Stop Being a Parrot. Yes, I’m Talking to You.

Social Media

Happy New Year, readers! I’ve got a resolution for some of you to consider.

A recent blog post over at Music Think Tank got readers (including me) talking about the proposed “death” of the album format. For some reason, humans love proclaiming things to be dead, and the album format in music has been declared deceased countless times over the past decade. Here’s proof:

(Dec 2000) The Album Era
(Feb 2001) Napster and the Death of the Album Format
(Mar 2002) Meet the Music Pirate
(Dec 2003) The Death of the Album
(Nov 2003) The death of the album?
(May 2004) The Way The Music Died
(Feb 2005) Death of The CD? Or The Death of Vinyl?
(Aug 2006) The Album is Dead
(Mar 2007) The Album, a Commodity in Disfavor
(Aug 2008) The death of the album
(Aug 2009) Radiohead and the death of the album
(May 2010) Graphic Proof Of The Death Of The Album
(Dec 2010) Why Vinyl Is the Next Format to Crash…

The album isn’t dead. Vinyl isn’t dead. CD’s aren’t dead. I own and buy albums, and this is coming from twenty-two year old, not your hippie father. I’m not trying to say all of these people are wrong. Yes, I understand that these formats aren’t mainstream anymore, nor were they ever mainstream in my lifetime. But, the market for albums still exists. Even more, you can be profitable selling albums if you know your fan base well, price the products well, and know how to market to them (…I didn’t say it was easy). Third Man Records does this brilliantly.

I’m not even going to cover the other issues in that particular article, because somebody already beat me to it, and did a good job. Also, it’s not what this blog post is about. I’d like to address something else that I see all the time on the web, and that has really been getting under my skin lately.

Social media inspires people to stand up on a soapbox and make bold statements without any legitimate facts to back them up. I’ll admit, I love to make bold statements sometimes, but only after I’ve done my homework to make sure what I am claiming actually makes some friggin’ sense.

When most blog readers see an article title like “6 Reasons Why The Album Format Died,” they instantly become parrots, squawking the same nonsense found inside these keyword-injected pieces. I see this sort of thing happening everyday in the blogosphere, and to be quite frank, I’m sick and tired of it.

Writers

…stop baiting innocent readers with fluffy, meaningless titles. I know your trying to become the #1 search result on Google, Bing, and Yahoo, but what you’re doing is unethical. Figure out another way to get to the top, or actually deliver a remarkable article beneath that lofty title of yours. Some good, old-fashioned hard work, networking, and writing based on good research will not only heighten your credibility, but will also improve the information found on the web. Did that ever cross your mind? Or does watering your crops on Farmville take precedence?

Readers

…you don’t need to chug the jungle juice. You’re way better than that. The beautiful thing about the Internet is that there is more than enough information floating around for you to be able to cultivate and solidify your own opinions and thoughts on the issues that matter to you. Don’t be afraid to call bullshit on people when you think they’re wrong, because many times they will be ill-informed.

It’s 2011. Stop squawking.

Image credits:
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http://colortheory.com Brian Hazard

I know what you mean Chris! I posted a similar rant about music promotion “experts” a year or so ago. I for one plan to keep making albums.
http://tightmixblog.com Chris B.

Hahaha, good answer, Brian. Feel free to share a link to that rant, I’d love to read it.
http://colortheory.com Brian Hazard

Alright, you asked for it! It’s a little long-winded, but I’d just started blogging:

http://passivepromotion.com/dont-leave-your-promotion-to-the-experts
http://twitter.com/mikeborgia mikeborgia

Anyone who says the album is dead, is full of shit. It’s the digital age mind you and businesses who are full force in this concept will lead the music lover into thinking it’s all about digital downloads, but it surely is not. I rarely get fans asking me if they can purchase my downloads. 9 times out of 10 the first thing out of their mouths is, “do you have a CD?” I really enjoyed your music. Consumers want value and although digital content offers convenience on the go, it doesn’t fullfill the consumers need to have something tangible. Why do you think that merchandise sells so well (ie: T-shirts, hoodies, hats etc..? it provides the true tangible value people can touch and connect with. We are still dealing with major car culture and not every city is like New York, where there isn’t enough space in your apt. to store CD’s.

Downloads are affective in offering another convenient way to contribute to an artists creations, but will never replace Vinyl, CD’s, DVD’s, Lazer Disc,and the list goes on. Digital files are like a good warm up in the discovery of a new artist, until you feel the artist is worthy of further investment.

XM/Sirius sattellite radio, are nice alternatives, and because most of the world still drive cars, Radio will never die, it just takes new shape.
http://www.promoteyourmusic.net Chris Rockett

Hey Chris I feel your pain.

A lot of the sites that post junk on the web do it automatically with not input from a blog curator of writers.

That’s why you sometimes see a music marketing post on a solar power website because they’ll post anything.

The long term benefits of really getting into a market will bring you more traffic and links than any scammy tactic.

I do think headlines are important and then it’s trying to find the right mix of reporting what is going on in the market and posting valuable content.

Nothing every really dies, and albums are still great for some bands.
http://music3point0.blogspot.com Bobby Owsinski

Chris,
You’re referring to my article on Music Think Tank, but I’m not sure you understood my point. Let me summarize.

Is the album declining in sales and popularity? Yes it is and the numbers bear that out.

Does the album have the cache today that it did 20 years plus ago? No, not even close. If you weren’t an active album buyer then, you don’t have anything to compare it to.

Will it go away completely? Of course not. CDs are still a huge business, just not as huge as 10 years ago.

I do believe that an album is important to an artist and I have the empirical evidence to prove it from a few albums I’ve produced lately.
1. It’s difficult to get a review unless you have a CD album. I’ve seen it happen. Digital album – no reviews. CD – 50 + reviews.
2. There are some market segments that still want CD’s and don’t have great digital download participation (like metal, hard rock, christian and some segments of country).

These points weren’t outlined in that particular article, but I’ve posted about it several times on my Music 3.0 blog. Perhaps I need to follow up on MTT.

That being said, the album is declining in popularity. I don’t like it, and most of your readers don’t either, but it’s a fact – at least for now.

Enjoy your blog. Keep up the good work.
http://tightmixblog.com Chris B.

Bob,

Thanks so much for commenting on my home turf! I understand your point completely, and I agree with you as well. The album is declining in popularity. Very straightforward.

My point is that though it’s declining, it’s not dead. And though you have agreed that it is not dead…why did you feel the need to proclaim its death? A lot of thinkers do this in a lot of industries, and I guess your post was a “last-straw” of sorts for me, which is what inspired this short rant.

I wasn’t trying to pick on you, I respect your work and absolutely love your blog posts over at Music 3.0. I think the readers at MTT would love a follow up from you over at MTT, I’d be very interested to see your responses.

Thanks again for commenting!
http://www.hudsonkmusic.com hudson k

i think that they should start teaching this in high schools and colleges…oh wait, they do. It’s called “critical thinking.” Or is critical thinking only for honors courses? Or are we just learning to regurgitate (did I even learn how to spell) facts???? The internet just makes it too easy…

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