“If you want me to buy all ten songs, make all ten songs good. You can’t make an album with 3 singles, 2 deep cuts, and 5 filler tracks, then bitch about iTunes and the “death of the album”.”—
To that point, Simon also says this: “When I make an album I’m thinking about the presentation and arc of the album, one song going into another, the sequencing and making sure all songs are as good as all. I don’t want to make two songs that are really good and then the rest just be fillers. I want to make a great album, and one that flows and has an arc. I want to say things within this 40-minute structure.”
And that’s all well and good, and I see and admire his point… problem is, wanting to make that album and actually making that album are two very different things.
If your intention is to make a perfectly sequenced, nuanced work of art, but I only like 3 of the songs… would you rather I buy those three songs, or buy the album and feel ripped off?
I still kind of hate itunes culture.