I've noticed that there are a load of new bands without albums and only a few songs.
I saw The Last Dinner Party at Latitude this year and I'm sure their set list was more than 2 songs according to Spotify/YouTube/website.
This goes for Lime Garden, Dead Pony, Divorce and Panic Shack just to name a few.
A lot of those single tracks you see up on Bandcamp are the musicians trying to raise enough money to finish production on work they play live.
It's much easier to play live than it is to record. Recording is a major financial stumbling block for a lot of new musicians, on top of the time and work that takes place inside the studio. Properly mixing a track requires a fine ear, advanced technical knowledge, usually takes at least as long to complete as it did to write and record the track. This gets expensive as well - there's a reason sound production engineers generally make more than musicians.
This is why signing with a label is such a big deal for most bands - having that money up front to complete an album, as well as the label's connections with recording studios and their engineers, removes the biggest obstacle they have for getting their music out there.
Yeah, I saw a bluegrass band called The Deer Creek Sharp Shooters at a festival last year. They played a full hour+ set but only had 3 songs available online anywhere. They said their album was coming later in 2022, but ultimately didn't release it until this year. A lot of the songs they played live were on that album.
From ancient personal experience, needing a label or money is kind of a myth and kind of isnt both at the same time.
I mean, if you're a lone artist a DAW, interface, etc isnt dirt cheap, but can be done on a months wages. If you're a band, hiring a studio is still (thank fuck) an option - they tend to have all the tools, you just have to make sure you're all prepared, practised, etc. A u87 ai mic is about £3k here. Or hire a studio with one for £1k for a few hours time.
There used to be a really lovely studio in Portsmouth (in the UK) where the guy would record blues and folk artists with his wife helping. Lots of labels went through there. He had a nice 6 foot grand and some old Fender tweeds.
Besides the cost like another comment mentioned, the album is a dying format. Not to say it won't stick around to some extent , it's just not as popular as it once was.
Singles are the way of the present. Why?
- It costs a fraction of the time and effort compared to a whole album
- there is so much more competition for listener attention than ever before that putting out more than song dilutes the chance of a listener hearing the best work
- the average listener isn't listening to whole albums, especially from a new artist they don't know of
- getting onto a playlist is one of the bigger ways to get noticed, and no big playlists are adding anything other than single songs
- for a band or artist that is actively trying to get noticed, there is a lot of effort that can go into advertising and marketing. Promoting one song, one music video for that song, one remix of that song etc. is a lot of work already and arguably more effective than promoting multiple songs. Think brand recognition.
- they could be "saving" unreleased songs for a time when they are ready to release an album or EP, or they could be testing the waters to see if live crowds are into it before committing to a release or not
That's just my thoughts and opinion on the subject as hobbyist music maker, seeing what people are doing these days. I myself prefer albums and will listen all the way through, but it's no longer the standard.
I had never heard of the band The Last Dinner Party so I looked them up, and those two singles both just came out earlier this year, so they're probably still working on finishing the album. It looks like the band only got together in 2021 so it's pretty normal that they don't have a full album yet.
Lots of things and people seem to dissuade artists from full albums these days. Singles do far better on spotify and co than albums. Influencers have also made the case for not doing albums in the past.
Then there is the issue with having to rehearse and record multiple songs. That takes time and effort, whether you're going for a full studio option of doing it DIY. I suppose, from talking to young bands, many are still having to hold down a full time job each. Its hard to commit.
If a band is really good the best thing we can do is support them, talk about them (which you have), buy their stuff when we can afford to etc.
Also some smaller acts tend to cover other bands material to fill in set lists.
All the Chinese bands that interest me are blocked from actual publication by censorship, so they tend to book studio time as they can afford it and release it on Bandcamp. Most of them have set lists longer than your arm, but maybe drop an album (or even just an EP) every couple of years.
Between the glut of self-published bands and the greed of the recording industry in general, the album as a whole is a dying concept (tragically) and recorded music in general is fading. (Yes, I know that I just said there was a glut of published music … but it's all snippets, not whole works.)
