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Originally Posted by zboy2854  If you look at that list, you'll notice something quite striking. The more prevalent the internet became and downloading became popular, the fewer blockbuster albums there were. When you break it down by decade, clearly the industry as we knew it before vis a vis the "album" peaked in the '90s:
17 from the '70s and earlier
20 from the '80s
28 from the '90s
7 from the '00s
And the last album to make that blockbuster list was from 2004. Which means that in the last 5 years, when downloading and music acquisition has changed the most rapidly, there hasn't been a single blockbuster album of that level. What does this mean, that no one's made an album as good as Usher's Confessions or with as many hit singles since then? False.
So what's changed? The method of music acquisition. Ask kids today about CD's and they'll laugh in your face, you might as well be talking about wax cylinders. And most of them who do actually buy music aren't purchasing whole albums, they're purchasing the single they like.
The paradigm has changed. Any illusions that we're going back to "album sales" as the primary measuring stick in the new age of acquisition and consumption habits are just that, illusions. We might as well lobby for bringing back film as the primary method of consumer photography over digital. It's not coming back in that form anymore. |
While I don't disagree are there any big artists now? sure there are a few but the quantity and quality is pretty low. Jonas Brothers? Foo fighters? Kidrock? Taylor Swift? Coldplay? It's almost pathetic when you think this is all there really is.
Look at the 60's, 70's, 80's 90's There were 20 huge bands at every given moment coming out with a hit record.
Today I think it's a 3 way combo of band songs, mediocre artists and downloads killing music. Who is the best artist on top 10 out now? I have no idea? But it's probably safe to say they are not as good as the artist that was dead last in the top 200 - 20 or 30 years ago.
sad but true