The album format extinct?

"Last year, digital singles outsold plastic CD’s for the first time. So far this year, sales of digital songs have risen 54 percent, to roughly 189 million units, according to data from Nielsen SoundScan. Digital album sales are rising at a slightly faster pace, but buyers of digital music are purchasing singles over albums by a margin of 19 to 1.

Because of this shift in listener preferences — a trend reflected everywhere from blogs posting select MP3s to reviews of singles in Rolling Stone — record labels are coming to grips with the loss of the album as their main product and chief moneymaker. "

- from this NY Times article

I first saw this article today through the brilliant English mp3 blog, 20 Jazz Funk Greats and I felt one of their writers made a funny, but good point. (It's always funny and well written, by far one of the best mp3 blogs I have come across in terms of writing and content and taste.)

I still don't think albums will die in certain instances; jazz, classical and indie rock, maybe certain electronic. But I do agree that the reason the big labels are suffering is because they have been schilling shit for years. Albums of crap by crap artists with no longevity. I'm not sure how they don't see that after all this time, but I guess if they were smart they wouldn't continued on the path they have been on for so long. We can also blame such an easily entertained, lazy and in my opinion ignorant audience for letting them get away with it.

Lets face it, it's highly doubtful that a major will release many important albums ever again unless they continue to cherry pick indie (Modest Mouse, Decemberists) and electronic (LCD Soundsystem, Hot Chip) acts from the indies and harbor a few token 'important' acts like Radiohead. And even some of those artists, will many of them produce a 'classic' album again or ever? Some of them are past their prime.

I think some of the ideas in the article are actually good for certain genres: country, rap, mainstream pop, and r&b are not really made for the album format. Those have always been primarily singles genres of songs that live in the moment, rarely anything that will be celebrated beyond the few months of its popularity and radio play.

We are still so early into this digital sales thing in music that we won't know what it will be like 2 years from now, much less 5. I think the labels, all of them from the biggest major to the smallest indie, are trying to figure this new game out. And they/we are all watching with interest this wild new market.

Last year was the first year I bought more music online than physical cds. I never thought that would happen, ever. The cds I bought were mostly because they were artists not available on eMusic or sometimes even iTunes. But even my early resistance to buying stuff from iTunes (DRM is the devil and a last vestige of ignorant thinking by the record labels) and other sources (like Beatport and Kompakt) has dropped significantly this year as well. Now I think about an album and wonder, do I really need this on cd? Do I care that much about this thing, the packaging? Some things, like the new Panda Bear, I do because the album is a classic and has beautiful artwork.

One thing I am considering more is buying albums I really love on vinyl instead of cd because there is still some form of fun and discovery in putting on a record these days, compared to cd. With the new record player Kim got me, I can finally hook it up to modern stereos and even my computer so I can rip the vinyl to mp3. For instance the newly released Beach House on white vinyl.

So, yes, I think most physical music will eventually go away and only specific things will still be available on vinyl or cd. I don't think the album format will ever die though.

I don't understand the resistance any longer to subscribing to eMusic and using iTunes and other sources regularly. I still don't support stealing music through Soulseek and other file sharing services though. I think that kind of thing will eventually hurt the whole industry so much that artists and labels won't be able to afford to produce, record and release any albums or songs. The digital age, despite its many unknowns, has made this the best time to be a music fan. So many great mp3 blogs, online music mags, even MySpace and other sources has made music discovery and artist discovery the easiest and most fun it has ever been. I only wish they had all this when I started out with my love of music back when I was young.