Discus. Why don't people buy albums anymore?

[doubletrouble™]

They're cheap and try to make up excuses about tha quality of an album to make their cheapness seem non-existant

[Lord Funk]

You rarely see a tightly produced album from front to back these days, because everybody has to get Scott Storch, Just Blaze, The Neptunes and Kanye all over their shit so you don't get albums with strong themes running through them, just a bunch of production guest spots. That's why people only tend to like 2 or 3 songs on new albums and don't buy them.

That's true. But it's not to take anything away from the producers you mention. A big part of is that those producers charge so much for a beat that unless you're part of their clique you could never make it financially viable to hit them up for 12-15 tracks.

As far as I'm concerned, Kanye (for example) has shown he can create a cohesive album as the (nearly) sole producer in Be. That album had a strrong theme and vibe throughout.

[Twentytwofifty]

For the last couple of years the only reason I purchased albums was to have it for my collection.  I only listen to CDs 5% of the time, I listen to my mp3 player the rest of the time so CDs aren't being used that much anyways.  Over the last year I've really cared less and less about my "collection", it's much easier just to download it and I'll save $20 too.  Even if I know an album is good I really don't see why I should buy it, I don't listen to the CD anyways, it will just collect dust.

[Trauma-san]

Overseer is right about most of his reasons, here's my personal reasons why nobody buys albums.  I believe all of these are 100% valid, I've thought about this a lot.

1.  The availability of free copies of the album via the internet.  Bitch, moan, lie, complain all you want, everybody and their brother downloads albums free these days instead of paying for them.  If you do not believe this, look @ the trend in record sales.  Country records have rising sales figures, while hip hop and rock have declining, and hip hop and rock are traditionally the only records you can get ripped for free on the internet before they come out. 

I'm all about blaming the industry for starting this process because of their greed for a larger percentage of the album's money, but you also have to realize that the industry puts out many, many acts before they find one that turns a profit.  So while they may be fucking somebody like 50 cent over, there's 100 kurupt or shade shiest or whatever albums they put out and lost money on. 

2.  Like O said, most albums have 1 or 2 cool tracks, the rest are shit.  In general, most musicians don't have much talent.  They may be good at a few things or be able to make a decent track every once in a while, but these guys are going in and just storming through their album and then releasing it, instead of working and working and working to get the most creative, most 'every track is brilliiant' album they possibly can.  Much of this is the record company too trying to stick to a formula like O said.  There are FEW ACTS that can consistantly turn out a dope song at will, maybe somebody like Prince is talented enough to go in and lay down nice track after nice track, but most of the musicians signed today in any genre just are not talented enough to consistantly make brilliant music. 


The answer to all of this is for record companies to make albums cost 5 bucks.  I would buy a SHITLOAD of cd's if they were 5 bucks each.  TONS OF THEM, because it would be more worthwhile to have the actual cd and the book and the art and all that shit then it would be to waste my time burning cd's.  They could easily do this, too...

In the 50's and 60's, new record lp's were like 49 cents.  Everybody made money.  No problems.  They're now trying to tell us that the modern equivalent of a record lp should cost 32 times more due to inflation?  CD's cost about the same to manufacture now that LP's cost to manufacture then, maybe less.  I'll pay 10 times more, but not 32 times more.  Come on, we're being fucked. 

[big mat]

most of my albums are very old, i rarely spend money on recent release. I own about 100 original cd's and a lot more of burned one. I think the sound quality is better on original cds and i like to own all the classics. But it's true that music really sucks nowadays.

[Don Seer]

In the 50's and 60's, new record lp's were like 49 cents.  Everybody made money.  No problems.  They're now trying to tell us that the modern equivalent of a record lp should cost 32 times more due to inflation?  CD's cost about the same to manufacture now that LP's cost to manufacture then, maybe less.  I'll pay 10 times more, but not 32 times more.  Come on, we're being fucked. 

yup and back then.. LPs werent really popular.. shit used to go 10x platinum as a single.. it was all about singles for a long ass time.

now the single is "dead".. although it seems there is a resurgence in digital singles..

