Opinions? Albums: releasing one song vs the whole thing

[lost in music]

...so to speak.

[lost in music]

As far as album releases go, I don't like when records come out months after the songs start trickling into my itunes. This year's Screaming Females LP started coming out sometime in late 2014 I think. By the time the whole thing was released in February, I had been living with the early-release tracks as a great little EP for a while. The remainder of the tracks felt kinda underwhelming, but I'm still not quite sure if I'm was assessing them on their merits or whether it was just the timing of the release that bugged me.

[casecandy]

...so to speak.

Oh Jesus that's so bad dude

The new Desaparecidos album was cobbled together over five years and almost every track was a few years old. It's still a good record. "Te Amo Camila Vallejo" is my jam of jams.

[louderthangod]

I heard a statistics the other day that I just can't quite believe but maybe it's true, especially with younger people but (I forget who said it but I think it was on a music podcast) that 80% of new music discovered by people today is first listened to through youtube. Maybe every new song I release I should be it up on youtube whether as an actual video or even just a still shot and the song playing.

[casecandy]

I heard a statistics the other day that I just can't quite believe but maybe it's true, especially with younger people but (I forget who said it but I think it was on a music podcast) that 80% of new music discovered by people today is first listened to through youtube. Maybe every new song I release I should be it up on youtube whether as an actual video or even just a still shot and the song playing.

Honestly, 80% seems extremely conservative. I observe young people on a daily basis. They basically don't know what CDs are. Cassettes and vinyl are a cute oddity, but I'm not sure they "get" either of them. When they come in my classroom at lunch break, they turn off my iTunes and head straight for YouTube. Most of it is lyrics videos or the album cover for the "video." I would say if you don't have your music on YouTube it is curtailing your reach, for sure.

I feel like an anthropologist most days. An old, square anthropologist.

[louderthangod]

I just specifically heard the 80% for youtube...not pandora, iTunes, spotify and all of the other services as opposed to physical media. I'm a high school teacher and I can't recall the last time I've seen a CD and in 15 years I don't think I've ever heard a kid talk about vinyl except for something their parents classic rock collection but even that's super rare. I made a video for an Electric Wizard song a few years ago on iMovie when that app first came out as an experiment so I should probably do that...this is the downside of writing 20 minute songs though.

[casecandy]

Hey! Thumbs up for ILF high school teachers!

You could edit the song down to your favourite part or parts, especially if it's more of a song suite.

Titus Andronicus released the first two and half minutes of "A More Perfect Union" as a single with a video, for example. The real song is seven minutes. I kinda wish that they hadn't chopped it though...? They chopped the best parts.

[Blackened Soul]

Hey! Thumbs up for ILF high school teachers!

and therefore it is everyone's duty to be horrid, it can't be helped, it's just how it is so stiff upper lip and all that

But yeah youtube is a tool for finding new music, it's so fast, and useful, the thing I like to do is look up records on ebay and like in a record store go by the coolest cover, then I look up what I think looks neat and see if I like them

[casecandy]

Fact: album covers matter.

I will choose a creepy, folk-horror looking cover over other covers 100% of the time...

[boomslang]

I hate when this happens, because if I like the track and listen too much, it ends up standing out on the album like a sore thumb and I end up fixating on that track and blurring out of attention when the other tracks play through.

[rustywire]

I've spent the past week listening to a box of hand-me-down 45s from the late 60s/eary 70s.

I want to see 45s rise again; and anticipate they will be the next hipster-hunter/gatherer trend on the horizon.

[Blackened Soul]

Fact: album covers matter.

I will choose a creepy, folk-horror looking cover over other covers 100% of the time...

As long as it isn't a solo artist picture type cover you can find neat art, solo artist covers should be outlawed, no exceptions

[Twangasaurus]

Fact: album covers matter.

I will choose a creepy, folk-horror looking cover over other covers 100% of the time...

As long as it isn't a solo artist picture type cover you can find neat art, solo artist covers should be outlawed, no exceptions

Yeah, they suck... that being said I always liked this one. Perhaps a bit revealing of Vinny Millers martyr complex though.

[casecandy]

Fact: album covers matter.

I will choose a creepy, folk-horror looking cover over other covers 100% of the time...

As long as it isn't a solo artist picture type cover you can find neat art, solo artist covers should be outlawed, no exceptions

I feel you, but they can be done right. Observe:

Because wearing a tribal mask, thus concealing one's face, subverts the whole point of it:



Because the idea of Bill Drummond having an unironic solo album cover is just awesome:



Because sometimes you just need to look sinister as all fuck:



Because a friendship like this just can't be faked:



Because I'm Bob Dylan and, yes, I'm judging you:



And because sometimes you have to not only sad, but sad on a beach, furthermore an impeccably lit one:



Wait... I thought it was a beach. Is it snow?

[Blackened Soul]

meh.