The End of Albums
Fascinating article on Pitchfork by Chris Dahlen the other day about the end of albums. Chris's point is that musicians today are failing to keep themselves in the public eye with any consistency and that their careers might be suffering because of it (see Bright Eyes' recent flash in the pan). Instead of continuing the stale "release an album every other year, tour a lot and update the website once every 6 months" model of most bands, musicians should consider taking a cue from television by offering more consistent, serialiazed content. With many people plugged into the internet craving a 24/7 feed of entertainment, iTunes, and Mp3s, it's stupid to have to wait months/years on end for anything new from your favorite bands. That's why I dig artists like Matthew Dallman and Stuart Davis, who maintain regluar web presences and offer new content on a consistent basis (especially Matthew). When my band actually starts recording, we might consider this model as well, perhaps to the point of releasing singles online as we record them (at least the demo versions).
posted by Paul S. at
1:05 PM
4 Comments:
i totally resonate with this idea. as a musician who would like to make a living off my artwork someday, i often contemplate what a good business model would look like in today's world. i think this article is spot on about artists needing to offer consistent content to stay afloat. what excites me about this is that artists can offer their artwork more or less in real time. one could offer mp3s which were recorded just a few hours (or minutes) beforehand. a band could do a web-concert, broadcasting live streaming audio or video of a performance in real time.
i was just reading in Leonard Shlain's Art & Physics about how the technology of audio recording revolutionized the world of music. instead of having to go to a concert to hear music, all one had to do was slap a record on the player and enjoy whatever music they wanted, when they wanted it, and where they wanted it. i think the internet offers similarly revolutionizing technology that has yet to be employed to its potential.
To play the other-side here for a minute. I do think that there is a risk of catering to an ADD pop-culture mentality that has much to do with ennui and emptiness (not the Buddhist plus emptiness, but something more akin to an inner need to be spoon-fed a constant stream of media and information, entertainment and infotainment in order to reify that one's self is real (I consume media, therefore I am).
Anywho, there is something to be said for polishing one's work, for taking months to labour over ten songs. I don't think that will go the way of the dinosaur. But I do suspect that there can be some balance struck between meeting the 'hunger of the masses' and still refining one's art/craft.
Besides, don't you get off on the anticipation anymore? What about waiting months for that new release? What about the anticipation of hooking up with that hottie? What about the seduction-play between artist and audience?
Genuinely,
David Jon
P.S. I do think that at some time a sense of boredom can set in if you give people too much, too fast, too often. The backlask, if you will, is that you start to be taken for granted. There needs to be allure... mystique... mystery... people get off on the unknown relative to the artist, because they can project their own fantasies into that void.
Ooohh.. that dialectic of progress, eh Paul?? ; o )
When I read that article I immediately thought of Stu and how he he has always maintained a presence between albums and even tours. This was well before the blog, the SD newsletter is once and month and his site is always being at the very least tinkered with.
I share David Jon's assesment though of the pitfall of catering to the 24/7 media fed info culture. I buy albums and I look forward to albums of artist I like, and a lot of kids still do, (see the hype surrounding Sufjan Steven's Illinois album) but then again I am hip hop kid who loves vinyl and always have appreciated albums more than songs all by their lonesome, songs without the context of the album lose much of the artists intent, which is how I come to like a particular artist.
Though it can be a drag too like being a Beasties fan when they average an album once every 4-5 years now and their site is never updated.
Anyway, albums aren't about to end, they'll end only to the people without true artist appreciation.
and Paul btw, Stop Reading Pitchfork! haha
bite me jason ;)
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