WHY? because people buy the track they like online.. and stick it on there iPod or whatever and they're set..

for me personally my music HAS to be dynamic.. as i have 1) mp3 headunit in the car..  2) mp3 player on my pc's at home and work.. and 3) mp3 player in my phone that i use at the gym. I want to swap the songs I like between them all easily. First thing I do when I buy an album is rip it to mp3. My cd's never get scratched. they get bought, and stuck up on a shelf collecting dust.. whats played is whats ripped!!

which brings me on to another point.. people used to do cd copies before mp3s became prevalent, and before that shit used to be on tape.. i have a huge box of tapes originals and dubs.. i used to lend people tapes/cds and never get that shit back.. with mp3s.. bam.. have a copy.. everyones happy.. its not like it wouldnt have happened anyways.. its just easier now!

[lbc213]

theyre not in stores here

Thats what I v been saying for years now

[Ðøšïå]

bc i can download them for free in 2 minutes.

[Mygla]

European cats shouldn't complain... I hardly buy any cd's from Norwegian stores, I order them from American sites... new cd's never cost more than $20 including s&h... and now the dollar's weaker than ever before.

[Mr. O]

from reading this thread..it sounds like buying album is similar to play lotto...never know exactly what you get..
may come out wack.

if people wanna burn cd..let them.....maybe because they cheapskate...
however, it can be a sign that the artists are wack.
and they to step up.

[Fonky Fresh]

A: The price(but they tend to low a lot these times,but still expensive in france) same goes for books...

B:people is lazy(that include me) id rather get the whole thang in 5 min & playin xbox instead of doing the queue 10 min to get my album 

C:Wack albums can't get u out of ur chair...PERIOD(& when i say wack,im far of the truth)

D:Rap music is teenagers oriented whom from what i know,don't have the wallet full of bucks...this explain that....(people(teens&parents) got to deal with books,food,getting dressed well,videos games(hella expensive) etc....to many things to buy to feel urself ''inn' &up to date.

But u know it's not a bad thing what's happening ,im happy the majors have less money

If everybody gets indie like 50% of the artists,we'll get good music im pretty sure about this.

All that money that was surrounding the industry(well there is still lot of money dont get me wrong) was killing & flooding the market thats how we got dance stuff in the early 90s(remember dance stuff?) & all those 1 cent artists..

[KURUPTION-81]

I still buy all my albums , for three main reasons

1) I dont have a computer that is quick enough to download an album , it takes me half an hour to do one track.
2) I still enjoy the buzz of going to the shop or the cd coming in the post and me opening up and putting it in my system for the first time.
3) I actually like having a booklet and seeing who produced what and what was sampled.

I also like to support the actual artist.

[Mr. O]

I still buy all my albums , for three main reasons

1) I dont have a computer that is quick enough to download an album , it takes me half an hour to do one track.
2) I still enjoy the buzz of going to the shop or the cd coming in the post and me opening up and putting it in my system for the first time.
3) I actually like having a booklet and seeing who produced what and what was sampled.

I also like to support the actual artist.

i do too support artists, but not the wack ones.

[acgrundy]

I stopped buying for several reasons:

1.  Music is boring nowadays.  Nobody can really hold it down for a whole album anymore, with a few very rare exceptions.  Most albums that I burn I only listen to 1 time, and thats it.  Why waste my money on something I will only listen to once, other than a couple of songs.

2.  I just in general don't support the music industry.  It's hella shady, and I been a fan long enough to see enough artists get screwed over, and see artists change, and see a whole bunch of bullshit all due to music becoming 90% business nowadays.

3.  I already own nearly 300 westcoast rap cd's, and I feel at this point in my life I need to spend my money wisely and invest it, and as far as economic matters go, buying music is not a good investment.


Yeah I download most westcoast albums still.  But a lot I don't even get to listening to.  Most only get 1 listen.  I have been downloading albums for 6 years now, and I still bought all the albums I d/l for the first 4 years.  But then it got to the point, that by the time the real album came out, I had already listened to it enough, that I bought the actual cd but never even listened to it, because I already got sick of it from the d/l copy.

Bottom line is, this music industry fell the fuck off.  You want my money, well you better put out a damn near classic album.  Out of the last 2 years, I think Ice Cube is the only one who deserves my money, I think I will buy his album.  Otherwise aint' shit dropped worth buying.

[Nutty]

I never stopped buying albums and I never download a whole album to listen to.

What I do do is listen to snippets on CDuniverse, CDconnection etc. If I like the sound of the majority of tracks I pick it up. That way I still get the excitement of the first listen to the proper album, without the risk that I've just bought a hot mess.

I used to do that, but some albums I couldn't find in store, so I juss d/l them now, especially older albums.