Albums are dead.

Just ask Siri to do exactly what you have stated above, voila, no problem. You control it at the end of the day, not Siri (well, not yet ).

 

I have seen many posts on this forum trying to bash streaming, however using identity theft to do so is among the strangest ways to do so that I have ever seen lol

Fun fact, my friend had his credit card stolen at a record store. Me and him never have had our identities stolen subscribing to Spotify or downloading Journey's greatest hits on iTunes

 

Right. I guess I short-circuited with the Siri reference. Modern Dad was expounding the merits of automated playlists based on a "profile", I believe.

That sounds like Hell, to me.

 

When "it" can... I don't want to know.

 

Are any of those songs on Albums? I don’t listen to jazz rock, I prefer yacht rock. Most of what you’re listening to is from ALBUMS. I don’t purchase music from Apple Music. I bought three physical albums yesterday from HMV. If I decide to dice some of them into playlists later that might be cool. For now I’m getting into the albums.

 

Spot on. How many interviews have you listened to or read where the artists describe how they made a particular album. Often the album acts as a catalyst for their creative process. Some albums evolve over time but others come together in a burst of creativity around the theme of the album once the artist decides what it is. As long as artists feel comfortable working that way the album will LIVE on.

 

There is a difference between an "album", a "mix", or a "compilation". Traditionally, (yeah, "who cares"...) an "album" is a collection of songs created by an artist within a certain time frame.
Also, an "album" may have a theme, or concept. A "mix" or "compilation" may also (but not necessarily,) have a theme or concept, but an "album" is issued by the artist.

 

Albums aren't dead by a long shot, just like wildly incorrect thread titles.

 

Don't use credit cards

Cash only. Just them there old days

 

Out of curiosity were these new albums by current artists?

 

Films as a whole defined project are still being made and released, are they not? No one is writing and filming individual scenes and just releasing those. Same with books.

Cant really compare them to albums regardless of format, especially since most albums don’t tell stories the way that films and books do. The numbers are very revealing that albums are in decline. That’s unfortunate but the upside is that it may result in artists who do make albums making sure that every track is worth streaming for the average listener.

 

If profiles are based in large part on purchasing and listening habits -- and they are, which I know because my company works with all but one of the major streaming services -- and you're the kind of person who routinely listens to combinations like Dusty and PiL in the same session, which is absolutely nowhere near as weird and random and out of the box as you seem to think, then yeah, your algorithm would include juxtapositions like that.

I remember back in the 90s when some dudes at MIT were creating the recommendations algorithm that later became the backbone of Pandora. My friends and I would play with it, and in its earliest iterations, it was just hilariously primitive. ("Gee, if I like Throwing Muses, I might also like Belly? Why, however did you figure that out?" [Note for the youngsters: Belly's singer-songwriter had been in Throwing Muses.])

But that was also 25 years ago. Newsflash: the algorithms are a lot better today than they were 25 years ago. Mine are still a little weird because I mostly use streaming services for work-related projects, and they occasionally have trouble distinguishing between "things I'm listening to because I have to" and "things I'm listening to for fun." But they are in fact generally fairly right on the money.

Still, I do the vast majority of my leisure listening to albums, almost entirely on vinyl, because that's how I prefer to purchase and enjoy my music when I'm at home. Doesn't make me either a hidebound traditionalist nor a nostalgic millennial, though. There's room for both albums and streaming.

 

Well many of the artists are still working but these were used records from the 50s through the 80s, classic rock, pop, singer/songwriter, country, classical, disco, jazz, soul and R&B.

 

I actually thought he was talking about portable CD players (those round walkman like ones). I used to own one in the 90's and it scratched and scuffed up my CD's badly. If it's the choice between that and an ipod I'll take an ipod.

 

I'm a gen X'er who is rampantly buying all the CD's I want. I don't think they will disappear overnight but it will get more difficult and pricey to find certain titles. My fear is that they will stop making CD players. It will be like the Twilight Zone episode where the guy has all the books in the world to himself but he breaks his glasses!

 

The album is dead, long live the album!

 

Oh my. With all that craft shop volume rolling in, just imagine the opportunity at flea markets and garage sales.

 

Yes, spending $3 a month for access to 45 million songs is a waste of money but spending $15 a month for batteries is smart!

 

We asked some random people about the last album they listened to all the way through, and where the 'long-player' format even fits into their lives.

Noisey: Hi, how much do you think people still care about “the album” as a way of consuming music?

Laura: Ummm… not much, because we don’t buy CDs anymore. I think now it’s more like… like tasting different things. Now you have things like Spotify’s daily mixes and all these playlists.

Do you still listen to albums all the way through from start to finish?
Laura: No.

Well, damn. Can you think of the last album, new or otherwise, that you actually listened to all the way through?
Adam: It was an album by Nicolas Jaar… but I listened to it on YouTube. I dunno if that’s allowed?

The Album Format Might Not Make Much Sense Anymore

 

How is it 'ugly' that someone like me who is not an Elvis fan owns every Elvis album ever made? To discover and listen to and, perhaps, take a liking to for $3 a month?

Streaming makes the world a better place. More artists are getting discovered and more music than ever is being created. So what if the tired old format called "an album" has become obsolete? Playlists are exploding, music is back, you should be thanking Streaming for saving this sad, selfish industry.

 

Almost makes me wish I was a random person, like in these very real and actual anecdotes.

 

But I was hoping for its collapse.

Boo, streaming! Boo!

 

You can curate your own playlists on Apple Music, no different than your old mixtapes in the cassette era, burns in the CD era, or playlists in the iTunes downloads era.

But what you'll find is that after a few months the machine learns what you like and what you don't and will serve you songs/artists that surprise and delight. And then you stop making your own playlists full of the same-old songs and embrace the Streaming platform's uncanny ability to do a better job of it.

 

Plus $15 a month for an iPhone when you consider they have to be replaced every five years because Apple want you to upgrade.

Re the thread title, I couldn't disagree more. I'm continually buying new albums on CD and streaming them as well.