‘Prism’ a Good Example of How Albums Don’t Work Anymore

[areyoureadytojump]

variety.com/2013/biz/news/katy-perrys-prism-a-good-example-of-how-albums-dont-work-anymore-1200824933/#

Katy Perry’s ‘Prism’ a Good Example of How Albums Don’t Work Anymore

Media cannot be limited to the album release date. It must be a 24/7, 365-day-a-year effort


Bob Lefsetz
@lefsetz


The album is dying in front of our very eyes.

In other words, what kind of screwed up world do we live in where Katy Perry’s new album “Prism” sells only 287,000 copies in its debut? One in which everybody’s interested in the single, and no one’s got time to sit and hear your hour-plus statement.

This is not emotion, this is statistics. The shelf life of news is shorter than ever. The shelf life of art. … You blink and it’s done.

I’m fine with you preaching to the choir, making an album for your fans. You gotta go where you wanna go, do what you wanna do. But if your plan is to increase your audience, spread the word and make money, suddenly the album just isn’t working anymore. The youngsters are streaming singles and the oldsters are staying home.

How do I know? Elton’s album isn’t even in the top 50, and McCartney’s album barely broke 20,000 this week, and there wasn’t a better oldster hype than for these two projects. People just don’t want ’em.

So what’s the industry to do? Have a rethink.

In other words, hype doesn’t work.

No one had more hype than Miley Cyrus, but “Bangerz” didn’t even sell 45,000 copies in its fourth week of release. She can go on “SNL,” tweet her life away, but it’s not moving the needle. Lorde is selling as much as Miley without the benefit of scorched earth, proving quality music is as good as hype. But Lorde isn’t burning up the chart either.

We’ve turned into a nation of grazers. And the artist’s job is to constantly be at the smorgasbord. Not to deliver one big meal that is picked at and thrown away, but to constantly provide tantalizing bites to the public.

Media cannot be limited to the album release date. It must be a 24/7, 365-day-a-year effort. Same with creativity. If your track gets traction, more power to you. If it doesn’t, go back in the studio and make more. In other words, if you’re sitting at home bitching that you’re not making any money because the Internet stole your business, you’re RIGHT! There are so many diversions that no one’s got time for mediocre anymore.

If you’ve got a concept album, go ahead and record it. If you’re only interested in selling a little, be my guest. But if you want to penetrate the consciousness of a large group of people and grow the pie, an album isn’t working. Hell, it’s not even working as a revenue model!

Labels are no longer in the record business, they’re in the star business. How to maximize the revenue of an individual or band in as many media as possible, in as many ways as possible. Yes, while you were bitching about piracy, your whole business model disappeared.

You put out these albums, and in almost every case, the public moves on in a matter of WEEKS. A few bought it, they heard it, and they’re satisfied — and left waiting for years until you grace them with a new release. The rest of the public is just waiting for a hit single to burble, and if it does, they’ll tap their toes and snap their fi ngers and ask, “WHAT ELSE HAVE YOU GOT?” And what you’ve got had better be just as good as the hit.

No one wants album tracks anymore unless they’re every bit as satisfying as the hit.

So it’s not only classic rock acts who have stopped putting out albums; eventually, no one will do it. Oh, it won’t be soon, because artists think making albums is part of their DNA, going into the studio and making a 10-track statement.

But that’s like saying typewriters have to be an office fixture. And you can’t post online unless you write in multiple paragraphs. And texting must be abandoned because it’s not in-depth enough.

The goal of a musician is to be AHEAD of the audience. Right now everybody’s behind.

[nightshade]

Interesting but I'm not sure why he chose Katy's PRISM...Lorde, Miley, and Avril aren't doing it for me either so...

[onebuffalo]

So how does that explain Eminem selling nearly 800,000 in his first week?

[grandelf]

This is so true, most people don't care to sit through 10-15 songs by the same artist. Fans can be upset about that as much as they want to but they know that is the truth and it has little to do with illegal downloads.

[mluv]

I'm not sure I agree with this guy considering Eminem and Drake and some of the others sell albums. Maybe Miley (as well as Lady Gaga) are just overselling. They're in so many places and in the tabloids so much that by the time their albums come out only the die hard fans want to purchase their stuff. Everyone else is just sick of seeing them everywhere.

Consider that a group like Imagine Dragons has sold over a million albums and I barely know anything about them. TMZ is not chasing them. There's no twerking, no shredded wheat on their heads. They just make their music and tour. Maybe instead of trying to create hype and stars, just promote a quality product. That'll get people to buy.

