Suspended Animation

Last week I read a post by Mark Cuban called “The Album is dead….”  Personally I think it is in suspended animation. You know, ala Dr. Evil. A slowed down pulse and the heart kept beating until we know what to do with it. A time will come when the form will return to form.

It may look and feel a little different, but the idea of works by a single artist bundled together will not disappear. It has existed in some shape as long as there has been music. A collection of themes encompassed into a single body.


Now Mark is obviously not the first to say this, but what was really interesting to me is what he suggested as an alternative.  About halfway through the post he mentions using RSS to keep up with an artist you like. They could deliver a song say every week or two. To me this opens up a new way of thinking about the music industry.

When I first found out what RSS really was I was struck with the same idea.  Then I started reading about others who had similar thoughts. A post that I thought described it well was by Bruce Warila called “Being Episodic.” 

However you want to break it down, "It's like a TV season, It's like a magazine, " It's a weekly radio show", it is quite simply a good idea. It seems like artists would be able to experiment more and get immediate feedback. Then after a period of time it could be bundled into a set, like a season of the Sopranos. (and yes feel free to take a year off too to build up the hype). Add some value with extras and packaging to make it worth caring about, make it worth buying. (For the first time or again if you sold the singles).

Sufjan Stevens could finish his record for every state and you would have the songs along the way. Then buy your state. Jonathan Coulton did this with his "Thing a week". It seems perfect for Ryan Adams, and on and on. I know its been done but RSS would make it easy for everyone to find and keep up with it all.

The genius to me is that is up to the individual artist how much or how little or what kind of content they put up..... video, making of, single, b-side, acoustic, re-mix, etc. And with RSS the listener can chose who they want to follow, making their own little iTunes like homepage or personal music rag with media included.

Stay tuned because I will be trying something like this soon. I have been putting a lot of thought into in. It will involve a few "Seasons" and possibly a few formats. (Audio, Video, Text, Pictures) The cool part about the formats would be releasing it a few ways. An audio or video podcast on iTunes and a flickr page, and of course RSS and email. Each one tying back to the other.

Then at the end I will get it all together and put out an album. Bring it out of Suspended Animation. Or I won't and will love the brave new world and just continue on with my broad/narrow cast and Mark Cuban will have been right. "The album is dead...."