58 new of 87 responses total.
Not that there's anything wrong with it...
Actually the proper thing to be eating while staring at an album cover and listening to the record is brownies :) Truth is, if you study the history of popular music, the advent of the album heralded a glory time for the genre. For decades, the artists didn't write the songs, the songs were written down on TinPan Alley (where all the music offices used to be located, here in NYC near Chelsea) The songs were released one at a time, they had to be a certain length and no longer and they were kept simple. Elvis sang three minute songs and he didn't write any of them. He performed what he was told to perform. It wasn't until the advent of the album that artists started to really break out and expand the genre. A great album is like a book, you listen to it from beginning to end and it tells a story. A collection of singles from the Rolling Stones doesn't have the same impact as a great, cohesive album like Exile On Main Street-- which is as a whole greater than the individual songs on it. Bob Dylan did "Like A Rolling Stone" as a six minute plus song. In the singles era, he'd never have gotten away with that. You didn't do six minute singles. A song that long only gets recorded when its going on an album. You'd never have seen The Who do "Tommy" in the singles era, what, you're going to do a rock opera on a stack of 45's? I mourn the closing of Tower because it was one of the last big places that showcased albums. It went down because people of younger generations don't have the patience for albums anymore. They don't want the entire Mona Lisa painting, they just want the smile in the middle of it. Listening to a song outside the context of the album is like reading the reader's digest version of a novel. Music as art suffers when you do this.
I don't agree that the younger generation doesn't want albums anymore. I think they'd gladly pay for an album of good quality music. But have you listened to the albums out there. They'll have one good song that's made it on all the radio stations and about 9 or 10 songs that are total crap. No one wants to pay close to $20 for one good song. Artists also aren't releasing most of their songs in the albums. Used to be that an artist would release at least 5 or 6 songs in an album, so you knew what you were getting. Now it seems that every album has one, maybe two signature songs that will be released, and people are expected to judge a whole album based on that. People caught on. No one likes being ripped off.
I agree that the decline in the quality of albums in the last ten years played a significant role in what has happened. Some studios started realizing that if many people bought albums just for one or two songs, that as long as those songs are recorded, why should they pay for the artist to take months or years to come up with the rest of the songs that would make an album. Artists are under pressure to get the product out now, studios won't give them the time to do their best work anymore. As a result you see songs placed on albums to fill them out that were recorded out of context and have nothing to do with each other. Its as if a publisher didn't want to wait for an author to write a whole book, so he takes the two great chapters he has done, and takes this chapter and that chapter from other books the author's been working on, lumps them all together and calls it a "novel", when its actually just a mismash of odds and ends that don't fit together into an overrall arc. In the neverending quest to make money, these studios sell out the artists.
Right - so blame the studios then, don't blame the patrons.
Not every album is a concept album.
Also, make sure you distinguish between types of consumers. There are plenty of people who appreciate the value of an album over the value of a single, but they're not as high-profile as your average teeny bopper making a mixtape of their favorite Justin Timberlake and Beyonce songs. Maybe you're looking at one group of consumers and stereotyping the rest?
What's wrong with Justin Timberlake? His music is so much better than the boyband's he was in
I know it sounds snobbish but Justin's not exactly an "artist" in my book. But he is a fantastic singer!
Viseo killed the radio star, then went on to kill the video star and the album (video, that is) as well.
Hey richard, are you familiar with American Idiot?
Oooh - what a *great* album.
And somehow the "concept" needed no fancy LP album art!
Re: #41. Yes it is!
Hey! What's wrong with concept albums?!
Listen to the Beach Boys "Pet Sounds" all the way through and tell me if the songs don't mean more collectively than they do individually...
As it's one of the best albums ever made - some say the best ever made - it's hardly a fair comparison.
Pet Sounds was stupid. If it was so profound at the time then the Rolling Stones never would have become the legend that they are. I also think Dylan's departure from social commentary lyrics contributed to the Beach Boys mayonaisse being somewhat a "safe" place for young Kresge shoppers to get their records without pissing off their parents. Give me Mahogany Rush and MC5 and I'll show you collective ingenuity.
Re 47: Did you really listen to Pet Sounds though? I can't think of a more moving song than "Caroline, No". The whole album is really phenomenal. It does take a few listens to find out why it's not just a "surf" pop album. It's worth the patience though.
re #48 Yea, I had to listen to the stupid album for a Rock and Roll History class at South Seattle Community College. Frankly, I was not impressed. It would take a bit of work to convince me the Wilsons with their perfectionist father were more talented than the Funk Brothers of Motown or the Wall of Sound music that came out of Harlem.