But in the meantime this article completely ignores the fact that people also aren't purchasing singles as well (down 4 percent) so there's more going on than just everyone's short attention span and more to do with people are choosing streaming over purchase more and more.

ETA:Also you'll notice that Justin Bieber and others tried offering singles a week   and it hasn't exactly lit the world on fire.  With each subsequent single Bieber has been lower and lower on the charts.   Plus the article doesn't take into account the thousands of artists who'll never get played on the radio  no matter what they do  so they don't have a chance of living off hit singles.  Those artists still depend on album sales more than single sales. 

[icefire9]

I'm beginning to wonder if albums will cease to exist sometime a few decades from now. Artists would still have 'eras', but they'd be more of a collection of singles followed by breaks where the artist records/prevents oversaturation.

Some singles would be given the full promo treatment (live performances, featured in ads, music video, pushed to radio if that's a thing that far in the future.). Others would be essentially promo singles, like the songs Justin Beiber is releasing every Monday; not meant to be a huge hit, but just out there for the fans who like it.

[mluv]

Katy Perry Prism has over 439,000 in sales now while Miley has sold 449,000 thus far. They're actually selling quite well considering they're close to gold. Lorde is currently at 348,000 .

[imbondz]

Maybe pop music albums. I just recently bought Amos Lee's new CD and Jack Johnsons and they're both freakin awesome

[Deleted]

Albums work; it's just that people aren't running out to buy mediocre pop albums for a couple of hits that they like when they can spend a couple dollars and just get those songs. The industry reacted very slowly to consumers' desire to cherry pick songs. Things will change as album sales continue to drop though. I give it less than a decade before many pop acts are releasing a handful of singles before an album or EP is even considered (and albums will probably be 7-8 songs).

[badrobot]

I think Robyn had the best release plan with her Body talk series of 3 EPs. Keeps the concept of an "album era" intact while keeping fresh music coming regularly.

[Peaches. [Ch, r. is]]

Both Prism & Bangerz aren't any good. I don't think we needed an article to figure out why they aren't selling like albums by artist with similar hype were selling 10 years ago.

The "oldies" example is a bit odd too. There are newer "oldies" who do sell well.

[Heartless Angel]

Rihanna's team seems to have figured this out already. Keep releasing hit after hit and don't focus on albums as much. Sure, she still releases albums, but only for a vehicle for the singles.

[areyoureadytojump]

^But, she is doing something right. Rihanna's last *6* albums have all sold over 1 million.

[Joe1240]

They forget to mention how great Taylor Swift is doing especially with "Red" radio singles one year ago. All of them promo singles went top 10 on BBHot100 and in 2013 the remix of "Everything Has Changed" has helped it on CHR/Pop radio. Also look at what the live version of "Red" did for the single last week on the charts,it rebounded back into the top 40. "Sweeter Than Fiction" may not have lasted long on the charts but Taylor still sells well singles wise.

[Adonis the DemiGod!]

Ive been saying this repeatedly for years.

[Adonis the DemiGod!]

Nov 16, 2013 22:33:40 GMT -5 areyoureadytojump said:

^But, she is doing something right. Rihanna's last *6* albums have all sold over 1 million.

You release an album full of hit singles people will buy it.

[Adonis the DemiGod!]

Nov 16, 2013 18:45:13 GMT -5 @jazzysoul47 said:

Albums work; it's just that people aren't running out to buy mediocre pop albums for a couple of hits that they like when they can spend a couple dollars and just get those songs. The industry reacted very slowly to consumers' desire to cherry pick songs. Things will change as album sales continue to drop though. I give it less than a decade before many pop acts are releasing a handful of singles before an album or EP is even considered (and albums will probably be 7-8 songs).

I think the concept of an album should be abandoned altogether and people just release singles. For one thing, the other good songs on an album will be less tainted by the "first" single doing poorly. Second people will buy exactly the amount of product they want and the record company can focus on getting as much consumption in as short a time as possible. Its less of an investment to invest in a single vs. an album.

[Peaches. [Ch, r. is]]

Nov 17, 2013 0:08:14 GMT -5 Adonis the DemiGod! said:

Nov 16, 2013 18:45:13 GMT -5 @jazzysoul47 said:

Albums work; it's just that people aren't running out to buy mediocre pop albums for a couple of hits that they like when they can spend a couple dollars and just get those songs. The industry reacted very slowly to consumers' desire to cherry pick songs. Things will change as album sales continue to drop though. I give it less than a decade before many pop acts are releasing a handful of singles before an album or EP is even considered (and albums will probably be 7-8 songs).

