For this post, I want to take a little break from the 360 degree deal and talk about something close to my heart, the album.
The very first CD I ever received was the soundtrack to the Disney movie, Pocahontas, which was all fine and good, but the second CD, one that I specifically asked for/desperately wanted, I got for my eighth birthday and it was the Backstreet Boys debut album, Backstreet Boys. I remember listening to it on my parents’ old CD changer connected to the ancient stereo (which was their wedding present from my uncle) in the living room of my house, and thinking that it was the most amazing album ever recorded. Of course, I no longer feel that way about Backstreet Boys, though it will always hold a very special place in my heart (and on my dusty CD tower).
I kind of miss feeling that way about albums in general. With the dawn of computers, mp3’s, p2p, and iTunes, CDs sales have been hurting, I do not lament the record company’s financial loss, but the appreciation of the album as a whole. Even now, I could tell you the track number of all my favorite tracks on Backstreet Boys not having listened to it in years, but I probably couldn’t say the same about Rilo Kiley’s Under the Blacklight, an album I appreciate quite a bit more than Backstreet Boys, but only own a digital copy of. I actually feel guilty about it, if I could, I would buy hard copies, CD or vinyl, of these new albums, but I can’t afford it.
Single sales are far surpassing album sales, young adults and teens will buy new hit songs like “Electric Feel” or “Kids” by MGMT because they’re getting a lot of airplay on the radio, but will not know any of the other songs off of their album Oracular Spectacular because they didn’t buy the album. People no longer look forward to albums in quite the same way anymore, because we all anticipate leaks and downloads months before the physical copy is actually released. This happened to me with the new Yeah Yeah Yeahs album, It’s Blitz!. When I heard about the album a couple of months ago, I was excited, shortly after, “Zero” was released as a single, and started to get some airplay on the radio. The very next track I got a chance to listen to (via music blogs) was the leaked “Heads Will Roll” [see earlier post], and I loved it! It gave me the same sense of excitement as “Everybody” did on Backstreet Boys! And then, all of a sudden, the next week the entire album was leaked!
Because the leak was so sudden and the release wasn’t scheduled for at least another month, the band decided to push up the digital release to the very next week, and the physical release to the first week in April. Stores are even trying to make it worthwhile for the customer to purchase the physical copy of the album, by creating limited edition box sets, or in It’s Blitz! case, including a free 7in limited edition remix single with the vinyl purchase of the album. Originally, I planned to purchase the album on vinyl, as a way to atone for my sin of downloading a few of the leaked tracks, but there isn’t a lot of money in my bank account at the moment, so I don’t see that happening in the near future. And I still haven’t gotten around to downloading the rest of the tracks of the album (I’m sure I will eventually). It’s sad that I don’t get to appreciate It’s Blitz! in the same way I did Backstreet Boys, because I’m sure it deserves it.
Very few people listen to music in the same way anymore, everything is always on shuffle and they rarely even let a whole song play before the skip to the next one. Even in car stereos, most of the CDs played are mixes (which I think is a sort of art form in and of itself!). No one pays as much attention to the flow of an album the way they used to. I don’t want the album to be a casualty in digital music world, and I hope the industry will find a way to bring it back in all its glory.
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