WEBVTT - Albums Aren't Dead

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff from How Stuff Works. Hey, brain Stuff,

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<v Speaker 1>it's Christian Sager here. In the early two thousand's, the

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<v Speaker 1>compact disc became an endangered species. It was nearly killed

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<v Speaker 1>off by the rise of the MP three and peer

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<v Speaker 1>to peer file sharing networks like Napster. It was then

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<v Speaker 1>that we started reading the first obituaries for the album.

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<v Speaker 1>File sharing made it easy to download your favorite individual tracks,

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<v Speaker 1>upload them to your iPod, hit shuffle, and you know, enjoy.

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<v Speaker 1>But gone was the concept of the album listening experience,

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<v Speaker 1>sitting back and appreciating a musical work of art from

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<v Speaker 1>beginning to end. As we moved into the era of

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<v Speaker 1>legal digital downloads, things didn't look much better for the album.

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<v Speaker 1>Singles dominated the download charts, and some artists began ditching

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<v Speaker 1>the traditional album format altogether by just simply dropping new

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<v Speaker 1>tracks online one by one. One but too fascinating consumer

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<v Speaker 1>trends have emerged over the past couple of years that

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<v Speaker 1>may conspire to save the beleaguered album. First is the

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<v Speaker 1>dramatic rise in popularity of subscription music streaming services, and

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<v Speaker 1>second is the unexpected comeback of vinyl. In twenty sixteen,

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<v Speaker 1>vinyl sales topped four hundred and thirty five million dollars

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<v Speaker 1>in the United States and grabbed nearly six percent of

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<v Speaker 1>total music sales, the highest market share for records since.

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<v Speaker 1>Some credit vinyls resurgence to the attractive physicality of records

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<v Speaker 1>and a collective desire for a more personal connection with music.

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<v Speaker 1>Vinyl sales have been growing by ten percent each year,

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<v Speaker 1>and seventeen, vinyl sales are already up two percent over

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<v Speaker 1>the same period in but vinyls numbers are a drop

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<v Speaker 1>in the bucket compared to the explosive growth of streaming music.

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<v Speaker 1>In twenty sixteen, onto Mann music streaming from services like

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<v Speaker 1>Spotify and Apple Music overtook digital music sales as the

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<v Speaker 1>single most popular way to listen to music, capturing thirty

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<v Speaker 1>eight percent of total audio consumption, and it's gotten even

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<v Speaker 1>bigger in with Nielsen reporting a sixty two point four

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<v Speaker 1>percent year over year increase in on demand music streaming

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<v Speaker 1>compared to the same period in At first glance, the

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<v Speaker 1>increasing dominance of streaming audio looks like another strike against

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<v Speaker 1>the traditional album After all, Nielsen reports that in the

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<v Speaker 1>first six months of album sales were down nearly across

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<v Speaker 1>all formats, including full digital albums, individual digital tracks, and

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<v Speaker 1>physical albums like c d s. But there's also evidence

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<v Speaker 1>that at least some streaming music listeners are attracted to

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<v Speaker 1>the format precisely because it allows the kind of immersive,

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<v Speaker 1>old school listening experience that was missing from the digital

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<v Speaker 1>download era. If you need proof that streaming can actually

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<v Speaker 1>be a good thing for albums, look at one of

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<v Speaker 1>the biggest releases of Kendrick Lamar's Damn. When the album

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<v Speaker 1>dropped in May of last year, it immediately dominated streaming audio,

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<v Speaker 1>with a record breaking nine songs from the album appearing

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<v Speaker 1>in the top ten slots on Billboards on Demand streaming chart.

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<v Speaker 1>Another Damn track grabbed the eleventh spot as well. What

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<v Speaker 1>that means is that streaming listeners weren't just playing the

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<v Speaker 1>hit single on repeat, but they were actually listening to

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<v Speaker 1>the whole album, and Lamar's streaming streak wasn't a fluke.

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<v Speaker 1>Earlier in both j Cole and Drake Twice took over

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<v Speaker 1>the top eight spots on the Billboard streaming chart when

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<v Speaker 1>they released new albums. Yes, hit singles still get the

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<v Speaker 1>most streams overall, but there is a clear desire to

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<v Speaker 1>listen to full albums from important artists. In fact, there

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<v Speaker 1>seems to be a direct connection between the rebirth of

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<v Speaker 1>vinyl and at least some of the wild popularity of streaming.

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<v Speaker 1>Today's episode was written by Dave Bruce, produced by Tristan McNeil,

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<v Speaker 1>and For more on this and other topics, please visit

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<v Speaker 1>us at how stuff works dot com.