Goodbye Album, Hello 3P
More and more established artists and labels are shying away from releasing albums and concentrating on singles and small song blocks.
Last month, Rhino Entertainment announced that it will be releasing a series of “digital 45s” – a bundle of 2 singles and artwork.
In a recent interview, Thom Yorke of Radiohead told Believer Magazine,
None of us want to go into that creative hoo-ha of a long-play record again. Not straight off. I mean, it’s just become a real drag. It worked with In Rainbows because we had a real fixed idea about where we were going. But we’ve all said that we can’t possibly dive into that again. It’ll kill us…. we need to get away from it a bit.
Even the Big 4 have hinted at a desire to release smaller song blocks more often.
This focus on a small amount of tracks rather than full-length albums is nothing new. In the 1950s and 60s, singles – more accurately, 45’s (the single on one side, a different song on the B-side) – were a significant part of any rock or pop label’s business. Even after the advent of the CD and the collapse of the singles market, many genres continued to see releases in the form of singles and EP’s – EDM, punk, and hip-hop to name a few.
Yet, when someone mentions the “death of the album,” inevitably a few still cry that this means the death of music itself. Or more commonly, independent bands and musicians still see releasing an album as the ultimate goal.
Why is that?
Who hasn’t complained (or heard someone complain) about the fact that you spend X amount of dollars on a full-length CD only to get 2 or 3 good songs?
I’m certainly not saying that there is anything wrong with the full-length album. Many bands have released albums that I listen to from start to finish in one go, and even more have created albums that, while still a collection of songs, form a cohesive vision that becomes greater than the individual tracks.
But in the past several decades, the album has become the default for every musician. The strategy of focusing on albums is primarily a product of the major labels marketing and distribution arms. The introduction of the compact disc further fueled this mindset – with a one-size-fits-all medium that cost the same to manufacture whether it contained 6 minutes of music or 60, it didn’t make sense for the labels or consumers to wait for anything less than an album’s length collection of songs.
And so, many independent musicians have become ingrained in the belief that the album is the hallmark of a legitimate artist.
Independent musicians who haven’t already should challenge this belief. The album-as-the-default is an aberration in the history of recorded music. Digital music and the internet have removed the limitations of physical media. And there are many benefits to concentrating on releasing smaller collections of songs more often.
The old paradigm of making a record every three, four or five years and flogging it around the world, making sure Inuits and third world denizens are aware of it before you go back into the studio, is dead. It’s about placating your core. And your core does want access, but what it wants most is music. A huge fan will buy your album the day it’s released (if he doesn’t steal it weeks before, and then buy it in support anyway!) and play it incessantly for…a few weeks? I’ve played a number of albums for a week straight. But after that, you know it, you move on, you want something NEW! So, when radio tells you they’ve got the new track by ___________ your ears used to prick up, until you found it was another album cut that you digested YEARS AGO!
Rather than building to a one time event, keep your audience engaged. And they might be interested in what you had for lunch and who you’re screwing, but what they want most is music. Make more music! In today’s world it doesn’t matter if each track is perfect. The audience will separate the wheat from the chaff, then you can play the winners in concert and the various iterations can be traded ad infinitum! The music is alive, it grows and changes, it’s not calcified on wax.
So rather than focusing on a drop date, create a lot along the way, and monetize along the way.
The writers of the New Rockstar Philosophy (I highly recommend checking out their blog and free ebook!) coined a term to describe this strategy – 3P. Instead of releasing a full-length album every year (or every 2 or 3 years…), musicians should look at releasing 3-4 songs every 3-4 months:
It’s so ingrained into our head’s that the album is a sacred piece of work. There’s just so much music and it’s way too easy to access. There’s just too much vying for our attention. How many bands were you into a few years ago and have totally lost interest in today? They didn’t put out an album for two years and you stopped caring.
Consistent new music in small chunks like the 3P (three song chunks every 3 or 4 months) keeps a fan engaged, allows all your tracks to really sink in with a listener, lets you focus on making those few songs great, and doesn’t break the bank.
They explore the 3P in more depth in another recent post, explaining:
[T]he 3P is a perfect idea for any artist. Cheaper, quicker, more music to your fans more often, and 3 songs is just enough music to be able to make a significant statement while keeping it manageable and chunk-able for yourself. You could put out 3 political songs, 3 alt-country songs, 3 heavy numbers, lullabies, or whatever you choose to do you can position it to be more then just 3 regular songs. You can position it as a stand alone peice of art.
People fear change. It doesn’t matter from what, or to what, any change will always attract criticism and whinging from some segment or three of the community.
You misquoted Bob Lefsetz. That was not his quote. It was a letter written to him by Marc Brownstein of The Disco Biscuits. Please correct this error. Follow your own link and you will see.
“As Bob Lefsetz explains,
The old paradigm of making a record every three, four or five years and flogging it around the world, making sure Inuits and third world denizens are aware of it before you go back into the studio, is dead. It’s about placating your core. And your core does want access, but what it wants most is music. A huge fan will buy your album the day it’s released (if he doesn’t steal it weeks before, and then buy it in support anyway!) and play it incessantly for…a few weeks? I’ve played a number of albums for a week straight. But after that, you know it, you move on, you want something NEW! So, when radio tells you they’ve got the new track by ___________ your ears used to prick up, until you found it was another album cut that you digested YEARS AGO!
Rather than building to a one time event, keep your audience engaged. And they might be interested in what you had for lunch and who you’re screwing, but what they want most is music. Make more music! In today’s world it doesn’t matter if each track is perfect. The audience will separate the wheat from the chaff, then you can play the winners in concert and the various iterations can be traded ad infinitum! The music is alive, it grows and changes, it’s not calcified on wax.
So rather than focusing on a drop date, create a lot along the way, and monetize along the way.”
Paul,
Can you explain why you believe the part I quoted was said by Marc Brownstein and not Lefsetz?
I can see where Lefsetz quotes Brownstein. But then there is an end quotation – and the next paragraph begins “Which I agree with…” which is why I took everything after that as Lefsetz’s own words.