SXSWORLD

3 2 S X S W O R L D / M A R C H M U S I C 2 0 1 4 he album has been a dominant format for music consumption for the past six decades, with such milestone titles as Kind of Blue, Rubber Soul, Exile On Main Street, riller, Nevermind and Yankee Hotel Foxtrot dotting its history. With the continuing decline in CD sales and even falling sales for digital tracks and albums due to the rise of streaming, it seems as though albums are becoming irrelevant in the new single-song era, right? Not so fast. Billboard also reports the rise of vinyl album sales— from 4.55 million units in 2012 to 6 million in 2013—not a massive surge, but certainly an upward trend. e Independent also recently reported that "e most responsible for the rise in sales are in fact 18 to 24-year-olds—the gen- eration that has grown up with CDs and online downloads." Artists issuing vinyl releases include such popular acts as Daft Punk, Haim and Kings of Leon. Is this growth the sign of a new era for albums, or is it a fad? "I don't think the album will become obso- lete, but it will become less important both in terms of making an artistic statement and as a format in which music is sold, says music writer Richie Unterberger. "But I also think the album, like a bunch of other things that were thought to be in danger of van- ishing with technological changes, like theatrical movies (first with television, then with home video) for instance, will hang on longer than many pundits predict." Nonetheless, technology marches on. Today, sites like Bandcamp allow artists to release and sell their music without putting out albums per se. But Josh Madell, owner of the Other Music record store in New York City, doesn't believe that the new means of distribution threaten the album format. "Self-releasing challenges the label model more than the album model," he says. Musician Corey Koehler operates the Musicgoat blog for independent and hobby musicians. He released his music as singles, one each month, for over a year. "I knew/know that producing content on a regular schedule is the key to establishing, holding and building relationships with an audience," he explains. He has also written an e-book, Sell Your Singles, and promotes the single as a way to promote and release music more frequently. But he adds, "ere are still a lot of people, including myself, that like the album experience. And who says you can't do both? I released an album made up of many of the songs I released as singles. It served me well in that it gave me something physical to sell at live shows, and it gave me another chance to reach out my fans." e question of the album's future has come up before. In 2003, Wired asked music writers if the album was dying. Joe Levy, then music editor at Rolling Stone, wasn't hopeful: "Kids have no interest or training in buying CDs. e music industry will soon realize this, and out of economic necessity they'll refocus on selling hits, karaoke versions of hits, ring tones and IM callout hooks." Fast forward a decade, and Levy, now editor of Billboard, was celebrating the new vinyl renaissance. In an interview with WNYC's Soundcheck website, he said, "Is vinyl something that people are manifestly interested in, young and old? Yeah." Writer/columnist Marc Phillips runs the Vinyl Anachronist blog. He recently interviewed a 20-something jazz musi- cian who "absolutely loves LPs and turntables. I asked why so many younger people are getting into vinyl these days and he replied, 'All the cool kids have turntables.' " Madell says, "I think it was inevitable that LPs would have a resurgence; as digital formats continue to evolve away from physical ownership, many passionate fans want something they can hold onto to help connect with their favorite albums." As for the album's long-term prospects, Phillips says, "Like everything else in the music industry, I think it's fairly cyclical. It's similar to the fate of the LPs in the late '80s and early '90s, when everything vinyl almost vanished forever, but a few people hung in there and it came back." No matter how listeners enjoy music—as full albums or singles; as CDs, LPs or downloads—the album remains the default medium for artists to present and distribute their work, which is evidenced by how Spotify and iTunes still group artists' material by album. In fact, the album seems to have the potential to evolve in the digital landscape. Unterberger says that "artists can more easily issue works longer than 80 minutes, or the equivalents of two-LP or even 10-LP (or two-CD or 10-CD) box sets. Or, they can issue alternative versions of the same body of work—for instance, simultaneously put out the same songs in electric and acoustic versions. Or add optional extras, like different live versions of the same songs on the album. I see new tech- nologies as being as likely to expand the horizons of what an album can be, as they are to threaten to make the album obsolete." n ough Singles and Song Streaming Surge, Albums Still Hold On by Robin Cook T

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