Not necessarily. Your piece covered the aspects of CDs getting shitty art because more people want to just download songs or albums these days instead of buying a CD. This piece focuses on the purely digital-based formats having zero artwork at all, save for some items on iTunes, as well as the interesting factoid that music fans who download albums from torrents often pick those with artwork scans included over those that don’t.
The question isn’t about the relevance of album art - it’s about the relevance of the album.
I’ve said it numerous times: the music industry is going in reverse, back to the time of the almighty 45 rpm single, only this time songs are going straight to iPods, miniature TVs and phones. The person who is interested in digital music in it’s most peripheral sense is not a collector. They don’t want to wade through Xtina’s newest thing just to get the two hits.
Now, all they need is to download the two hits. I imagine at least 70% of iPod owners think along these lines. If two songs are all that are getting sold, why record an album? Plunk the money into high production on those two singles and a lo-res YouTube video that can port over to your video IPod, and that’s it.
I still love albums; I love when a full statement is made with 8 to 12 songs, the packaging ties into the music, and all of that, but it requires an attention span that has been evolved out of the modern DNA.
Besides, if your next favorite song is the soundtrack to an endlessly played TV commercial, who needs ownership?
DwD
Well, as I said on a more recent post, I agree with that, but I am still a collector even though I am preferring the digital format over the CD these days. For me, it’s become a matter of physical space and also just - I guess as you have put it here - “evolved” - out of really caring about having a booklet and a back tray card to go along with my music. Honestly, I can’t ever think of a time when I sat around and gazed at a CD booklet for any length of time even when I was preferring my stuff on a physical format.
Sorry, but didn’t I cover this six weeks ago?
http://www.esdmusic.com/2007/08/14/yet-another-ripple-effect-of-the-slump-in-cd-sales-really-shitty-album-covers/
Not necessarily. Your piece covered the aspects of CDs getting shitty art because more people want to just download songs or albums these days instead of buying a CD. This piece focuses on the purely digital-based formats having zero artwork at all, save for some items on iTunes, as well as the interesting factoid that music fans who download albums from torrents often pick those with artwork scans included over those that don’t.
The question isn’t about the relevance of album art - it’s about the relevance of the album.
I’ve said it numerous times: the music industry is going in reverse, back to the time of the almighty 45 rpm single, only this time songs are going straight to iPods, miniature TVs and phones. The person who is interested in digital music in it’s most peripheral sense is not a collector. They don’t want to wade through Xtina’s newest thing just to get the two hits.
Now, all they need is to download the two hits. I imagine at least 70% of iPod owners think along these lines. If two songs are all that are getting sold, why record an album? Plunk the money into high production on those two singles and a lo-res YouTube video that can port over to your video IPod, and that’s it.
I still love albums; I love when a full statement is made with 8 to 12 songs, the packaging ties into the music, and all of that, but it requires an attention span that has been evolved out of the modern DNA.
Besides, if your next favorite song is the soundtrack to an endlessly played TV commercial, who needs ownership?
DwD
Well, as I said on a more recent post, I agree with that, but I am still a collector even though I am preferring the digital format over the CD these days. For me, it’s become a matter of physical space and also just - I guess as you have put it here - “evolved” - out of really caring about having a booklet and a back tray card to go along with my music. Honestly, I can’t ever think of a time when I sat around and gazed at a CD booklet for any length of time even when I was preferring my stuff on a physical format.