Are there any reasons to still make albums?

Corey Y · August 11, 2011, 01:26:32 PM

I wonder about this subject a lot lately. I'm in two bands, both of which are writing new material to release hopefully by the end of the year or early next year. One of them I know is going to come out on a CD or vinyl and will get pretty good distro, the other I'd be totally happy with just giving away for free as a digital download. I know that sentiment isn't for everyone and it shouldn't be. It seems like there's still a lot of "don't bother sending me a link to your songs, physical goods or nothing" attitude in music journalism though. Which is strange to me, considering every place I've read that sentiment in the last few months is on a blog/e-zine. Even more weird since most of the time when I'm reading that I'm looking at sites devoted to bands that are heavily DIY and don't really care about making a profit from their music (punk/hc, crust, powerviolence, etc.). Seems like distributing free online fits right in with that ethos, although I suppose it's antithetical to the collector mentality that permeates a lot of underground music. I still buy records, just to have something that feels like a physical connection to the music/band, that I can't lose if my computer gets a virus or my ipod crashes. An analog backup so to speak. It's nice though when they include a digital download because 99% of my actual listening is in that format these days. CDs seem to me now the way tapes did in the 90s, so affordable for bands now and yet so seemingly irrelevant. I won't know for sure that CDs are out until I buy a vehicle that doesn't have a cd slot built in, the way I bought a new stereo for my dad and it had an ipod dock instead of a dual tape deck (to his disappointment).

eyeprod · August 11, 2011, 01:53:14 PM

yeah, the whole ipod craze thing has had me bugged from the beginning, but then again mp3's are so handy. They ruined CD's by making CD burning available to the public. Shoulda kept that technology a trade secret and made the public wait for the mp3 format for their music trading. Then a CD would mean something. As it is, CD's are pretty lame, but somehow necessary, and cheap to produce. I'm leaning towards tapes again, but we'll see if I bother to make any. Vinyl is always cool though. It's not that expensive for a simple pressing, but you can't sell it for much profit, so you do it because you want to have it available to your fans and it looks good to potential new fans when you take yourself seriously in that way. Maybe you want something for yourself more than you want to sell it. Who knows, but I think there are plenty on good reasons to make an album.

eyeprod · August 11, 2011, 01:56:09 PM

and I totally wonder about the "send in a hard copy for review" thing. I agree with what Corey says about it. Maybe the reviewers just like a collection of hard copies that they can hoard, or even sell. In reality, it ain't no big thing to type in a url and listen to a few streaming mp3's. I'd argue that it's just as easy as opening a package and putting a disc in a player. I guess they like to review the packaging too? That gatefold sleeve and two colored vinyl really make the music better, yeah?

Corey Y · August 11, 2011, 03:18:13 PM

I have to say, maybe with a bit of irony since I went to art school, but I don't care about album art at all. I care as much about that as I do about stage presence at shows. It has no impact on my enjoyment of the music whatsoever. I do understand some bands are really artistically minded and they're just dying to make cool art for their album, and that's great. For other people who don't care at all though it's just something to stress over and have to find someone to do it for free or pay someone to make it professionally and you might not even end up liking it or feel it captured what you wanted. I feel like it's the pressure to come up with something either profoundly serious and expressive, slickly professional, or charmingly silly and irreverent. Blech...just don't care, sorry, I know that disappoints some people who want a foil pressed quadruple gatefold with signed limited edition lithographs inside with their marble colored vinyl. I'd go for a black cover with the name of the band and album in plain white font, but I'm aesthetically retarded.

