2014 is first year ever with ZERO platinum-certified records

Grant Gross said:
People still buy albums? I'm not sure album sales means anything as a metric anymore.

I'm not sure why artists continue to release albums, compared to four- or five-song EPs or just strings of singles.
Click to expand...
I think it depends on the music. If your material is simply individual songs, then fine. If you have a group of songs or material that relates in some way musically, thematically, or etc., then perhaps that material is valuable as an album. I also think that if the audible work is combined with art, be it simply drawn or more multi-media, in terms of an album jacket, all the better.

But I also know I just had another birthday that puts me another year removed from what the under 40 set thinks, and how they value and consume music. Not crying overly for the artists here, but I do like the vanishing art form. At least in terms of platinum sales of popular music.

But is it the album really vanishing? As @Help!I'maRock! , if you go look and find it, it is all still out there to be found. Whether it be vinyl, CD's, downloadable art, etc.
 
bsman said:
I can't feel too sorry for the "artists". They've basically made a decision that this is the path they wished to tread. If they thought it was going to make them rich, then they're naive, deluded and stupid. As others have noted; that has ALWAYS been the exception, not the rule in music (and for that matter, acting, writing, painting, etc., ad infinitum...) OTOH, being able to do something you love for a living (as opposed to doing something you tolerate, as most of us do) often requires some compromise to your expectations of lifestyle. Folks who are not willing to accept this should reexamine their life choices. I think most of us who have "jobs" have accepted compromises, so it seems rather effete for artists to believe that they should not have to do so.

If I come across as harsh, I apologize, but I'm tired of hearing "poor me" stories.
Click to expand...

I'd be sympathetic to your argument if people simply weren't listening to new music.

As is, they are consuming new product, they're just not paying for it.
 
Psychotronic said:
Well, see, that's the common misconception -- it's not units SOLD, it's units SHIPPED. So, it also made it easy to manipulate the numbers, as they don't count units returned from the stores because they didn't sell.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I thinking about this last week wondering how many folks forget that it units shipped. The sales are assumed, making the numbers at least partially crap (or at least not accurate) to the idea that platinum means one million consumers actually bought the album. Sound scene was at one time supposed to count actual sales, but it never got implemented properly to do what it was promoted to.

An artists real impact on the market is likely better measured by their ability to put asses in seats or watch live performance streams, DVD sales, views of those DVDs on various legal streaming services. You can add illegal access as well, but that's harder to track conclusively.


Sorry was just checking up on this thread and realized that when I wrote my response on the iPad it was autocorrected. It should have read SoundSCAN
 
Last edited:
Flamencology said:
I'd be sympathetic to your argument if people simply weren't listening to new music.

As is, they are consuming new product, they're just not paying for it.
Click to expand...


I don't think they are nearly to the extent people were doing so 30-40 years ago. There isn't a coherent "popular" culture any more, most likely because of the same fragmentation of media that we're essentially talking about here. Before the 1980s, there were three major broadcast networks, and a variety of radio stations independently owned and operated. Basically, an eyeballs and ears of an entire generation were exposed to the same programs, songs, etc. at the same time. This led to the mass penetration and consumption of media that had never been experienced before, and most likely will never be seen again. When I was a kid, when a new Beatles album came out, everybody was humming the songs virtually the next day. Nowadays, with the advent of hundreds of networks competing with video games, talk radio, etc. for peoples' attention there is simply not the same level of penetration for any media.
 
bsman said:
I don't think they are nearly to the extent people were doing so 30-40 years ago. There isn't a coherent "popular" culture any more, most likely because of the same fragmentation of media that we're essentially talking about here. Before the 1980s, there were three major broadcast networks, and a variety of radio stations independently owned and operated. Basically, an eyeballs and ears of an entire generation were exposed to the same programs, songs, etc. at the same time. This led to the mass penetration and consumption of media that had never been experienced before, and most likely will never be seen again. When I was a kid, when a new Beatles album came out, everybody was humming the songs virtually the next day. Nowadays, with the advent of hundreds of networks competing with video games, talk radio, etc. for peoples' attention there is simply not the same level of penetration for any media.
Click to expand...

