Is it the rule that there are no rules, or
are the rules the same as they ever were?
The album is dead, yet it is alive. Since
it’s no longer about the physical format (at least not exclusively), any time
an artist drops a set of songs it qualifies as an album. There are regulations
imposed by the chart companies but their relevance is low, people can decide
for themselves what constitutes an album, ep or mixtape if it even needs to be
qualified.
Kanye puts out ‘Ye’ and it is 7 songs long,
23 minutes or so. Within weeks he puts out ‘Kids See Ghosts’, another 7 songs
and around the same length. In the meantime Drake drops ‘Scorpion’, 25 songs
and almost 90 minutes of music. Logic tells us that more people will listen to
the whole of ‘Ye’ than they will to ‘Scorpion’ but Drake dominates the charts
and destroys all streaming records.
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In the meantime ‘rock’ is dormant. Once the format for which albums were created it lies unloved by the masses. Rock needs to create new rules, collaborate, invent new stars and write songs that people want to hear. No-one said it would be easy.
Like any music industry observer I expect
trends to merge, diverge, to rotate, wax and wane. The truth is that ‘RnB’ and
pop-soul is the dominant force and has been for so long that it’s tricky to see
how a change will come. Who can break the mould, who will inspire a different
generation? Where once Run DMC may have required Aerosmith to help them break
into the mainstream it would now be the other way around.
As the money is largely in live and not
plays or purchases perhaps we look to the likes of The Courteeners who can
headline big shows and appear the equal of any indie-rock act. If you’ve seen
them though you know how important the song ‘Not Nineteen Forever’ is to their
fans and the whole set. The 1975 can do a Kanye and release multiple albums in
short order but it’ll matter little to the masses if there’s no killer
song(s).
Those who’ve followed the unlikely, or
somewhat baffling, long-lived successes of ‘Iris’, ‘Africa’ or ‘Don’t Stop
Believin’ know that one rule survives all the changes, one rule to rule them
all, it’s all about the song. While the albums can come and go, there is no
great success without a great song.
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