Album length decreasing.
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Forum Description: General metal music discussions (no polls)
URL: http://www.MetalMusicArchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=10922
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Topic: Album length decreasing.
Posted By: Unitron
Subject: Album length decreasing.
Date Posted: 30 Apr 2016 at 7:55pm
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I've been noticing that album lengths have been decreasing quite a bit recently compared to the late 90's and early 2000's where everyone wanted to stick as much as they could on a CD. What are everyone's opinions on this? Personally, I think it's a good thing. While there are of course amazing lengthy albums out there like Red Hot Chili Peppers's "Blood, Sugar, Sex, Magic" and Tool's albums, but I feel that a lot of times there ends up being quite a bit of filler. However, having shorter albums leaves less room for filler more room for staying memorable all the way through, the newest Clutch being a great example. ------------- If I say fuck two more times that's forty-six fucks in this fucked up rhyme |
Replies:
Posted By: Vim Fuego
Date Posted: 30 Apr 2016 at 9:56pm
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I think format has a lot to do with it. Late 90s was about the time vinyl died, but it is now being revived. There are limitations to how much music you can stick on a vinyl album, whereas a CD is longer, and much cheaper to produce, so even making a 2 or 3 disc album is not out of the question. 80 Minutes is about as far as a CD will stretch to. I remember James Hetfield once saying Megadeth albums were a rip off because they were only half the length of Metallica albums.  But Reign In Blood clocks in at less than half an hour, and no one has ever claimed to have been ripped off by that. Similarly, old Kiss albums aren't much longer than that either, but they still managed a lot of padding...I also read in the liner notes of one of the Maiden albums (might have been Live After Death) that trying to put 25 minutes of music on one side of a vinyl album was hard for engineers to cut accurately without losing the clarity or depth or heaviness or something, which was why the average album side was 15-20 minutes. I figure with the way vinyl has been revived, some bands are shortening their albums to fit that again. I've also been looking at a lot of grindcore recently, and some bands only ever release EPs or splits, possibly because it's cheaper, and also possibly because playing fast means it's hard to write enough music for a whole album.  |
Posted By: siLLy puPPy
Date Posted: 30 Apr 2016 at 10:08pm
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I have no opinion on length of an album but IF and that's a mighty fucking big IF.... you want to make an album that covers over 60 minutes then MAKE IT INTERESTING!!!!!! I HAAAAATE filler. A 30 minute album is just fine if that's all you can muster up. Simple as that. I think some band's are getting the clue. That said, if a band can muster up a decent amount of material that is truly worthy of keeping my attention then go for it. Double albums, triple albums whatever but for fuck's sake make it INTERESTING!!!! ------------- 
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Posted By: UMUR
Date Posted: 01 May 2016 at 1:38am
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I usually find albums that are 50 + minutes long tiresome. I find that most artists aren´t able to produce enough quality material to justify putting out longer releases. There are are exceptions like Type O Negative, but those are few and far between. Keep the albums at around 40 minutes and I´m usually happy.
...the important thing is to make your audience want more...not less. ------------- http://www.lyngby-boldklub.dk/" rel="nofollow - Forever TRUE - Forever BLUE! https://rateyourmusic.com/~UMUR" rel="nofollow - UMUR on RYM |
Posted By: 666sharon666
Date Posted: 01 May 2016 at 1:40am
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I've always felt that an artist should make sure that they have a minimum amount of material if they are going to put a release out and call it a full-length, like at least 30 minutes worth, ideally more (to me a normal album length would be between 35 - 45 minutes), since they'll inevitably charge the same for it as an artist who puts out a much longer album. Otherwise just admit that you've really made an EP and charge appropriately for it. Though with that said I find most EP's I'm actually interested in buying to be bloody expensive in comparison to albums. To be honest though I can't say I've really noticed a trend with album length decreasing. |
Posted By: adg211288
Date Posted: 01 May 2016 at 2:44am
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Well the longest album I own was released last year at 2 hours, 22 minutes and 38 seconds...I think it just depends on a number of factors such as genre, whether it's self-released or on a label (I reckon type of label makes a difference too) and of course format. To follow on from what Nicole said, I do rather begrudge paying the same price for a short album as a long album. I know that quality is a factor in my decision to buy or not but I do think that the price should reflect the amount of material on offer. Which is why I did not mind paying more for Midnight Odyssey's Shards of Silver Fade (the above longest album I own), as there's at least two albums of material there in other artist's terms. In turn it's also why I did not purchase the new Blood Ceremony in my local music shop last week as they wanted £14.99 for it and it's only 44:14 long. Brilliant album of course, but the difference to online prices is almost the cost of another album. Whereas something like The Book of Souls cost me £9 at release and is over an hour and a half long and just as brilliant. ------------- Earn Money Online (NOT a scam): https://premium.gg2u.org?referrer=adg211288" rel="nofollow - GG2U https://adamsfilmcorner.quora.com/" rel="nofollow - Adam's Film Corner on Quora |
Posted By: Unitron
Date Posted: 01 May 2016 at 2:52am
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I agree about the prices, if there is less material it should cost less. I've just noticed that usually it's the shorter albums that are the most memorable, while lengthy albums will usually have a bit of filler. ------------- If I say fuck two more times that's forty-six fucks in this fucked up rhyme |
Posted By: adg211288
Date Posted: 01 May 2016 at 7:14am
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Well there's obviously going to be a higher risk of filler on a longer album. EP's are definitely a rip-off though. I had to wait ages to get the 2014 Purson EP at a reasonable price (its four tracks). New copies seem to be sold out now and sellers are now tending to ask around the £40 mark for it. £10 per song? Fuck off! (Conversely the vinyl can still be found for about £15, which still seems too much even though I know vinyl costs more) ------------- Earn Money Online (NOT a scam): https://premium.gg2u.org?referrer=adg211288" rel="nofollow - GG2U https://adamsfilmcorner.quora.com/" rel="nofollow - Adam's Film Corner on Quora |
Posted By: aglasshouse
Date Posted: 02 May 2016 at 3:17pm
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^I think EPs should be cheap and mostly for promotional use. Granted, many of them are, but I think it should be sort of expected. And as for albums getting shorter, it really depends in which direction they want to take themselves. If they think they can squeeze their talent into a thirty-five minute album then I say godspeed. But as Adam said, longer albums can lead to filler which is never a good thing.
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Posted By: Pelata
Date Posted: 31 May 2016 at 1:17pm
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Before the advent of the CD, albums were rarely over 45 minutes long...this was in order to fit everything on one piece of vinyl or one cassette tape. I like this length. Many now-classic albums are barely 35 minutes long. ------------- http://www.facebook.com/FinalSignOfficial" rel="nofollow - FINAL SIGN - US Power Metal |
Posted By: Nightfly
Date Posted: 31 May 2016 at 5:17pm
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I think the resurgence of vinyl might have something to do with it, 40 minutes being the optimum length for sound quality though I have vinyl that is around 50 minutes. Anything over an hour is a bit much whatever the format, unless of exceptional quality. I'd say around 50 - 55 minutes is the perfect length.
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Posted By: Atreju
Date Posted: 05 Jul 2016 at 7:32am
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Thanks God. I really can't stand listening to an album whose lenght is over 45 mns.
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