Family Holloway

The Guardian reports that the major labels are designing a new download format for albums. Single-track downloads are the popular form of online music distribution – allowing people to pick and choose songs and to avoid any filler tracks which has meant reduced profits for artists. Infact many people say that single track downloads are responsible for the downturn in profits more so than file sharing. This new digital album allows album artwork and lyrics (but then so do MP3s) and the only new features in these digital albums are videos and online links. Historically the term “album” came about because it resembled a photo album, and the lengths of LPs or CDs were mostly arbitrary (CDs were 74 minutes in order to fit Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, for example). While I prefer listening to albums I can’t imagine many people choosing them unless the album price was significantly cheaper.

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