Jazz Odyssey

…commercially released singles, which were on the music industry’s endangered-species list at the turn of the 21st century, have come roaring back to life in the digital age. In some ways, it’s like the singles-driven 1950s and ’60s all over again — only with MP3s replacing 45s.

The trend towards single-song consumption of music was an obvious byproduct of the Internet as a delivery system for music (paid or otherwise), but it was initially limited, as you needed to be in front of your computer to listen. Fast forward a few years and we find ourselves in a new era of portability…sales of iPods (and other digital music players) continue to grow, and the ringtune business is growing even faster. This article takes a look at the economic considerations of an album-oriented economy vs. a singles-oriented economy. There are numerous significant touchpoints in the article, including concerns about single sales cannibalizing albums and concerns about how much money and artist and label make from successful single vs. a successful album.

While this trend is on the upswing, where and when will the curve level off? Will radio, retail, labels and the touring business alter their tried-but-no-longer-true business models accordingly? With fewer mega-platinum albums over the last few years, and even fewer likely in a singles-driven marketplace, how should an artist, label or manager invest their resources on the front end and maximize the profitability of the long tail? And how does that play into the strategy of developing a long term artistic career?