The Death Of The Album Has Been Exaggerated
from the if-you-market-properly dept
The common wisdom you hear these days is that the concept of the "album" is dying thanks mainly to the ability to obtain single songs (whether through legal means or not). However, some are beginning to challenge that thinking. Bandcamp, a fantastic service for musicians we've discussed before notes that their sales data bucks the trend: full albums outsell single song downloads on the site. There are a few reasons why:- Most Bandcamp artists are indie and attract fans more interested in complete works than the average Hannah Montana/Lady Gaga flavor of the moment consumer
- You can listen before you buy via Bandcamp. Not just 30 second samples, but rather the whole album.
- iTunes and others price most CD's at $10. Bandcamp artists have found that name your own price with a $5 minimum is a real sweet spot.
- iTunes and others encourage single track purchases with page layouts, buy buttons and featured tracks
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Filed Under: album, music, pricing, sales
Companies: bandcamp
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Deja Who
That sounds so familiar...
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Concur
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Pirates & Full Album Preview
Being able to listen to the whole album before making a purchase decision 'should' encourage a well informed buying decision and creation of whole albums people want to listen to rather than 1-2 select songs.
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of course
The end result was that the price fixing bar was simply lowered. It still exists, and it's $9.99 now. Apple probably has it in an exclusive agreement, I'd bet money.
So of course, the 5$ reality of what a consumer would be happy to shell out, is exactly what the albums don't want. What's another 5$ for your margin when it costs you 0? Answer: a whole lot of executive pocket lining.
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Re: of course
So if you sell 10000 copies at $9.99 or 50000 copies at $5, which line pockets the best.
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Ian Astbury disagrees
Cheers,
The Gaffer
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Re: Ian Astbury disagrees
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Spot on. I also think that part of the problem is that many of the so-called "acts" propped up by the major labels are not capable of producing a whole albums' worth of decent listening. 90% of major release albums are 1-2 good singles and the rest is crap. These singles, I might buy in an itunes format if there is no-drm, but there are still truly talented bands out there, putting out whole albums that are not just good all the way through, but actually better when taken in whole. I would pay $5 regularly for such albums if the option were available.
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Probably Right
When they release their own albums with their own schedule, they will not release until they are satisfied with content quality. And secondly if the downloaded album only costs $5.00, even if I only like half the songs I can dump the rest and still feel that I got value. Now for $20.00 that's a whole other story.
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What I don't understand though is why once you've bought a few tracks of an album on iTunes you still have to pay full price if you later decide to buy the whole album (instead of subtracting what you already paid).
This is especially annoying for things like TV shows, where you might be inclined to buy the first few episodes to see if you want to buy the whole season.
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full albums only
however, this site gives away singles for free... so their sales model is more like a total tip jar. i don't know if they use session variables or something to push you to pay if you download more than a song or two.
i think the real difference is that this is a transaction where people are saying to themselves, "i'm happy to pay $x for this", whereas in the pre-internet model, the mentality was, "i can't believe i'm paying $y for this, but i have no other choice."
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Re: full albums only
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Re: Full Albums Only
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"Hop up out the bed, turn my swag on, look in the mirror and say what's up. I'm getting money"
Wheres the deep music?
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I would find it way more interesting to see actual hard numbers for sales, how many bands actually sell more than a handful of records over there?
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Back in high school my buddy and I would listen to the B-sides of our 45s to see if there was anything any good on any of them. Out of a couple of hundred 45s I think we found two or three that were worth a listen. That's not surprising since record labels invariably would put the worst cut(s) from the album on the B-side of the 45s. Used ot be you could find some real treasure that way: Nat King Cole's version of "Mona Lisa" was on the B-side of some forgettable song that the record company thought would be a hit.
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Re:
I have read several articles regarding the "death" of the album. Yet, I would only buy albums from groups like Porcupine Tree. Their music is so good (IMHO - if you like progressive rock) that each track fascinates me. I think there are many other groups out there who want every song to meet their artistic standard rather than filling up space on a CD.
As for "Thriller," it has a couple of songs that many people classify as "filler," but all of the songs are listenable and as a "bundle" with "P.Y.T.," "Thriller," "Human Nature," and the other quality songs on the album, make buying the album more than worth it. That tended to be how albums from the late 60's and the early 80's were. Indeed, I have purchased CD's of the vinyl albums that were good from that era - and did not purchase CD's of the vinyl albums that had a couple of good songs and all the rest either filler or bad songs. For those kinds of albums, I tend to look for "best of" collections.
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Personally speaking I tend to stream music from an artist I'm new to and if I like it (after a few weeks listening) I buy it. If the price was 50% or even 75% what it is currently then the relative value of album would improve and make it more likely I'll buy it.
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albums
I'll keep buying singles as I like them until an artist I like produces an album that I feel deserves being bought that way.
It's all about choice. If the price is right, and there's only one or two songs I don't like, I'll buy the album, otherwise, I want the ability to choose just the singles I want.
If I am forced to buy an album, I'll walk away.
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