I don't see how that's really relavent. You don't need to be Don Henley.

If people are listening to your music, then you should get a fair cut, plain and simple. Maybe most of your income comes from teaching music lessons, playing gigs, being a paramedic, babysitting, etc.; doesn't matter. If 10,000 people listen to your record, then you should be compensated.
 
Last edited:
sunvalleylaw said:
I think it depends on the music. If your material is simply individual songs, then fine. If you have a group of songs or material that relates in some way musically, thematically, or etc., then perhaps that material is valuable as an album. I also think that if the audible work is combined with art, be it simply drawn or more multi-media, in terms of an album jacket, all the better.

But I also know I just had another birthday that puts me another year removed from what the under 40 set thinks, and how they value and consume music. Not crying overly for the artists here, but I do like the vanishing art form. At least in terms of platinum sales of popular music.

But is it the album really vanishing? As @Help!I'maRock! , if you go look and find it, it is all still out there to be found. Whether it be vinyl, CD's, downloadable art, etc.
Click to expand...

If an artist wants to create a group of 10 to 15 related songs, they should be able to do it. No one's stopping them. However, they should realize that's not where the music-buying public is at these days. I'm not sure why a group of 10 to 15 songs is a magic number, however. Why not four or five or six?

In the 1950s and early '60s, pop music was a singles-driven business. It wasn't until the late '60s or early '70s that the album became a huge thing. Then for many years, record companies nearly forced you to buy the whole album to get the two or three songs you wanted.

Now I can pick and choose. As a consumer, that makes me really happy. There are a handful of artists from whom I'll gladly buy the whole album of songs as soon as it comes out. But for 95 percent of the stuff I buy, it's a handful of songs that I like, and I ignore the songs that don't appeal to me.
 
bsman said:
I don't think they are nearly to the extent people were doing so 30-40 years ago. There isn't a coherent "popular" culture any more, most likely because of the same fragmentation of media that we're essentially talking about here. Before the 1980s, there were three major broadcast networks, and a variety of radio stations independently owned and operated. Basically, an eyeballs and ears of an entire generation were exposed to the same programs, songs, etc. at the same time. This led to the mass penetration and consumption of media that had never been experienced before, and most likely will never be seen again. When I was a kid, when a new Beatles album came out, everybody was humming the songs virtually the next day. Nowadays, with the advent of hundreds of networks competing with video games, talk radio, etc. for peoples' attention there is simply not the same level of penetration for any media.
Click to expand...

That lack of a "coherent popular culture" might actually be the only saving grace of modern pop culture. There's more of everything, including music options than ever before and no one feels obligated to like only one thing to the point of excluding all others. Kids don't go freaky crazy for an artist like they did Elvis, the Beatles, Michael Jackson, etc. and that's to their credit. There are all these folks that are listening to Taylor Swift, Kanye, the Foo Fighters, Jason Aldean (?), Beyonce, Arcade Fire, and more as well as all the music that their parents and even grandparents liked. Further they're also creating their own new stuff or discovering it while we shake our fists at clouds...waiting for nude celebrity selfies.

With relative objectivity I can say that a good amount of the folks on this forum are no longer in touch with what modern popular music fans. I'm right in the thick of that, but my tastes have run outside of Top 40 pop for nearly three decades while still finding a few gems here and there that found their way to that realm. But it's the opposite side of the coin that the kids who think stuff we like is old crap...it's not important to them and may never be...and it needn't be. It's all just entertainment. The cream doesn't always rise.

The mire that is the RIAA is on the executives more than it will ever be on the artists. It's like blaming war on the soldiers drafted or forced fight in it. The real poor me is ME! Now there's even HUGER piles of shit to wade through to find less good stuff, because when I was a boy...HEY!!! Get off my Lawn!!

:thu:
 
I'm just glad I never sold out to the man. Now my music has integrity and is not tainted by the stench of cheap cologne worn by corporate yes-men in cloned pinstripes.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top