Is the Album dead?

[Potato]

http://minnesota.publicradio.org/collectio...lbum_dead.shtml

From the Mark Wheat's blog entry:

At the start of this year I made the prediction that the album would die. What I meant was that the full length cd recording that we have referred to as the album for many years will no longer be necessary for a band to release in order to get attention, it won't be the focus of a band's calendar. It MIGHT remain as a conceptually connected piece of music only available on the cd format, if an artist has an idea that needs 45 minutes or more to develop or as a soundtrack for example.

For the younger audience who have been downloading their songs and making playlists for years, this was probably met with a roll of the eyes, a shrug and a "no kidding grandad!" But for us more mature music lovers this seemed like a big deal, we've been buying these things since the early 60's in one form or another, is it the end of an age and do we care?!

More and more artists are being discovered by new fans through downloads, Myspace, and TV.

Some major artists have started 'releasing' singles again like Beck's "Timebomb", Oasis' "Lord, Don't Let Me Down" and ofcourse Radiohead...how many will buy that when it finally comes out on the first day of next year? That might answer our question, until then, what do you think?

Do you still buy albums or don't you care if your fave artists never make another as long as they put new songs on the web once in awhile and tour regularly? Are we missing anything from not having the emphasis on longer pieces of work, or are we destined to have less music of higher quality?

To use the old format ideas for a little while longer...

'A-Side' of the argument...The Album is Dead

'B-Side' ...No not yet...not ever!

What do you think?

[DudeAsInCool]

I don't think its dead. I do think you will see more eps - simply releasing a single once in awhile doesnt quite work either.

[Potato]

I think the album as a concept of a whole entity is sort of getting lost on some crowds, and there is a valid point.

But to say the album is dead?? Nah. Never.

[DudeAsInCool]

People may shuffle tracks around, but if you like an artist, you want to hear more, not less.

[Excrement_Cranium]

People may shuffle tracks around, but if you like an artist, you want to hear more, not less.

True.

However, if they put together a shitty album, I want to hear less shit, not more.

Where is the "List the albums you love beginning-to-end" thread?