I think the concept of an album should be abandoned altogether and people just release singles. For one thing, the other good songs on an album will be less tainted by the "first" single doing poorly. Second people will buy exactly the amount of product they want and the record company can focus on getting as much consumption in as short a time as possible. Its less of an investment to invest in a single vs. an album.

I don't claim to know much about how labels make their money but, if this were true, I'm sure many labels would've started doing this a long time ago. You can't honestly think you're the only person in the world to come to that conclusion.

[applechic]

Did they forget about:



I believe her last album sold 28 million copies worldwide so that defies the whole point of this article. There's also Justin Timberlake and Eminem's recent success with their respective albums.

[Kurt]

For the uninitiated, let the record show that Bob Lefsetz is a crotchety old fart stuck in the 80s who regularly bemoans pop artists and the current state of the industry through arguments made by cherry-picking the most flagrant examples of his points and ignoring the rest, all while occasionally being misogynist and racist. Carry on!

[Chelsea Press 2]

Nov 17, 2013 1:22:32 GMT -5 applechic said:

There's also Justin Timberlake

However, Justin's second volume has struggled to sell after the underperformance of TBTN killed any buzz left over from the first volume. Perhaps the right single can get things back on track.

[mluv]

I'm pretty sure the author is cherry picking considering there are albums like from Mumford and Sons that's gone on to sell over a million with barely any hit singles in it.

[Agent Yoncé]

Eminem, Taylor Swift, Adele, artists that actually puts out music worth purchasing is a good example of how albums still works.

[lugus15]

The thing is, that nowadays (at least for major pop stars) for an album to have any sort of legs, they need hit singles. And that's why I think, for example, that Britney Spears' new album will perform like Bionic or less.

In all honesty I do think that is the labels fault for the lack of album sales. I mean, take for example Prism (or even Artpop), those albums leaked a full week before the release date (if I remember correctly). Would it kill for the labels to make the album available for purchase (on Itunes or other digital outlets) the minute those leaks happen??? They would grab those impulse buyers who just want to check out the newest material of major pop stars. In this day and age of digital immediate availability, there really is no excuse for that delay (in digital form).

[Peaches. [Ch, r. is]]

Nov 17, 2013 3:28:43 GMT -5 lugus15 said:

The thing is, that nowadays (at least for major pop stars) for an album to have any sort of legs, they need hit singles. And that's why I think, for example, that Britney Spears' new album will perform like Bionic or less. 

There's Beyonce...

Again, it just depends on the artist and the quality of music.

[Deleted]

I don't think the point is that no albums are selling well; it's that some of the biggest pop stars of the moment aren't really shifting albums the way you'd expect them to.

[areyoureadytojump]

Nov 17, 2013 2:20:49 GMT -5 mluv said:

I'm pretty sure the author is cherry picking considering there are albums like from Mumford and Sons that's gone on to sell over a million with barely any hit singles in it.

Babel has scanned 2 million.

Sigh No More has scanned 3 million.

Mumford & Sons sells albums.

[Devil Marlena Nylund]

I was going to come in here and say that the article is bull because there are plenty of artists who release albums with the intention of having full, well-rounded albums for the sake of it being an album.

The key thing that I would have missed initially is that pop stars don't make albums for albums anymore and I can definitely see that. It's certainly not a new thing though and has been headed down this path for quite awhile.

But has pop music ever really been about the "album"? The idea of concept albums and creating a "full album" isn't really that old. It goes back to the 60s or so, and the idea of "music for art" isn't much older, I don't think. Before that, it was all about the single. Music has served a lot of purposes and this idea that music that isn't art isn't as worthy is old and tiresome because music doesn't *have* to be art and it just so happens that in today's pop music, it's not. But there are PLENTY of musicians who do music for art and who put effort into recording whole album experiences. They aren't as accessible and thus rarely become pop hits. But that doesn't mean they don't exist.

[irice22]

I can't imagine albums dying out for good. Tours are one of the biggest money-makers for an artist and I can't imagine artists going on tour with merely a collection of new singles.

[neally]

^^ Carrie Underwood is another artist who bucks the trend and still sells an impressive number of records.