Albums are for fans, singles are for newbies.
Don't make an album expecting to reach a new audience. If you want to reach a new audience, focus on the single.
I'm baffled by those who make a full length project the basis of their marketing campaign. Hell, I'm baffled they've got a campaign at all. You mean you want me to stop and listen to this much bad music? Okay, okay, don't get offended, but it seems that so much is shite, wading through the crap is a full time job, and I'm only gonna listen if a buddy tells me to and then only one track. If you're incredible, I'll want more, but only in bits and pieces. It's not like I go to Ben & Jerry's, order a cup of Phish Food and decide I like it so much that I go back to the counter and order TEN! I might buy a pint at a later date, but that's it.
Actually, I love Phish Food, and I buy pints on a regular basis. Imagine if they only made the ice cream once every two years. And I had to keep up with the marketing to know it was out. I'd have to be one hell of a fan to care.
In other words, if you're putting out an album every couple of years you're reinventing the wheel, you're marketing from ground zero over and over again. You've even lost touch with your fans. You need a steady stream of product to keep people interested. But the main point is do not release ten tracks at a time for ten bucks, that's positively archaic thinking based on the CD and major label profitability schemes.
Think of it this way. Do you constantly worry about the size of your hard drive? Do you think about coming up with a bevy of files that fit it perfectly? That's what making an album is like. In a world of unlimited storage, you're still trying to fill a floppy disk. It's a ridiculous pastime.
Concentrate on making music. Focus on making the best music you can. And release it when it's ready, don't hold it back as a result of some sales scheme. Once again, that's major label thinking for dead bands. That's how they sell the Stones or the Beatles or... All that hype about the "Exile On Main Street" anniversary set... Have you heard anybody talk about it recently? It's set in amber. Whereas the music of a working band must be in the ears of listeners on a regular basis.
The flaw in this thinking is especially prevalent in the work of classic acts. They finally put out an album and no one cares. They think it's still the seventies. That radio is waiting and everybody is listening and visiting the record shop every Saturday thumbing through the new releases. They're baffled when their album stiffs.
Usually, the music is not great. But there might be one gem included. Why not put out only that? Something that good has a chance of being spread via word of mouth. You might get some traction. Otherwise, it's the best player on a losing team. It's like being a bad baseball club with one superstar, playing in Iowa, with little or no media coverage. Your album is a team. No one wants to play with a loser. But unlike in sports, you don't need nine or eleven members on the team to play the game, in music you only need one!
We're getting there. At some point artists will catch up with the audience. But for a decade now, not only have labels been behind, so have the music makers.
Look at the statistics for new acts. They sell singles more than albums. Katy Perry's album sales are anemic, she stands on the strength of her single hits.
Oh, that's right, you're an "artist". Show me where in the manual it says an artist makes music in sixty minute chunks. Or that people listen to it that way.
I've got no problem with you combining ten tracks and selling them as a CD at your concert. Or as a double vinyl package. That's about selling a souvenir, not music.
But please, stop making albums. It's a waste of money. You lose momentum between projects. No one listens to most of the music. You're in the music business, not the album business.
And the music business is about three or five or even ten minutes of glory. An experience that cannot be denied. Concentrate on constructing that. Then you'll grow fans.
Or just make albums for the few people paying attention. But don't expect to be much bigger than you are now.
Don't make an album expecting to reach a new audience. If you want to reach a new audience, focus on the single.
I'm baffled by those who make a full length project the basis of their marketing campaign. Hell, I'm baffled they've got a campaign at all. You mean you want me to stop and listen to this much bad music? Okay, okay, don't get offended, but it seems that so much is shite, wading through the crap is a full time job, and I'm only gonna listen if a buddy tells me to and then only one track. If you're incredible, I'll want more, but only in bits and pieces. It's not like I go to Ben & Jerry's, order a cup of Phish Food and decide I like it so much that I go back to the counter and order TEN! I might buy a pint at a later date, but that's it.
Actually, I love Phish Food, and I buy pints on a regular basis. Imagine if they only made the ice cream once every two years. And I had to keep up with the marketing to know it was out. I'd have to be one hell of a fan to care.
In other words, if you're putting out an album every couple of years you're reinventing the wheel, you're marketing from ground zero over and over again. You've even lost touch with your fans. You need a steady stream of product to keep people interested. But the main point is do not release ten tracks at a time for ten bucks, that's positively archaic thinking based on the CD and major label profitability schemes.
Think of it this way. Do you constantly worry about the size of your hard drive? Do you think about coming up with a bevy of files that fit it perfectly? That's what making an album is like. In a world of unlimited storage, you're still trying to fill a floppy disk. It's a ridiculous pastime.
Concentrate on making music. Focus on making the best music you can. And release it when it's ready, don't hold it back as a result of some sales scheme. Once again, that's major label thinking for dead bands. That's how they sell the Stones or the Beatles or... All that hype about the "Exile On Main Street" anniversary set... Have you heard anybody talk about it recently? It's set in amber. Whereas the music of a working band must be in the ears of listeners on a regular basis.
The flaw in this thinking is especially prevalent in the work of classic acts. They finally put out an album and no one cares. They think it's still the seventies. That radio is waiting and everybody is listening and visiting the record shop every Saturday thumbing through the new releases. They're baffled when their album stiffs.
Usually, the music is not great. But there might be one gem included. Why not put out only that? Something that good has a chance of being spread via word of mouth. You might get some traction. Otherwise, it's the best player on a losing team. It's like being a bad baseball club with one superstar, playing in Iowa, with little or no media coverage. Your album is a team. No one wants to play with a loser. But unlike in sports, you don't need nine or eleven members on the team to play the game, in music you only need one!
We're getting there. At some point artists will catch up with the audience. But for a decade now, not only have labels been behind, so have the music makers.
Look at the statistics for new acts. They sell singles more than albums. Katy Perry's album sales are anemic, she stands on the strength of her single hits.
Oh, that's right, you're an "artist". Show me where in the manual it says an artist makes music in sixty minute chunks. Or that people listen to it that way.
I've got no problem with you combining ten tracks and selling them as a CD at your concert. Or as a double vinyl package. That's about selling a souvenir, not music.
But please, stop making albums. It's a waste of money. You lose momentum between projects. No one listens to most of the music. You're in the music business, not the album business.
And the music business is about three or five or even ten minutes of glory. An experience that cannot be denied. Concentrate on constructing that. Then you'll grow fans.
