What Exactly Is An Album? The Definition Is Definitely Changing

Having studied both classical and popular music extensively, I’m well versed in the constant pushing of boundaries and fight to keep things the way they are. I have studied how Beethoven made people question what a symphony was because he added a chorus to the fourth movement of his Symphony No. 9. I learned how John Cage strove to have people question the very nature of music. Professors read to us excerpts from scathing reviews of music by Bach, Mozart, and Wagner, among others. Yet, as I learned all this and know that there is a constant struggle between musicians trying to evolve and a portion of the public that wants to keep things the same, there are still articles that I read that raise really good questions that I have never thought of before. Questions that really make me think.

One such article is a great think piece posted on Stereogum by Ryan Leas. It’s a bit lengthy, but I definitely recommend the read.

Right from the beginning, Leas talks about so many big artists dropping surprise albums that they’re no longer really a surprise. He also speaks about the sheer number of album releases so far this year. I’m nodding along, agreeing with what he’s saying, and then he drops this:

“And the deluge of surprise releases has also distracted from another question that 2016 has continually put forth, oftentimes with these same releases: What even is an album in the first place?”

Growing up in the 90s and early 2000s when CDs were the major way to consume music, I had never considered this before. To me, an album meant a CD or a cassette or a record that an artist has released where the songs are organized in a coherent and purposeful manner. I considered digital-albums releases as well, but in my mind, those were just extensions of the physical copies that you could buy in one of the slowly-dying CD and record stores or online. For whatever reason I never thought to question the concept of the album.

My vision of the album, which isn’t all that uncommon, is something Leas discusses.

“Our notion of what an album is has always been tied to the technologies at hand, but much of the traditional concept is rooted in the LP. That’s the format that gave us the A- and B-side structure, in which an album could rise and fall in two separate but connected acts. It’s a format that allowed for the album-as-artwork approach, rather than a random smattering of songs anchored by singles. The latter has never gone away, really, but the albums we tend to prize are the ones that hang together as a complete work over a prescribed amount of time, often roughly in the 40-50 minute range, as records allowed”.

Thinking about this, it’s not all that surprising to me. Technology has changed so quickly in the past fifty years that we’re barely able to keep up, so keeping with the LP idea of an album was a way to stabilize things just a little bit. Even as cassettes allowed for young music lovers to make their own mixtapes, CDs offered bonus and hidden tracks, and mp3 tracks made it seem like there was no point for artists to release “albums” any more, we were still stuck on the traditional idea of an album.

As Leas points out:

“While there’s a certain weight and logic to the traditional 40-50 minute listening experience, there seems to be little point to an album when the music is delivered in a batch of files that listeners can rearrange and sample at will. What’s the point of asking a listener to devote the attention and time needed for a traditional album in that landscape?”

Up until just recently, there might not have been a real point to releasing a traditional album, but we were stuck in our ways. It was the “way it’s done”. How it’s “always” been. We are creatures of habit, even if those habits aren’t particularly old.

Leas mentions Radiohead’s 2007 near-surprise release In Rainbows where the band had a “pay-what-you-want” approach to pricing. At the time, that was a huge thing for the band to do. Afterwards, the band spoke of doing away with the traditional album approach to making music entirely. They thought of releasing single tracks and EPs instead. The King of Limbs from 2011 sounded like two EPs mashed together into one album, but Leas argues that their recent follow up, A Moon Shaped Pool is “one of the most traditional album-as-artwork-type records amidst this year’s blockbuster releases”. When comparing Radiohead’s recent album to Drake’s Views or Beyoncé’s Lemonade, Leas’ argument makes a lot of sense.

The whole concept of what an album is has definitely begun to change. Obviously, there are those pushing against it, such as with criticism towards Kanye’s continual minor changes to The Life of Pablo. As a whole, however, I think the industry — and even the public — is overdue for a shake-up. To have our notions challenged. I want to see what artists can come up with and how they can begin to slowly change our ideas of how things “should be”.

I have no qualms against the traditional album and album-listening experience. Listening to a full album from start to finish should never not be a thing that people do. It can be fun and relaxing. However, art is all about shaking things up and pushing the envelope.

Leas concludes his essay perfectly:

“With the technology at our fingertips right now and the erosion of the rules that used to govern the music industry, who knows what could happen when artists are able to go beyond scratching the surface of new album formats, delving into surprising and unforeseen new ways to present their work. Surprise releases may be status quo, but there are still countless surprises ahead of us”.

After reading the Leas’ piece and having time to think about it, I am excited for what the future holds.

Have any thoughts? Leave a comment!