Singles vs Albums
complete freedom of choice, or a chance to be exposed to the artist’s vision and story aka, the album ?
this post was prompted after reading a discussion thread on Okayplayer’s message boards — under the not-so-subtle heading “People who will only listen to full albums: Wtf is with you”. the discussion there gives a cross-section of opinion from one part of one community, and made me curious as to how most people consume their music and the entire issue of singles vs albums.
there’s two sides to this — there’s the listener who has the power of free-will and choice in what they want to listen to; and the artist without whom the listener has nothing to make that selection from. as both music-maker and listener, i fall under both categories.
is consumer king ?
a lot of people say that the consumer is king in this equation, and what they demand through their actions will decree what the reality is for the music industry. that’s an understandable point of view however, if all creations were dictated by what the consumer thought they wanted, then i think we’d lose a lot of amazing art that innovates beyond what we already have, and goes beyond our expectations.
if you don’t get exposed to it, you might miss it completely:
if i told you a synopsis of the movie The Usual Suspects before you knew anything about it, you might tell me that’s it’s just another whodunnit movie and you wouldn’t necessarily want to see it. when in fact, writer Christopher McQuarrie and director Bryan Singer created a whodunnit movie with an amazing cast, perfect pacing and a twist so unexpected that it became a movie that defined our favorite movies of that time for countless movie fans.
if i told you that i knew this guy who painted faces and people where everything about them was in the wrong place, the wrong size and the wrong color, you might tell me that your kid can do that so why would you want to see some old Spanish man do it ? when in fact, Pablo Picasso did the unimaginable with his paintings and redefined how ‘different’ can be seen and appreciated.
if the consumer is left to themselves to only choose what they know already or feel comfortable with, then how do they learn about new things and push the envelope of their own imagination and inspiration ?
the function of the single
when it comes to albums, traditionally the single was the track that could resonate with the most people and act as the hook, the bait, to draw people into the album. the album was the artist’s story, their movie, their stageplay. introduction, act one, act two, the finale… it’s an entire story created with an intention to take the listener into an imaginary world where the artist paints it all for us to hear and lose ourselves. there might be an awesome scene in a movie or nail-biting climax in a book, but if you consume that lone instance out of context, then you have a lesser emotional connection to your experience of it. you’re basically cheating yourself out of the maximum benefit from ingesting the art. the only way to gain that maximum benefit is to experience that scene as part of a larger whole, a context.
if you flick through the previews of all the tracks of an album on itunes, you get to hear a snippet from each track and somehow the industry expects you to make a snap moment decision on whether or not you want to purchase that track. i know from my own experience, there are plenty of albums that i’ll put on start to finish and i’ll hear a track i’m not so familiar with, or that may have not hit me as quickly on previous listens and suddenly it will be resonating with me — i find a connection and a truth in my experience of listening to the track… a track that if it was left up to the itunes preview model and mindset, i might not have even purchased in the first place.
corporate conditioning vs the artist’s vision
the singles mentality has influenced the way artists create albums. instead of feeling free to create their own world and invite the listener in to get lost in it — perhaps even challenging the listener once they’re in there to extend their own tastes, beliefs and ideals — the artist is being taught to make albums of singles: what essentially amounts to a compilation of pre-imagined greatest hits, more than an album. in my mind, this is naturally counter-productive to growth in creative culture. it’s only there to serve commerce and the more it’s facilitated, the more the listener will be educated to develop a mentality and habit that supports it instead of growing in curiosity and adventure.
when i’m curious about a new artist now, if they have a full length album, then that’s going to be my entry point to their art. a song of theirs will grab my attention and then my natural curiosity wants to know more — what more do they have ? do they have an album ? let me check it out! i’m the first to admit that albums that hold my attention for a full play are few and far between these days — the art of the album has been so adversely affected by the singles driven sales forces. however, when i do come across an artist who doesn’t care about that — and cares more about their art — then i’m more likely to find an album that does tell a complete story, and paints a picture of a world i want to get lost in. this was not such an unusual occurrence in the pre-digital age.
reviving the B-side
often times it was the non-single tracks that the artist’s fans really wanted to hear. one of the joys of the 7” single format was the B-side — a seemingly unrelated track that would be packaged with the A-side single in such a way that as a listener, you would absolutely check it out and give it a try. in a way it would be the B-side that was the real bait to the full length album. if you bought the single, and you enjoyed the B-side, then come on in and check out the whole story! i’d love to see digital sales create a B-side culture — if you buy the single, it gets packaged with a B-side. it’s effectively a free bonus track. this is something that independent artists could do straight away with little inconvenience. major label artists will never have that ability because the corporations that own their recordings would see it as halving the income for both tracks instead of feeding the listener with a great meal that will guarantee they come back for more. when i find an album that i enjoy for its entire story (and yes, even with those there’s always stand-out favorite tracks and more often than not one or two tracks i feel a need to skip sometimes), those are the releases that i’ll shout out about and tell my music loving friends.
people talk about the ADD in our society now and the social media-created blink-and-it’s-gone mindset, but i like to hang on to the hope that our spirits need so much more than that, and the hunger for more can over-ride pervasive corporate conditioning. when a tv series is great, we can watch it and give it our full attention. when a movie is really a cut above the rest we’ll eagerly await a sequel. when a book captures the people’s imagination, if it can maintain a series, the audience will be there with it. when an album is great, i for one want to immerse in that world and experience what the artist has made such effort to create.
i create because i have to. it’s my natural outlet. when i make an album, i aspire to create a story and a cohesive aural world. i’ve been fortunate that i’ve been able to make a career of that. it’s not a career that has seen millions of sales and sell-out stadium concerts, but a career that supports me in doing what i believe in, taking my vision of music all around the world to share it with others, and facilitating me continuing to evolve and grow. either you give the people what you think they want, or you create your vision and what you believe in. for me, there can only be the latter.
people already get what they want all too easily at the click of a button — i (have to) believe that there will always be those who are hungry for more, to hear what they’ve never heard before, see what they’ve never seen before and be given experiences that are special and unique. the singles industry amounts to a mass brainwashing — ironically giving people strictly limited choice, masquerading as complete freedom of choice. yes, you can choose what you want to listen to, create your own playlists, cherry-pick your own favorites. don’t stop doing that — curating your own musical diet is great. just don’t do it at the expense of missing out on all the great art and music that you might not even know you’re ready and waiting to experience.
here’s a simple challenge: take your time to find the B-sides and hidden tracks of the digital age and discover whole new movements.
done that already ?
tell 10 friends to pick up that album you just discovered too!
