The Summer Music Drought
No, you’re not imagining things. This has been a dry summer for big releases. Just wander into any record store and you’ll see the same CDs in the “new release” section week after week.
Oh, sure there’s new product every Monday (in the UK) and Tuesday (in North America), but since early June, almost everything has come from new or niche-y acts. There have been some exceptions, of course (Beyoncé, Bad Meets Evil, the Kanye/Jay-Z project, a Coldplay single) but for the most part, this summer has been a dead zone, like a lake choked off by algae.
My record weasel friends confided in me as far back as March that their companies had nothing in the pipeline. Paralyzed by industry issues (the sale of Warner Music Group, the uncertainty surrounding EMI, dropping revenues everywhere), everyone was afraid to commit to, well, almost anything. Best focus on getting Beyoncé’s 4 in as many iPods as possible. And another single from Mumford & Sons? Sure!
Bricks-and-mortar music retailers have been left with precious little to promote. It’s hard to get anyone really excited about, say, a deluxe edition re-release of Arcade Fire’s The Suburbs. Instead, stores are left pushing Adele’s 21, which helps explain why it’s spent most of the year at #1 on both sides of the border. Other stores are stocking up on Amy Winehouse CDs.
In past decades, sales of disposable summery Top 40 hits would have picked up the slack, but a quick glance at the radio airplay and physical singles sales charts reveals little correlation. Instead, LMFAO and Pitbull are selling lots of low-margin digital copies.
In other words, this summer has been to music what January and February are to the movie studios: big pushes on old releases while simultaneously releasing whatever non-superstar material that’s in the warehouse.
What to do? If you have the time/cash, you can take some chances. The Horrors Skying Out (which came out this week) is very good. I’m very much into the Washed Out album With and Without. And if you’ve yet to buy the new Death Cab for Cutie, think about it.
If you’d rather wait, the Christmas shopping season starts on the 30th with releases from the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Lenny Kravitz. And September—with new CDs from Mary J. Blige, Lady Antebellum and Jane’s Addiction—looks promising.
Not to mention the very intriguing PJ20 soundtrack, massive "Nevermind" reissue, plus new albums from Mastodon, Wilco and Primus (first album of new material in 12 years). Seems the labels have been stockpiling for a (hopefully) busy fall.