BY: LILLY GOODMAN, STAFF WRITER
Photo courtesy of Joseph DeBell / Opinion Editor for The Bona Venture
Although playlists and singles dominate modern music, the album format remains a timeless and irreplaceable medium for storytelling.
In an era dominated by streaming platforms and digital downloads, some might wonder if the album format no longer has a place in today’s music scene.
In an age where singles and playlists dominate, the album remains a cherished medium for artists to tell cohesive stories and create immersive experiences.
Despite these debates, the history and structure of the album format reveal its enduring significance. Many vinyl records feature a side A and a side B, with the A-side typically showcasing the track the artist, producer or record label deems most likely to be a hit. But some B-side tracks— although considered inferior to their A-side counterparts—have unexpectedly gained mass popularity, like Queen’s 1977 hit “We Will Rock You” and Green Day’s “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life).” The concept of A-side and B-side tracks transitioned to formats like cassette tapes and CDs, becoming a metaphor for distinguishing primary and secondary songs on an album. Some artists use this organizational method to tell a story through the specific order of their music.
Music lovers of that era recall waiting eagerly to record a song off the radio or buying an entire album to own one track, only to stumble upon other hidden gems. The format of CDs and vinyl records required listeners to experience full albums rather than hand-picking tracks in modern-day music streaming.
Today, the way we consume music has drastically changed. With streaming platforms, listeners can access their favorite songs instantly, often without a second thought. The value of owning music has shifted, leaving behind an era where every song discovered on an album felt like a treasure.
Gone is the era when owning an album meant peeling off the plastic, poring over the liner notes and discovering hidden gems in tracks you didn’t even buy it for. As society moves towards platforms like Spotify, Apple Music and Pandora, the focus has shifted from consuming albums to enjoying curated stations or playlists. These platforms make it easy to create personalized stations or playlists with suggestions tailored to the listener’s music taste.
Singles are now more heavily marketed than ever before, album sales and releases dropping from 35% to 9.7% while singles and EPs take 90.3%. As a result, fewer people are buying CDs and cassette tapes. Despite this shift, vinyl record sales have seen a slight but noticeable uptick with a growth of nearly 300% over the last eight years. Music enthusiasts are rediscovering the unique sound that vinyl and turntables produce, which could lead to a preference shift from streaming to manual music discovery.
A survey was conducted among college students on Instagram to explore preferences between singles and albums. 11% of respondents said they preferred radio stations (Pandora, FM), 51% preferred curated playlists and 38% preferred full albums. Still, it’s difficult to predict if the album format will adapt or become a niche product for dedicated fans as records and CDs have.
Despite the more digitized modern era, some artists resist this trend and craft conceptual albums that are designed to be experienced as a whole. Tommy Richman’s debut album “Coyote,” released in September 2024, and Tyler the Creator’s cohesive “Chromakopia,” released in late October 2024, are recent examples of thematic albums that continue to captivate listeners.
The album may not dominate charts like it once did, but for artists and listeners, it remains a sanctuary for those who desire depth and connection in music.
The resurgence of vinyl and the continued creation of conceptual albums demonstrate that there is still a dedicated audience for this timeless format. While the album format may be going out of style, it’s far from dead.
goodmaln24@bonaventure.edu
