Bands releasing single songs, as opposed to albums. Are you for, or against?

[battema]

Oh man, FSOL were awesome about that back in the day. "Singles" like Lifeforms and Cascade that were essentially entirely new supplemental albums, but apparently came in just under some time limit so that pricing guidelines priced them as an EP or single rather than a full length album.

The FSOL Bandcamp page is loaded with similar (even recent) goodies.

[battema]

Similarly, I have a CD "single" by the Orb that is 40 minutes long. Not various mixes, just one track ("Blue Room").

Which resulted in what is STILL one of my favorite "live" performances from Top o' the Pops

[spellbound]

I have a bunch of Orb albums but apparently not Blue Room. Gotta look for that.

[progmatist]

Remember in the 90s and early 2000s when we had to buy a CD with 1 good song, and the rest crap? I'd rather buy a single now than return to that.

[JKL2000]

Remember in the 90s and early 2000s when we had to buy a CD with 1 good song, and the rest crap? I'd rather buy a single now than return to that.

I never bought a CD for one track, that I can recall.

[Mister Triscuits]

Remember in the 90s and early 2000s when we had to buy a CD with 1 good song, and the rest crap? I'd rather buy a single now than return to that.

You were listening to the wrong artists.

[battema]

I never bought a CD for one track, that I can recall.

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[NogbadTheBad]

I never bought a CD for one track, that I can recall.

[JKL2000]

Definitely prefer albums. Singles and very short EPs tend to get lost in the shuffle and forgotten about, and often not listened to very closely or enough. (Just talking about my own listening habits here.) During lockdowns it's been different though. Many of us understood it was a way to help pay the bills, hopefully. So I paid more attention to and purchased more singles than I normally would.

[JKL2000]

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Just kidding! No to Chumbawumba and Y&T as well. Oh, I just remembered, I bought a Queensryche album for that one song, but that was a cassette, not a CD! LOL

[Dave (in MA)]

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I avoided buying that, for one track.

[Dave (in MA)]

I found out about Thomas Feiner through his Sylvian and Jansen connection, and he only puts out a track at a time, so I used the Buy Digital Discography option and got an album's worth or more. Since then I've gotten some more individual tracks.

[ronmac]

Whatever the artist wants to do with their work is fine by me.

Some of the best songs ever recorded were released only as singles. Some of the best songs ever recorded were album-only tracks. What difference does it really make?

It would be arrogant of me to suggest (or even dictate) what they should do based on my preference or convenience.

[ronmac]

I never bought a CD for one track, that I can recall.

I did.

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[chalkpie]

This is prog. Albums should consist of only one 40' track.

Or four 80' tracks if you're Meal Norse.

[the ferret]

I'm happy to hear new music from an artist period. Whether it's a single, EP, album or pike, new music is welcomed by me.

I'm always happy to hear new music but I'm only willing to pay for it, if it's album length, which includes some EPs, these days.

[battema]

No offense but I think we're hung up on words that mean very little anymore. I've bought "singles" on BC that were over an hour long and I've bought "albums" that barely reached 30 minutes. So how about this:

While there are exceptions, in general on BC:

- I don't pay more than $1.50 USD for less than 5 minutes of music
- I don't pay more than $5.00 USD for less than 15 minutes of music
- I don't pay more than $11.00 USD for less than 45 minutes of music

CDs are a little more fluid, depending on availability/rarity...but in truth I am down to just a tiny trickle of physical albums.

[Mister Triscuits]

CDs are a little more fluid, depending on availability/rarity...but in truth I am down to just a tiny trickle of physical albums.

This heat wave is really something, sounds like your CDs are melting.

[battema]

Wait....so you're NOT supposed to treat CDs like analog magnetic tape, and refresh them every now and then by putting them in the oven?!?! Wow, who knew....

[Rarebird]

I prefer albums, I always have. I think I've only one single and one 12 inch.


With my own music, I tend to put separate songs on soundcloud and albums on Bandcamp.

[progmatist]

I never bought a CD for one track, that I can recall.

You were listening to the wrong artists.

Back in my metal days when metal was a thing, I bought a Lita Ford album for that song she did with Ozzy. The rest turned out to be cheesy girl pop, occasionally interrupted by a killer guitar solo. I bought a Living Colour album for the killer song Cult of Personality. But upon hearing the rest of the album, wanted to throw it out the window. I bought an album by fellow Phoenicians Icon, based on the song Taking My Breath Away. When the rest of the album turned out to be a rehashing of the first song, I was extremely disappointed. I could go on.........

