There are very much rules.
Playlists are great for gatherings, background music for chores etc. Personally, I donāt throw parties where we all sit and listen intently to an album for 45 minutes then discuss it (kudos if you do, could be a cool book club like idea).
But yea, I like albums.
In dance music land, however, albums are almost always too much of the same. And that was true for myself before streaming was a thing. Streaming is great for DJ mixes which I think we can agree are the bread and butter of the DJ world.
On the other extreme side of things, there are a ton of ājam videosā where you could barely call the audio content a beat let alone a song.
Widespread and accessible music streaming is a relatively new technology so I think the dust has only begun to settle enough to guess what consequences might be permanent.
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Already there is generated music, farmed music, on "curatedā (generated?) playlists that are like the penfield mood organ. Music to chill out to, music to meditate to, music to mow the lawn, music to whack off the alpaca, music to feel shame about that alpaca thing.
Spotifyās end game is to remove artists. To generate music for people to consume as part of some activity. Maybe Eno would be fully into it?
All the big tech companies are trying to drive the cost of content to zero. Ultimately they will AI generate all the content, like the music for proles in Big Brother.
Or sumfinkā¦or not, maybe we swing back around and disintermediate, all music becomes folk music again, no big stars, just a thing people do together, to be together, and pass the time.
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Thereās your problem right there. Youāre letting the robots tell you what to listen to, stuck in the dopamine/disappointment cycle.
Get on bandcamp, get exploring and enjoy listening music again.
Fuck the robots.
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I think that popular music being generated for the masses and human made music moving back to being super local or just something people do together could easily happen simultaneously.
There are already people who would be perfectly happy if the world worked that way. I know lots of people who donāt hate music but they just listen to whatever is on Top 40 because music is just background noise for activities. And Iām sure a lot of us here could live in a world where all other music was folk music.
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ā¦o o o ā¦donāt believe the hypeā¦once u smell a stereotypeā¦
digital hearsay is moving in swarmsā¦
meanwhile the cancel mob keeps watchingā¦
age of information leaves us numb and dumbā¦
progress keeps progressing while growing aināt increasingā¦
thereās only good musicā¦and bad musicā¦
and god never was a djā¦
that wonāt fit on a t-shirt or bumpersticker. you can break it up thoughā¦ put it on more than one page of a book of haikus
ā¦all punchlinesā¦no haikusā¦
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Musicās music. The good, the bad, and the ugly.
How itās consumed doesnāt matter. Itās not that serious.
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I think that the nature of music consumption today is making people less patient when it comes to listening to albums. Donāt think itās just young people either. Iāve always loved the album format, but since we got a HomePod and subscribed to Apple Music, itās so easy for me to access any album that Iāll sometimes find something good, but not give it enough time to grow on me before moving on to something else, or not even listen to the end if itās not amazing. This has me wondering if it might be better to release EPs instead of albums in future. I rarely listen to playlists but I have always liked the EP format.
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ā¦an albumā¦is a collection of track/songsā¦and it remains an artformā¦at least for every serious sonic artistā¦
and yesā¦the ep is dead as the albumā¦but that artform behind, even if less and less people are still able to dig and admire this, will never dieā¦
i always called an ep an album, long before corrupted attention spans became a digital status quoā¦
anything beyond 3 tracks with some cover and some common thought behind and on topā¦
is an ALBUMā¦
letās be honestā¦no fillers, just killersā¦was always an unfulfilled promiseā¦
no one needs song collections from one artist beyond 8 tracksā¦
if u really got more to say than 8ā¦make it two separate releasesā¦
and make sure u got some common sense and ground concept that chains and combines all thatā¦
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Bit of background, I was basically permanently attached to a walkman in my teenage years. Discmans were already a thing by then but they were expensive and never seemed particularly robust. Graduated to minidisc and eventually ipod classic. These days everything is digitised but offline with multiple backups. As an autistic with sensory issues, I suspect there might be some sort of connection there.
But how is that connection formed? Tried the streaming thing but it never really worked for me. Loads of good tunes but nothing seemed to have value. Is that because it cost me next to nothing or because the artists got paid next to nothing? That thought certainly bothers me but is it enough to completely block the connection or should I be looking elsewhere? Many years ago when I had far less morals than the few that Iāve recently managed to acquire, Iād also tried IRC and then napster; but it was just the same. Disposable sounds and no emotional response.