Having thought about it a little bit after posting about the "no streaming demos" thing, I think it might be because they want to set some kind of bar to for bands to jump over so they don't get deluged with crappy lazy bands that didn't put any effort into things but still want to be hyped.

eyeprod · August 11, 2011, 03:35:58 PM

^^ that's probably it. good reason too.

clockwork green · August 11, 2011, 04:56:35 PM

What's cool is that lately it seems like there is a bit of a vinyl revival and maybe because of that there is a greater interest in album art with some bands. I love the art on the new Howl album I'm considering getting a tattoo of it and the stuff by Baroness and Dark Castle and a bunch of other bands has been exciting and impressive. Personally I'd like to release everything on vinyl with free mp3's or a cd inside like Shellac. Releasing actual CD's today just seems like a waste. I just worry about investing in vinyl and having them all sit in a box which is what I currently have with our CD's plus some of our songs are too long to cleanly fit on vinyl which is a pain.

What it truly comes down to is getting people to listen to our music and hopefully a few of them like it. Hell, even that really isn't all that important to me...I'm just happy to be getting the songs that are stuck in my head out before they drive me crazy. But if I'm going to release music for others I don't care if I lose a few hundred grand every couple of years...I'm already in it for tens of thousands for gear over my lifetime so far.

Metal and Beer · August 11, 2011, 07:05:11 PM

Good thread, last several posts especially. We're obviously right in the middle of change, upheaval, evolution in the whole game now; it'll be interesting to see how it all shakes out. I'm personally thankful of the internet's place in breaking down the big business big money monolith the record business was in the last few decades, and the increased availability/distribution of music in general. I get the "But now we gotta hear everybody and their damn brother's bands!!1" argument but I think it's worth it for the benefits... the "You NEED us!!" prybar labels always had over us dwindles daily--cost of recording and distribution is shrinking, etc.
Anyway, no sharp point to this post other than to say the thread is good discourse. Cheers fellas

mawso · August 12, 2011, 04:50:17 AM

Quote from: eyeprod on August 11, 2011, 01:56:09 PM
and I totally wonder about the "send in a hard copy for review" thing. I agree with what Corey says about it. Maybe the reviewers just like a collection of hard copies that they can hoard, or even sell. In reality, it ain't no big thing to type in a url and listen to a few streaming mp3's. I'd argue that it's just as easy as opening a package and putting a disc in a player. I guess they like to review the packaging too? That gatefold sleeve and two colored vinyl really make the music better, yeah?

I've found that most webzines etc. want a physicial copy.. only very few are interested in an mp3.

If I ran one of those things, I'd probably do the exact same thing. I mean, any asshole out there with a computer can plug into some amp sim software and sequence up some drums, drink a bottle of cough syrup and hit the red button on some takes and have an "EP" 5 hours later. At least if someone's gone to the effort to press discs, have some artwork, address envelopes, pay for postage.. well, that's no guarantee that it's any good, but it's going to filter out a lot of the more half-assed bullshit.

I get the feeling that most of these review sites get way more music than they can deal with as it is.

Interestingly enough, I've had a handful of journalists get in touch with me off the back of some of the other press we've had to inquire about getting a review copy of our EP. These guys all want the electronic copy - I guess because they want it straight away.

MichaelZodiac · August 12, 2011, 08:57:05 AM

I have a podcast I've been doing now almost 2 years. And mostly it's 50/50. I get as much digitally as I get physically. A lot of labels have a press contact so they work almost always digitally. Smaller labels or the bands themselves often inquire which format they should use. So long as the mp3's are high quality I have no problem with digitally. For the very first paper edition of the podcast I'm now expecting to get some new promo's in my mailbox, all high quality mp3's (320 kbps, some bands send their wav-files they get from the studio). I mean since I listen everything through my tube amplifier (depending on the hour with headphones or my technic cabs), it doesn't really vary that much.

That being said, a physical album is just nice to have. But most of the times you get a physical copy, it's just a CDR, especially when the record is coming out on vinyl... So why bother for the artwork?

neighbor664 · August 12, 2011, 11:09:03 AM

Quote from: clockwork green on August 11, 2011, 04:56:35 PM
I'm just happy to be getting the songs that are stuck in my head out before they drive me crazy.

These days I feel the same way, I often say that I play music for the same reasons that I take a shit. If I don't get it out of me it will build up inside me and make me sick. Sure it stinks, but it feels great to get it out.