Albums are dead.

Never give up these babies!

 

Yep, TikTok is where “Old Town Road” by Lil Nas X went viral.

 

I have a few "live" albums.

 

Well of course, it could be made today. But no popular artists today are making the long concept pieces.

 

What about the new Tool album? Very long pieces indeed.

And Arctic Monkeys' last album was a concept album.

 

In 1974, YES were massively popular, practically a household name. I'm not sure about Tool and AM, honestly. But it's nice to know, the PROG flag is still waving.

 

Tell that to consumers that continue to shell out $30 + for new garbage pressings & $$$ for decent original pressings

 

The gimmick is strong with this one!

 

Funny but seems my imagination may be even greater than that.

 

Albums aren’t dead. But the ability to make an albums worth of quality music is. Or at least it’s on life support. There are exceptions of course.

 

The notion that the album is dead is as false as the notion that physical media is dead. The problem is that we tend to look back and remember the concept albums of the past and somehow assume that there were a huge amount of them - but if we go back to the 60s, 70s or 80s and actually look through what was released we find that the concept album was actually in the minority. Many albums then, as now, were just or twelve songs, probably recorded around the same time, and put together on an album and released with a nice picture of the artist on the front. No big over-arching theme, narrative structure, or great idea behind them.

 

The Colour of My Love is the one you will see most often in charity shops. 7 weeks at number 1, 140 weeks in the charts. Needless to say it's multi platinum (in fact it's multi platinum in most major music markets, except Canada, where it is Diamond). She's easily one of the biggest selling album artists of all time.

 

So? The records are still out there, who cares if they're "popular"? (Even Yes didn't post blockbuster sales figures until "Owner of a Lonely Heart.")

 

Tales from Topographic Oceans was number one in the UK. Close to the Edge reached number 4 in the UK, 3 in the US. Yes were popular.

 

Didn't say they weren't, merely that it wasn't until 1983 that they went triple platinum.

 

Suits and accountants.

 

Nostalgia. Vintage is ‘in’.

There are more used Rolex sport watches trading hands in the world than brand new ones, and for more money as well. Sun-bleached bezels and faded dials are all the rage. Authenticity and nostalgia appeal to millennials.

 

I see a lot of kids buying albums. In an age of lasers, the youth must be fascinated by the caveman technology of a needle touching the groove.

 

What I'm seeing are a bunch of Hipsters doing something for show and something vintage again- waiting on line for records? That's so 1990.

 

Stating a fact and wishing something's demise are two different things. Where did you derive from anything I have posted that I wish to see the album dead?
Don't be taking liberties and misrepresenting what I said.

 

What's your point? That decrepit old used CD stores are getting another few months of life on the backs of Hipsters? The same thing is happening at the Salvation Army, prices for used, vintage clothing are at an all-time high.

"Look at me I'm so fetch" only lasts so long. They're not in it for the fidelity. They're in it for the notoriety. Should sound familiar.

 

This had a nice 10 year run.

 

Several artists have stated they aren't going to make albums anymore because people aren't listening to them anymore. From a few months ago:

Sheryl Crow: Well, I have loved the tradition of making records. I grew up holding the actual physical record and poring over the album notes and just dreaming about doing what I'm doing now. And with technology, it's a little bit like putting the toothpaste back into the tube. We can't go back and expect — particularly young people — to listen to albums from top to bottom. It's almost a dying art form in that people cherry-pick songs and put them on playlists. So, I don't know that the listening audience really ever gets the sense of the full artistic statement.

Sheryl Crow Says 'Threads' Is Her Last Album. And She's OK With That

 

For the last 8 years, this is the best selling turntable in the world.

So before you take a victory lap, consider who is buying them and what their commitment is to fidelity.