So whereās the real connection to the music come from then? Perhaps itās in the associations that were formed while listening to certain albums or mixtapes over and over like some sort of Pavlovian conditioning. I might not be actively thinking about my childhood best friend when I listen to Bryan Adams Waking up the neighbours but I sure do experience the sense of idyllic tranquility of a teenage boy with an exciting future who still sees the world as a magical place. Just for the record Iām not some creepy fucking Peter Pan wannabe. Anyways, multiply that feeling by hundreds of albums curated over a 30 year period, each one of them may be linked to a friend, a past lover, or some exciting adventure. I might not even remember the connection anymore, itās enough that it creates the response.
So going back to the streaming thing. Maybe I donāt care for it because when you have all the music in the world at your fingertips, nothing really has a very good chance to stick around long enough to become special. Maybe it needs me to identify it as part of THE collection before Iāll be willing to see it as something special. Because thatās how I originally had to do things so now Iāve got those particular neurons firing in that particular way. Iām a rusted on voter who says no to mercurial subscription models.
What about other people? Can they honestly ever hope to find that connection through streaming? Maybe the whole smart device lack of focus issues will come into play here. Something something brains not capable of dealing with so much data. But then again plenty of people my age only ever saw it as background noise too. So really itās not for me to try and say as we all have our individual complex motives; and making generalisations about the other primates seems like a bit of a foolās errand.
But as long as second hand cds are cheap and plentiful and I can still find good new music on Bandcamp then what the rest of the industry does is personally irrelevant. And given that weāre staring down the barrel of the apocalypse with no time to duck for cover, it ultimately wonāt matter to anyone else either.
Sorry if that was long and rambling, had a few thoughts to get in order there.
Edit: not sure I even came close to answering the original question 
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I like your ideas and didnāt see the fuss when some Nine Inch Nail fans complained about Bad Witch being called an album because it only has 6 tracks. Just curious though if there is a reason why you prefer to call an EP an album?
I noticed that Trent Reznor explained that Bad Witch was dubbed as an album because he said that āEPs feel less important in todayās music-isnāt-as-important-as-it-once-was worldā. I donāt fully get this statement (I would have been just as interested in Bad Witch whether it was called an album or EP), but perhaps reviewers, streaming services etc. give more attention/priority to albums over EPs.
I wouldāve assumed that the complaint about Bad Witch was from someone who prefers descriptions to fit the relevant technical definition. (Ignoring the who gets to set the standards can of worms here) But it turns out both the RIAA and Recording Association would actually both class it as an album.
Personally I kinda like the specs the RIAA uses for EPs. 3 to 5 tracks or under 30 minutes. Enough time to build something coherent but no room for filler. Come to think of it, Iāve bought a few releases on bandcamp from unknowns in that format and they really are some solid pieces of work that quite easily slot in on a bus ride or lunchbreak.
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ā¦wellā¦ep was nothing but a marketing term for a āsmallā albumā¦a marketing definition in a market that simply doesānt EXIST anymoreā¦
weāre in the streaming eraā¦if u pitch a sonic piece of work these days, major or independant, itās ALL about a focus trackā¦and in best case, this focus track, once called a single, is part of some bigger sonic storytelling, some collection of tracks that come along brandnew from artist xyzā¦
the days where u work on an album for quite a while and then u promote it for another while with tour are long goneā¦the album promotes the tour nowadaysā¦and ur lucky if the world really digs more than just ur focus trackā¦formerly known as āsingleāā¦
in the streaming eraā¦u better release something at least twice a yearā¦
and if ur a serious artist, of course u still wanna say more than just a focus track, aka single 
so donāt botherā¦and release a little collection of songs/tracksā¦tell a storyā¦have some concept frame work around thatā¦and hell yeahā¦call it an albumā¦because thatās what it isā¦
my next album will contain four tracksā¦the follow up will contain fiveā¦
epāsā¦?..nopeā¦thatās all yesterdays parties and totally last centuryā¦whatever the riaa liked to thinkā¦back in the days of physical productsā¦
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AGREE!
but, not everyone follows that ātemplateā tho ā¦
[many other examplesā¦wont bother getting into posting them tho. you can find em 
part of the journey]
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Lots of thoughts reading this. Insane to think that a little over a century ago, hearing music could only happen in person. What a trip if you didnāt own an instrument to walk into a room where someone was beating the drums. All your friends were there, and the performers got to show off their new songs to a whole audience who are clapping and dancing. Just enveloped in this experience centered around music.
