While the rest of the world is applauding the new trends in downloadable music, I have to say that I have some trepidations about the whole thing. It has less to do with the technology and sound quality as it has to do with the imminent demise of the rock album.
Bear with me on this. The trend now is for people to pay for whatever song they want, and simply download it. They pay only for the song they want. This is all well and good for the consumer in one sense. They only have to pay for the song they want. This was the theory behind 45 rpm singles, way back when. It carried over into cassettes, and later into single cd's.
What's going to happen is that artists will focus more on singles, as opposed to albums. Let's face it: "Another Brick in the Wall Part II" is a catchy tune. However, the genius of the song comes in when you get its context with the rest of THE WALL. The song stands alone, but it's part of a much bigger whole. Same thing with "Eyes of a Stranger" off OPERATION MINDCRIME. Great song, but it's simply the capstone of a cool concept album.
I don't know if today's short-attention spanned obliviots will download a song, then buy the whole album. I think they're more likely just to download a catchy tune, and ignore the rest of the album. They'll remain comfortably numb to the cool stuff that lurks on the rest of the album. If you didn't buy the Van Halen album FAIR WARNING, you didn't catch "Hear About It Later," one of the band's better songs. You'll never hear that one on the radio. You'll also never hear "Bravado" off Rush's ROLL THE BONES. You won't hear "Holy Mother," off Eric Clapton's AUGUST. "Why Worry", off Dire Straits' BROTHERS IN ARMS is one of the best songs ever. I doubt anybody today would buy the whole album. They'd simply download "Money For Nothing", and go on with their lives, never hearing a gem like "Your Latest Trick." That's a loss.
You won't see albums like this in the future, I fear. The artists will pump out catchy singles to sell via the internet, and the albums as a whole might well suffer as a result. Cohesive, unifying songwriting for albums might well die off. I don't think it will vanish altogether. I just don't think an artist will sit down to write concept albums anymore as theri main focus.
That's a darn shame. Imagine life without Styx's "Kilroy Was Here." I shudder to think about it.
"Domo Arigato, Mr. Roboto."
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There may be some merit in what you write, but I don't think it's as bad as what you fear. You seem to be discounting radio altogether. Doesn't radio, and its focus on catchy singles, do what you're describing? I suspect that if a listener likes one song by an artist, he'll be likely to go back and buy other songs by that artist. Maybe a whole album. Maybe multiple albums. Or maybe albums as we know it will go away. The concept album of today might tomorrow be made of singles spanning three years as small bands can afford studio time.
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