This is mostly a question about the business of the music industry, not so much about the merits of particular albums or artists. So let's try not to get on to this whole "well X didn't release another song because he/she is horrible anyway"

What determines whether an artists will continue to issue singles (like radioplay etc) from their albums? Here's an example that comes to mind. So Shakira releases "Hips Don't Lie" a while back. Successful song. And then I don't hear any more singles coming from her for that album. Or did she just come out with another song that flopped? You would think the success would be enough incentive for the record companies to risk the cost of promoting another song. Why stop then?

As a counter example, you have big albums (in terms of airplay and maybe sales) like the recent Kanye album that releases a few singles then stops. But then you have huge albums from the past like Thriller that release single after single, some a little more successful than others, but most charting decently.

I guess I just don't understand. Is this up to the artist? The promotors? The radio stations (clear channel etc)?

[Edited on March 11, 2008 at 2:45 PM. Reason : .]

3/11/2008 2:44:28 PM

singles are an outdated concept for quality music anyways. It worked back when radio was the main stream for music.

If you like the artist you already have the album, who cares what the next 'single' is. You have all the songs.

[Edited on March 11, 2008 at 2:48 PM. Reason : ]

3/11/2008 2:46:43 PM

Most albums usually only have one or two good songs.

3/11/2008 2:49:13 PM

^That's true, I used to hate it when I would hear a few good songs from a band so I would buy the CD to find the rest of sucking.

3/11/2008 2:55:37 PM

Quote :

"singles are an outdated concept for quality music anyways. It worked back when radio was the main stream for music."

I'm not sure this is true. In fact, we seem to be regressing back toward the point where singles become a band's primary focus (of course I'm talking about the commercial mainstream here). With digital music, so many people are just buying the singles for $1 and never even listening to the album.

3/11/2008 2:57:32 PM

The US has always been an album market, not a singles market. In Britain, it's the opposite.

3/11/2008 2:59:37 PM

I think the more succesful the album sells and better reviews the more singles they elect to release


Fergie is a good example of it, shes released what 6 songs?

as did Nelly Furtado

both albums are top sellers and the singles are good songs

3/11/2008 3:02:15 PM

Quote :

"Fergie"

and

Quote :

"good songs"

does not compute

3/11/2008 3:05:07 PM

They are good if you like that kind of music. Obvisously everyone isn't gonna like them.

3/11/2008 3:07:41 PM

i think her songs are good, each single released has gotten progressively better

shes got a cool style

3/11/2008 3:11:41 PM

Quote :

"Most albums usually only have one or two good songs."

very, very wrong. and personally i feel like bands/artists (at least the ones i listen to) are moving back towards albums rather than a cluster of individual songs...a trend i very much enjoy. If a band can only write 1 good song out of 10 on an album im probably not supporting the artist by picking up the album or individual song. Mainly because, besides when i have something on shuffle through my whole library, i enjoy listening to albums from start to finish rather than jumping around.

[Edited on March 11, 2008 at 3:23 PM. Reason : ]

3/11/2008 3:21:47 PM

Very wrong?? I said MOST albums, not all. Are there albums out there that have tons of good songs on them? Sure, but the majority only have a few.

3/11/2008 6:35:32 PM

i think the DAUGHTRY album is a perfect counter example. he's had what?..5 singles off of that?

3/11/2008 7:01:03 PM

The question is, why did he release 5 songs and Shakira released one (to my knowledge)? Her first single off her recent album did very well. Nobody here has really addressed that. This is a question about the music business itself.

3/12/2008 1:28:22 AM

Thanks to iTunes/iTunes Store and associated music library software, If the artist has released an album with 12 songs on it, then for people who download their music, the artist has released 12 singles... digital music is now so mainstream that it has virtually eliminated the need for singles all together. Honestly I'm surprised that non-digital singles are selling at all nowadays.

3/12/2008 1:36:17 AM

nothing quite pleases me like an album that i can listen to start to finish w/o being annoyed at all.

3/12/2008 1:37:47 AM

^couldn't agree more

3/12/2008 2:29:24 AM

[Edited on March 12, 2008 at 3:18 AM. Reason : ]

3/12/2008 3:17:53 AM

Quote :

"Shakira released one (to my knowledge)"

Technically, she's released 43.

But 10 of them have at least made the Hot100 in the US alone.

In any case, her latest song was on Beyonce's album anyway. She's had more than one off of Fijacion Oral chart, her most recent album.

[Edited on March 12, 2008 at 6:38 AM. Reason : .]

3/12/2008 6:33:54 AM

Most albums in shitty genres only have 1 or 2 good songs.

why bother releasing a single. Who watches mtv for music vids? who doesn't have their ipod in their car? with all the songs they illegally downloaded already anyways (usually in advance of the cd even coming out).

3/12/2008 7:42:56 AM