13 Reasons Why Albums Are A Bad Idea |
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Sep 15 2021, 01:13 AM
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As you may have heard, “The album is Dead”. The SINGLE is now sorta the way to go. Folks don’t consume music like they did in the old days by and large. Sure, I still listen to records, and many of you probably do as well. Sadly, kids today mostly do a lot of swiping right/up/etc. When checking out new music. So you are better off putting out your best song as a single and skipping the rest of it.
1.)YOUR EGO IS WRITING CHECKS YOUR MUSIC CAN”T CASH Not any of us, of course, but many musicians are long on EGO and short on TALENT. The world is just not gonna care. Folks are not buying full albums/units anymore. If you do record a full length, please don’t make boxes of physical copies. These are just going to fill up your storage spaces. You can create and release digitally quite easily. 2.)NOBODY KNOWS WHO YOU ARE This is a really big problem. Because nobody knows who you are, nobody is going to care about your music, much less an entire albums worth. Yet another reason to focus on a single track. Your best track is your best bet. Even if your song is great and quality is amazing, you still have to get past the first 10 seconds of a listener who is likely to just skip it. 3.)YOUR BAND IS NOTHING NEW We don’t need another MESHUGGAH or PERIPHERY (Who are another MESHUGGAH by their own admission). In fact, many music reviewers won’t listen to anything that does the muted triplet thing, make popular on the BLEED track. We do tend to sound like our influences. This is only natural. You have to ask, if you would buy your own record if you had the chance? If the answer is no, yet another reason to put out a single. 4.)YOUR BAND MIGHT NOT SURVIVE THE PROCESS Many bands can’t make it through the process of recording an album. This happens all the time. The band realize that they can’t stand each other, etc., and the band breaks up just after the mastering process is complete. Save yourself the trouble. Don’t put your bandmates through the process. 5.)YOUR MUSIC MIGHT NOT BE WORTH LISTENING TO Are you wanting to make an album just because it’s time to make the next one? Not a great creative inspiration. Your music has to compete with sooooo much stuff. Is the material more compelling than scrolling tik tok vids? If not, maybe it needs some work. 6.)GET TO THE POINT If your band has 12 songs, pick the best one. Then record and release that one. Promote it and share it on social media and get some feedback from anyone that will listen. Then pick the next one and change it according to what you have learned. Releasing singles is just more practical these days compared to a full length. You can always release another single if the first one gets any kind of response. 7.)STEP OFF THE ASSEMBLY LINE Avoid using the usual approaches and try something new. Maybe record live with several players. This is something that isn’t done very much these days. It can give music a vibe of being actual music, instead of being the typical plugin fest. Allow imperfections to creep in. They can give the song character and help it stand out. 8.)GO TO NAMM NAMM is still a thing. Even though COVID almost killed it, like everything else. There are great seminars and just about every brand known to man who you may be able to develop a relationship with. 9.)DO A 3 SONG DEMO You’ve put out a single and people like it! Then it’s time to do something longer. Maybe a 3 track EP/Demo. Attention spans have never been shorter so keeping it brief can be a good thing. 10.)DONE IS BETTER THAN PERFECT Getting a song actually recorded is a wonderful thing. Perfection can be the enemy of the good. In the video, there is an example of band letting a recorded album sit and wait while issues with the graphics inserts were sorted. This took about 2 years. Instead of releasing it as is, they waited. By the time they put it out, the demand was gone. 11.)WILL ANYONE REMEMBER? Ask yourself, if you would want to listen to your single 10 years from now. Is it good? Is it memorable? Is it just a trendy copy of what’s happening right now? It’s worth having untainted ears listen to your music and to be as objective as possible. 12.)HAVE SOMETHING NEW, ALL OF THE TIME It takes time to write and record. The gap in between a release can be long enough to kill any demand for your music. Some bands take years between album releases. For example, TYR took 6 years between recent album releases. It was long enough to let their audience move on and has a seriously negative impact on album sales. The band is still trying to get the traction that they once had. 13.)IT”S A BUSINESS In the end, it’s still a business. Every choice you make should serve the business end of things. If you get traction, you can double down and then make a video and make more music. If you don’t get any traction, it may be time to adjust. No matter what, start with your best song and move forward. I know this all sounds like a “COUNCIL OF GRIEF” as it were. But it’s really all about makin music for the system as it exists today instead of making music for a system that existed years ago. Of course, this is mostly about BANDS making music. The rules are a little different for guitar players making their own music in their own studios where they don’t have to spend much if any money, in order to make new music. The economy of scale is way different and much better to be honest, when one owns the means of production. It does narrow the audience a bit, but also allows for more focus. We will look in to this more in future articles. This Vid from legendary grumpy man Glenn Fricker was very helpful in making this article. *Check out this lesson on making a cool solo. https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/ls/Static...mony-Rock-Solo/ This post has been edited by Todd Simpson: Sep 15 2021, 01:14 AM |
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Sep 15 2021, 10:33 AM
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Love Glens Videos!!!
-------------------- I'd rather have a full Bottle in front of me than a full Frontal Lobotomy!!
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Sep 22 2021, 03:03 PM
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More sage words from Glen!! NSFW!!
-------------------- I'd rather have a full Bottle in front of me than a full Frontal Lobotomy!!
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Sep 22 2021, 10:24 PM
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I made another post with that one the very next day
 https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/guitar_fo...c=62384&hl= QUOTE (Sensible Jones @ Sep 22 2021, 10:03 AM)  More sage words from Glen!! NSFW!! |
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