basis. | |
|  | What is up FoCo?
I am a recent college graduate of Minnesota State University Moorhead. After recieving my B.A. in English and Mass Communications this past August I moved down to Colorado.
I enjoy long walks on the beach, candlelight dinners, and heavy metal. My hobbies include reading and writing, music, movies, and getting drunk. Some of my favorite contemporary authors include Bret Easton Ellis, Chuck Palahniuk, and Kurt Vonnegut. My top movies are anything directed by Kubrick. I enjoy listening to anything that rocks.
Right now I am just trying to get to know Colorado and FoCo better. Mostly in order to find the best drink specials on each day that ends in Y. So if you know where I can get a cheap drunk on, let me know!
--Drew | |
|  | Life's little morsels of inspiration, observation and encouragement seen through the eyes of the Nextnc reporter.
| |
|  | Ms. Giles currently lives in Colorado where she stars in her own private reality show. She writes aphoristic accounts of her life, taken completely out of context, and embellished with characters and situations disguised to resemble something close to interesting. | |
|  | over and out | |
| | My name is Michelle Turley and I'm 28 years old. I live in Severance with my hubbie, Brandon. We have 2 dogs and a cat. We enjoy camping, four-wheeling, and just being in the mountains. I like to cook, clean (go figure), flea market, and play poker. I have so much to say about poker... | |
|
|
|
|
