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Originally Posted by Rob Instigator
In an age when anyone and everyone has the ability and means to not only record themsevles, but to release the music into the world seconds after recording it, whether via online or CD-r's etc, these writers would ask whether, as an effect of this, the quality controls that bands placed on music released would come down?
In many cases it seems to have. bands record and release songs that are barely more than an idea strecthed out too long, or that seem like "unfinished sketches" of song.
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I think that an increase in the means to create, and in particular distribute, music does inevitably affect quality control. However (as Sarramkrop suggests) I tend to think that the more significant shift is not in what's out there, but how we as listeners attempt to sift through it. I imagine that the generation brought up with this new technology will find a way to negotiate through it far quicker than those of us still used to the old album format. There's less incentive now to give an album time to grow on you, knowing that an alternative is just a download away. This is bad for the album as we've traditionally known it. However, in terms of the history of music, the album is a relatively recent phenomenon which was itself bound to shifts within technology. As such, the idea that it will be replaced by some other 'standard' form is only of consequence to those of us that still hold on to it as
the format.
The sheer will of a certain generation of consumers will inevitably see the album maintain its industry dominance long after it's actual viability has passed, but once that generation is replaced by one that holds no such affiliatins, the traditional album will surely be seen as little more than a charming eccentricity of a bygone age, and replaced by something more appropriate to their listening habits.