Don’t Buy the Album

Published: Aug. 27, 2020, 9 a.m.

In the age of music streaming, does the idea of an album make sense any more? In this podcast we discuss the conceptual origins of the album and talk about the implications of its evolution from vinyl, to tape and CD, and finally to the cloud. We also touch on the artistic purpose of an album, and whether this has been destroyed or merely altered by the move to digital streaming. Fundamentally, we question the purpose of an album and whether it still has meaning. A few things we mentioned in this podcast: - Album sales at their lowest for 60 years https://www.nme.com/news/music/album-sales-at-their-lowest-for-60-years-due-to-coronavirus-pandemic-2636855 - Music format trends https://www.visualcapitalist.com/music-industry-sales/ - Average length of hit songs https://www.vox.com/2014/8/18/6003271/why-are-songs-3-minutes-long Find more Cognitive Engineering episodes here https://link.chtbl.com/SQeIgc44 Image via PxHere