The Album, a Commodity in Disfavor

Never posted this, in April 2007.

The Album, a Commodity in Disfavor


Last year, digital singles outsold plastic CD’s for the first time. So far this year, sales of digital songs have risen 54 percent, to roughly 189 million units, according to data from Nielsen SoundScan. Digital album sales are rising at a slightly faster pace, but buyers of digital music are purchasing singles over albums by a margin of 19 to 1.

Because of this shift in listener preferences — a trend reflected everywhere from blogs posting select MP3s to reviews of singles in Rolling Stone — record labels are coming to grips with the loss of the album as their main product and chief moneymaker.

In response, labels are re-examining everything from their marketing practices to their contracts. One result is that offers are cropping up for artists like Candy Hill to record only ring tones or a clutch of singles, according to talent managers and lawyers.

But now, there's more:

Up Next -- Your Favorite Album:
A growing number of older musicians are giving fans exactly what they came for: live performances in which the set list comprises an entire classic album, played in sequence from start to finish.

The artists who have deployed the gimmick or plan to do so soon are a diverse lot. Pink Floyd's Roger Waters has played live versions of the band's epic commercial juggernaut “Dark Side of the Moon” while Sonic Youth hit the road this summer to play its indie-rock landmark “Daydream Nation.” And the trend isn't limited to the most revered works of these performers: Lou Reed spent part of the summer in Europe performing “Berlin,” a downbeat 1973 record that was panned by critics and fans alike upon release but has gained status over the years.

This fall, alternative-country singer/songwriter Lucinda Williams will play weeklong stands in New York and Los Angeles with each night featuring a complete performance of one of her five most prominent albums, such as 1998's “Car Wheels on a Gravel Road.” But during a second set, she'll play selections from her 2007 release “West.”

Playing an album in its entirety would seem to be a counterintuitive move at a time when the long-form album is supposed to be dead as both a commercial and artistic force.

We didn't get to see Sonic Youth play their version of Daydream Nation unfortunately, maybe next time. One thing though bothers me about the artists and promoters who claim that performing an album in its entirety is some sort of an anti-iPod statement. Ever since the first iPod was released, a user could, if they chose, shuffle by album. I usually use this setting actually, though it doesn't mean an entire album is played in sequence, because some entire albums aren't worth keeping on my iPod, quite frankly.

The impetus behind the current wave of live album concerts comes from England, and in particular from Barry Hogan, the 35-year-old London-based founder and director of an influential music festival called All Tomorrow's Parties. “When you see a band you love, how often are you sitting there thinking, 'Why are they doing this new stuff?'” Mr. Hogan asks. And after having asked himself that question one too many times, he decided to do something about it. In 2005 he launched a concert series, related to All Tomorrow's Parties, called Don't Look Back. That series has presented around two dozen alt-rock artists playing beloved albums in their entirety -- from Iggy Pop's Stooges playing 1970's “Fun House” to the Cowboy Junkies doing 1990's “The Trinity Session.”

This year, Mr. Hogan has brought his series to the U.S., presenting concerts by such influential acts as Sonic Youth, Mudhoney and the rapper GZA.

Mr. Hogan says he conceived of the series in part as “a rebellion to the iPod Shuffle, where people download odd tracks.”

“That kind of thing is ruining music,” he insists. “We're celebrating the album as an artform.”

Yeah, I don't agree. What's ruining music is major labels futile quest to sell a gazillion units of the latest craze, and not bother building up bands, slowly maturing and growing a fan base. If the entire album is filled with good songs, people will buy it. Albums with two “hits” marketed heavily and the rest filled with dreck, well, surprisingly the label will sell those two “hits” more than the complete album.

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