[GuitarGeek]

I have a bunch of Orb albums but apparently not Blue Room. Gotta look for that.

When UFOrb was first issued Stateside, it was as a double CD: one disc was (as I understand it) the original album as issued in the UK (which included a 17 minute version of Blue Room), while disc 2 had three different versions of Blue Room, including the full 40 minute version, as well as a track called Assassin. I remember buying it, just because Steve Hillage was involved. And it was the very first slimline double CD jewelcase. I remember thinking, "OMIGAWD! I can't believe they did that!"

I actually remember, a bit before that, I was at Wax Stax, and I was talking about Steve Hillage and someone asked if he was guy The Orb had been working with. They pulled the latest issue of...I think it was the Enemy...er, I mean NME, where they mentioned that Alex Patterson had been collaborating with "70's hippie guitarist Steve Hillage". That was back in like 1992.

[GuitarGeek]

No offense but I think we're hung up on words that mean very little anymore. I've bought "singles" on BC that were over an hour long and I've bought "albums" that barely reached 30 minutes. So how about this:

While there are exceptions, in general on BC:

- I don't pay more than $1.50 USD for less than 5 minutes of music
- I don't pay more than $5.00 USD for less than 15 minutes of music
- I don't pay more than $11.00 USD for less than 45 minutes of music

CDs are a little more fluid, depending on availability/rarity...but in truth I am down to just a tiny trickle of physical albums.

Now, you got me thinkign about things. I was looking at Steve Roach's Bandcamp page last night, and I noted that one of the titles he has up is the three CD set he did with Vidna Obmana, Ascension Of Shadows. AOS was really issued as a limited edition 3 CD set. I think there was a plan afoot at one point, to reissue each CD separately, but they never followed through. Only the first disc in the set was issued.

So, the full Ascension Of Shadows is now available as a download on Bandcamp, with a "name your price" option. So I'm debating, what price do I pay for something where I already own one of the CD's (73 minutes or so worth of music)? Keep in mind, I already over 60 Steve Roach albums, so I'm almost feeling like if he's gonna offer "name your price" on something, part of me feels entitled to be a cheapskate on it (on the other hand part of me feels like I should at least hand over some real samoleans, since I imagine some people aren't having such an ethical crisis on the matter).

[markwoll]

AOR was what I grew up with, after after being subjected to singles during the 60's as a kid.
If there is one thing that stuck from that period, it is the album format.
Songs sequenced in a conscious effort to, if nothing else, entertain the listener. Songs flow and sometimes draw the listener into a nice frame of mind ( or rage, depending on the material ).
Today I like newer music along with the old stuff, but I still like the sequencing and flow of the album format. Even if I usually listen to shuffle of my collection ( so singles in essence ).
Some of the bands I follow has gone to releasing singles or very short EP's. I find it more difficult to categorize and sort singles, even if they are a slow motion release of an album. Most of the time I would rather wait till the 'project' is finished and then buy the collection.
In the late 70's and 80's it was common for British bands to release albums ( in the US, and sometimes imports ) that were compilations of singles. It was common to buy several albums with at least a few duplicate songs, at least until the band was bigger in the US than europe and just started releasing albums.

[battema]

Now, you got me thinkign about things. I was looking at Steve Roach's Bandcamp page last night, and I noted that one of the titles he has up is the three CD set he did with Vidna Obmana, Ascension Of Shadows. AOS was really issued as a limited edition 3 CD set. I think there was a plan afoot at one point, to reissue each CD separately, but they never followed through. Only the first disc in the set was issued.

So, the full Ascension Of Shadows is now available as a download on Bandcamp, with a "name your price" option. So I'm debating, what price do I pay for something where I already own one of the CD's (73 minutes or so worth of music)? Keep in mind, I already over 60 Steve Roach albums, so I'm almost feeling like if he's gonna offer "name your price" on something, part of me feels entitled to be a cheapskate on it (on the other hand part of me feels like I should at least hand over some real samoleans, since I imagine some people aren't having such an ethical crisis on the matter).

Hmmmm...normally for the equivalent of 3 CDs of music I'd look at something between $12 and $15. But if I already owned one of the albums then I'd definitely go lower if the option exists (which it does).