Re 49: If it helps, Brian Wilson was pretty much the sole creative mind for
Beach Boys. He drew on influences like Phil Spector ("wall of sound") and
George Martin (Beatles) to produce Pet Sounds. Afterward, he went on to write,
produce, perform the best-selling single in history. IMHO, most talented
artist of his time.
The lyrics were drawn from where? The Hardy Boys books?
Where did your long hair go Where is the girl I used to know How could you lose that happy glow
Brian Wilson wasn't a good lyricist, but sure could put together a great sounding song. "Pet Sounds" is hard to understand but I agree with resp:50 that it's worth the effort. I don't know if I'd consider Brian Wilson to be as talented as Lennon and McCartney but then I don't really care about such measurements. He produced great music with the Beach Boys before he checked out of reality. Lennon/McCartney produced great music with the Beatles and afterward. I'm glad that we had both groups.
The bad news for the music business is not going to be limited to the loss of Tower Records. > ...Tower has provided a lifeline for the independent sector, with > many niche labels dependent on the retailer for selling its product in > the US. "A whole bunch of smaller labels are going to disappear > completely," said René Goiffon, president of the classical label > Harmonia Mundi. "The smaller labels are probably going to lose 80% of > their sales." > > With Tower gone from Los Angeles, he said, there would only be two > serious music shops to cater for a city with a population of more than > 4 million. "It's the end of an era for me and many others," said Mr > Goiffon. "It was the biggest name, the last name that was synonymous > with music, commitment, catalogue and knowledgeable buyers. We are > left with Best Buy, Target, Wal-Mart and K-Mart, which are all stores > where companies like Harmonia Mundi have no presence whatsoever." http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,1890819,00.html A commenter at the music business rumor board velvetrope.com who claims to have worked in CD distribution was more optimistic; he felt that jazz and classical labels would only lose 20-40% of their sales, not the 80% forecast by the president of Harmonia Mundi. But, several weeks or months out, I expect to see a lot of dominos falling among smaller music labels, especially the ones outside the mainstream.
Can the smaller CD companies sell over the internet? How do libraries purchase CDs?
re #55: > Can the smaller CD companies sell over the internet? Sure they can, but how are you going to know which companies are out there and what they have for sale? They need marketing to drive sales, and most of these really small labels don't have anything like the resources needed to compete in the new market.
It was sad to be out at the Tower Records next to Lincoln Square yesterday and see all the going out of business signs and shelves going bare. There were really a lot of people in despair over in the classical music room. That store is right next to the Met and got a lot of business from people going to or from the opera. Tower was the last remaining chain that had a huge stand alone classical section, and its closing is said to be having reverberations in the classical recording industry. Unlike other genres, the classical music buyer tends to be older and tends to like to buy their music in person, not on the internet. A lot of niche classical labels may well go under now. There is a related article in today's new york times about this (10/26)
er whoops, I meant yesterday's new york times (10/25), my bad...
Digital Music News continues with its rumorish reports of an impending crash in CD sales. The hard numbers from the RIAA for the first half of 2006 report a 15% decline in dollar value, and a 15.7% decline in physical units shipped. (For simplicity's sake, we'll assume that physical units are all CDs -- they are nearly all of it, anyway.) > "In the current ((third)) quarter, several sources close to the data > noted that the disc is starting to dive, and one projection included a > plunge as deep as 20 percent." http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/#102606drop My speculative view is that CD sales will crash in the 4th quarter. Sales were propped up in the 4th quarter last year because CDs made easy holiday presents requiring little thought; but at some point shoppers are going to realize that most people would rather not bother with more CDs. (See http://whatacrappypresent.com :) ) The liquidation of Tower Records is a trailing indicator, but it is also a clear sign to many consumers that the CD is a fading format.
If anyone wants to send me CDs, both my birthday and Christmas occur during the 4th quarter and I will be happy to accept them to do my part to keep the record companies going..
re #60 Do you accept boots?
size 14 EEE.
bootlegs!
I refuse to answer that question on the grounds that it may incriminate me.
Michael Arrington of TechCrunch posted some software that lets you save YouTube videos to disk and got a cease & desist order from YouTube. According to Arrington, the YouTube terms of service don't forbid this. It's kind of ironic to see YouTube getting all huffy about intellectual property issues. The full story is here: http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/11/15/huh-youtube-sends-techcrunch-a-cease- desist/ Or, if you prefer: http://tinyurl.com/ssoh7
I've been meaning to get around to a response on the copyright issues involved in YouTube. Since Google bought them, it appears that YouTube is going to become a magnet for suits, now that there is some money to be extracted.