I think what we perceive (and I agree) to be the decline of music is that our association of it and its constituent parts is so much different now. More or less everything above has been gradually dissociated from experiencing music. Itās neither here nor there, but it does kind of suck for the artist.
Unsurprisingly music appears to be the least important aspect of Spotifyās business model. Iām talking in terms of quality and respect for the artists and medium. Itās pretty clear that they want to command how artists operate in order to be popular (read: viable revenue streams).
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Iām not sure itās just streaming thatās the culprit. Some people genuinely prefer mixtapes, playlists and top hits compilations, and I would say the type of audience/demographic that was buying that stuff in the 90s and 00s are suited down to the ground with music on Spotify and YouTube.
As an album lover, I use Spotify for basically just that. Itās either checking out new stuff which I eventually buy or about 70% of the time itās just a convenient way to listen to music Iāve already bought on CD on the go. I guess the artist gets a few more cents out of me than they would have otherwise if Iād ripped the CD to my phone. To me, the subscription fee is less painful than having to manually move music to my phone.
The other thing is the environmental factors involved with listening to albums that make it harder. My older eyes struggle reading the spines when browsing for something to listen to, most of my listening used to be while cooking or washing up, but with open plan houses thereās now a TV in the kitchen area and a dishwasher means youāre not standing in one place for an albumās duration every evening.
Not to mention how hard it can be to sit in place for an hour and do almost nothing to soak in an album without being distracted by chores that need doing.
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ā¦no matter what u call it, end of all daysā¦
we can also sayā¦ok the traditional album length is deadā¦
the mini album, formerly known as the ep, is THE actual framework for a collection of an artistās piece of overall sonic workā¦
and the term ALBUM is way more common than epā¦so epās are the new albumsā¦
or letās come up with a new term for some sort of collection of track/songsā¦
at least we can all agree, no sonic artists want to release an endless row of unrelated, random, out of the blue, left alone focus tracksā¦singlesā¦right?
the artist exclusive playlist/collection, thoughtful released, with some conceptional carefully crafted pieces of sounddesign, containing some kind of overall vibe, concept, title and cover by an sonic act remains THE artform and favourable way we love to express ourselvesā¦
to all of UZā¦
for all out thereā¦
noboby has that attention span left to follow a collection row, a playlist, that lasts for almost an hour or even way moreā¦
while the oldest rule will never loose itās guaranteed effectā¦repetition makes the hitā¦
if the listener had a great time, following ur sonic journeyā¦and it lasted āonlyā for half an hour, well, thenā¦good thing for everbody involvedā¦press play it again, samā¦
whatsoever still, it remains a great thing to dive into the sonic mindset of another sonic artistā¦spending quality time with all he/she/they came up with recentlyā¦a piece of art, a statement in sounddesign and vibes, that takes us via our ears and thoughts by the hand to abduct us, as the listener, to some other places we haveānt seen beforeā¦
soā¦anything between 3 up to 7 or 8 tracks max can spent that feelingā¦
no one needs to bother to work on double lpās anymoreā¦
release little doses/smaller personal playlists/sensefully curated collections of ur kind of sonic grainā¦beyond that one focus track ur using to pitch the whole damn thingā¦
the game remains the sameā¦the art of mixtapesā¦end of all daysā¦
whatās the perfect openerā¦the sonic door to open upā¦some kind of prologā¦where to rise the tensionā¦where to crack itā¦where to shockā¦where to calm the fuk downā¦where and when to create euphoriaā¦and what might be the perfect endingā¦
epilogā¦andā¦
fade outā¦
My own path as well.
Today, this forum provides a good source of discoveries, and I keep downloading random stuff with soulseek (e.g. if I see that someone hosts two obscure records I am currently downloading, Iāll dig in their collection).
I really enjoy listening to whole albums, thatās the way IMO.
I hated Top50 back in the 80ās, with albums that would be some weak material around a strong track.
Much preferred well conceived albums that need some focused attention (oh, Doolittle how I was glad you nailed 80ās coffin).
Canāt bear Spotify or Deezer neither. I understand that it is convenient for some, but itās a plague IMO as long as itās not correctly letting artists live from their craft. Plus you have to do the effort of digging yourself, or you are very likely to be influenced by the majors and the social media.
I put a large part of my money in records, preferably through bandcamp as itās of course both convenient and respecful for the artists. Plus itās where the experimental stuff is
Bandcamp all the way!
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