Cerise wrote:
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10 years ago, artists like Savage Garden, Jewel, and The Presidents of the United States of America would only release about 3 singles from an album, yet were still wildly popular. Even the Backstreet Boys' Millennium in 2000 only stuck to about 4-5 singles, with just 3 having a lot of exposure.
I've bolded some key numbers here. Yes, 10 years ago, music was good. People didn't need to release more than 3 singles to sell an album because the music was that good. In the past several years though, music has gone downhill really fast. People need to release more singles because their music isn't as good. People need to hear more than half an album to even consider buying it these days. I am still set in my old ways. If I hear only one song off of an album, but it's an amazing song, I'll buy the album...and 99% of the time, the album was definitely worth buying. If I hear quite a few songs though (like 5) and buy the album, I'm pretty disappointed 99% of the time. And on a side note, if people want to argue about the quality of music with me, you try explaning to kids why 9 out 10 songs they choose to sing in a talent show are unacceptable. Then you'll see just how bad mainstream music today really is.
Edit: I just wanted to add something else I thought of. Another reason I won't buy an album that releases a lot of singles is because I can just turn on the radio and within probably an hour, hear each single off the album. Kind of pointless for me to spend money on the album when I can hear almost all of it on the radio.