They should just go to Moore's.
Back to music retail issues for a minute: Sony BMG, one of the four major labels, is reported to have nearly wiped out its classical music division. What's left of the classical music division has been reassigned to be part of the "Commercial Music Division," which seems to be oriented mostly towards historic reissues and licensing for movies/tv/ads/etc. My interpretation of this is that there will be few/no new recordings of classical music from the Sony-BMG operation, which brings an end to the great classical music legacy of Columbia and RCA Records. The "Commercial Music Division" doesn't appear to have anything to do with new recordings. http://www.musicalamerica.com/news/newsstory.cfm?archived=0&storyID=14985&c ategoryID=1&cookies=1 I speculate that this is direct fallout from the closing of Tower Records, and the continuing cutbacks at Borders. Beyond Borders, there is no significant in-store retailing of classical music left in the USA.
That's so sad to hear!
I will take good care of my LPs.
Here's a dire report on Borders, the Ann Arbor-based chain which is the last nationwide storefront retailer with much of a pretense to covering less popular genres such as jazz, classical, folk and world. http://www.coolfer.com/blog/archives/2006/12/friday_morning_40.php I am not an expert on reading the underlying Securities & Exchange Commission filing, but it sounds like CD sales are a lead balloon dragging down the entire Borders chain. Quote: > "Comparable stores sales in the music category were down 17.8% for > the 13 weeks ending October 28, 2006." *** !!! down 17.8% !!! *** My speculative guesstimation is that Borders will try to get out of CD retailing over the next two years. I saw one Internet rumor that Borders planned to cut the number of CD titles in stock by about 1/2 this quarter. (( Borders is also reducing the space devoted to books in the stores I frequent, and they seem intent on turning into a greeting card retailer.))
(( I've noticed the same thing, even in Borders' flagship Ann Arbor store. Bummer. If I want to patronize a brick-and-mortar bookseller these days, it's usually Barnes & Noble. ))
I dont have a problem with bookstores selling stationary type items and greeting cards and the like. But they do seem to go overboard with it. It would be too bad if Borders cut back on their music section but I have to admit that as a consumer, even with a 33% discount on most music, I still find the prices too high to justify it to myself. For that matter, I seldom buy books there anymore either for the same reason.
I always check first with Nicolas, in West Gate shopping center. Locally owned, can order practically everything in print.
Nicolas is a good bookstore
Border's becoming mainly a greeting card type store would be very sad indeed.
We have gone in to look at magazines there, after the library closed at 9.
I think CD retailing is falling victim to the economy of transferring data over the Internet, instead of pressing the data onto little physical objects and shipping them all over the country. Music has been the first major data-based product to go this route, because its bandwidth needs are relatively low. Software is quickly following suit. I think within a few years movies may start to be delivered that way, too, and when that happens we'll see Blockbuster and even Netflix starting to suffer.
I suspect that Netflix will try to compete in the movie download business.
I agree - Netflix seems start enough to jump on the bandwagon.
In this country, lovefilm (which can perhaps most succinctly be described as "the uk's netflix" already offer some films by download - some for rental, some to own. However, though you already a flat charge for a given number of titles at any one time, per month, they charge extra for any downloads - even time-limited ones. It's a larf.
While technically about movie piracy, and not the music industry, I can't help but think this logic will find its way into the music debate somehow. Won't someone think of the FARMERS! http://techdirt.com/articles/20070621/004352.shtml
Yeah, there's a lot of corny music out there that needs protection.
Yeah, if piracy isn't stopped, the music industry will stop sponsoring country music shows, which will reduce the sale of cowboy boots, which will harm bootmakers, which will harm farmers who sell cowhides . . . .
..which will in turn affect the price of agricultural land, which will have an affect on real estate prices, threatening to topple out banking and finance industries, causing runaway Weimar-Republic-style inflation, which will lead to the rise of a brutal genocidal dictator only *this* time he'll be armed with nukes and bio-weapons. So remember kids, DON'T TRADE MP3s. The future depends on YOU!
Fear-mongering is FUN!!!
Here's some heart-warming news for those hoping the excesses of the RIAA may finally get reined in: http://tinyurl.com/2d8z3e
You have several choices: