Today’a stars have released an INSANE amount of music

[CrimsonTider]

NOW ASK YOURSELF
HOW MANY CERTIFIED CLASSICS
HAVE ALL OF THESE ALBUMS PRODUCED?

PURE MINDLESS, MICROWAVE MUSIC
TO KEEP THE STREAM NUMBERS COMING.

IF nikkaS HAD TO GO
ON WHOLE PROMO TOURS,
WHOLE ADVERTISEMENT CYCLES
AND SHIP HUNDREDS OF
THOUSANDS OF PHYSICAL UNITS
EVERY RELEASE
HARDLY ANY OF THOSE shytS
WOULD GET CLEARED BY THE LABEL.


​

I don’t think Classic albums work today like they did in the past. No one is listening to albums like that

But you’re right about Promo runs and the ease of releasing music. Jack Harlow just dropped a project a couple of months ago with no promo and he’s a star

 

[DoubleClutch]

Kendrick isn’t really relevant to this convo because he came up and built his audience in a different era?

Also that Kendrick project didn’t leave any lasting impression on the culture, no hit records and slid off the charts quickly and is being outsold by his previous albums and not the reason his tour grossed so much

That Kendrick album came and went. His career is on life support if his next project fails.

But then again he’s probably old enough to retire from rap after 1 more album

 

[s@n]

But even with them, if you compared to now the process hasn't changed much. Jazz artists and session musicians were always recording, it's just what came out. Other genres of artists were always recording, it's just a matter of curating an album as to what came out. And even then, the albums were like 6-8 tracks or so, so their output per year is still the same as modern albums.

But in hip-hop, Nas always records, Pac always recorded, Mobb always recorded, Ghostface is always recording, Ye, Pusha...So, I think the intentions are just different. Record specifically for a project, or recording just to put out music as fast as possible.

I honestly compare these times with those children albums...like The Chipmunks have like 40 albums...so you know they're novelty acts

yes and no, but I mainly agree with your point. Jazz musicians were always playing; take guys like Herbie who would talk about how when he was with Miles (2nd quintet), he, Ron, and Tony would be up until all hours of the night talking about their own ideas, many of which they would flesh out as leaders of their own bands. Recording a lot was only possible if you had money and/or connections, otherwise you had to gig. Guys gigged where clubs thought they could make money, but even with that, there were cats like Gil Evans who kept an open door for musicians to chill, play, whatever.

Social media changed the game for a lot of these current losers in that they can pull stunts to generate popularity and drive views. While there is some quality out there, the vast majority of current stuff is recycled swill is indeed what you were talking about: recoding just for the sake of recording, or recording for clout. Appreciate you adding to the discussion!

 

[nieman]

This aint 2002 when that was something like that could sustain you.... there are so many rappers and projects coming out you'll get buried.

There's zero reason to constantly release music. By doing so, you're basically admitting that you have no staying power, and no real fans. The music ain't even speaking to the fanbase like that. You're trying to tell me that you wait a year and you'll lose your entire audience?

 

[CrimsonTider]

There's zero reason to constantly release music. By doing so, you're basically admitting that you have no staying power, and no real fans. The music ain't even speaking to the fanbase like that. You're trying to tell me that you wait a year and you'll lose your entire audience?

This make no sense. Most relevant artist are constantly releasing music

 

[Cladyclad]

This make no sense. Most relevant artist are constantly releasing music

It’s cool to put out music but 3 to 5 projects every 18 months is OD

yo boy Drake should be the blueprint. Just kill features and throw out some loosies and maybe a ep. Thats more than enough Imo

 

[Mike the Executioner]

Maybe this doesn't apply to hip hop, but I'm noticing with pop, artists are taking longer to come out with albums. That would have been impossible years ago, but I think people are starting to see the artistic merit that pop has and you're getting more artists that have control over their own work. Somebody like Britney Spears would get a lot more respect now and she wouldn't have to make a new album every year.

 

[Kenny West]

A prolific amount of garbage released.

Using hindsight of the older artists on this strategy, nobody outside the most stanniest of stans can point to definitive projects from the Boosie & Gucci mixtape spam eras respectively. All them Wilt Chamberlain tapes aging like dogshyt in the sun and I can't remember the name of any of Boosie's jawns. Future smartened up and became an album artist so he'll always have dirty sprite 2 to go back to.

One of my homies is a longtime Durk fan and he has to spend several minutes scrolling through a library of bullshyt to put on a track he's been quoting all day. It's all playlist material, the actual project is irrelevant. I'm not exempt from this either, I'm over here listening to Pierre leaks right now. Still got unmastered Playboi Carti songs n shyt.

 

[CrimsonTider]

Maybe this doesn't apply to hip hop, but I'm noticing with pop, artists are taking longer to come out with albums. That would have been impossible years ago, but I think people are starting to see the artistic merit that pop has and you're getting more artists that have control over their own work. Somebody like Britney Spears would get a lot more respect now and she wouldn't have to make a new album every year.

this may have to do with pop not being the moneymaker it was in the 00s.

Rap is where the labels are making all their money from and they need these rappers to keep consumers on the streaming apps

 

[-Quikness-]

It's quality over quantity tho. Anybody with access to a PC or some form of social media can make 20 songs a day, all those songs can be ass but they're still gonna be "out there"

Music ain't shyt no more, it's fast food garbage 90% of the time

 

[CrimsonTider]

It's quality over quantity tho. Anybody with access to a PC or some form of social media can make 20 songs a day, all those songs can be ass but they're still gonna be "out there"

Music ain't shyt no more, it's fast food garbage 90% of the time

Y’all have been saying this for 25 years. Change it up

 

[MegaTronBomb!]

There's zero reason to constantly release music. By doing so, you're basically admitting that you have no staying power, and no real fans. The music ain't even speaking to the fanbase like that. You're trying to tell me that you wait a year and you'll lose your entire audience?

I'm telling you that there is enough new music at any point in time that trying to not release music for a year will get you forgotten by casual fans....and they make up a considerable amount of sales/streams/tickets sold.


real fans are not the only ones who consume artists music.

 

[Stir Fry]

Most songs these days are only about 1:30 long though, so it probably evens out lol

 

[Westbama Heartthrob]

Kendrick went 5 years without an album and just had the highest grossing rap tour in history

Only a few artists can afford to do that

And kendrick dropped his most polarizing album at that

Drake is probably the only superstar that doesn't take years off between albums.

He still could take a year or two off and be straight though. The vast majority of artists aint got the option. It's either keep dropping, or get dropped

Cause it'll always be someone else to take their place

 

[Westbama Heartthrob]

artists like James Brown use to do this shyt way back in the day

he'd release albums like them shyts was singles, sometimes 2 or 3 albums a year

James brown was on cocaine

Plus, he had the tightest rhythm section in the industry backing him

They could crank out a whole album with just one jam session

Wasn't like his music was super heavy on lyrics either

All he needed was a few good chants and ad lib the rest

Needless to say, he had the cheat codes

Most artists weren't keeping up with him

He was called the hardest working man in music for a reason