base talk Is the traditional album rollout system obsolete?

[Gui Blackout]

I've been thinking a lot about this in relation to Dua's Radical Optimist era.

 

She followed the traditional album rollout like a rulebook: it was a six month long promo campaign with 3 singles, remixes, live versions, playlisting. She performed in every award show, went to every TV show, internet show, podcast, Tiktok, several magazine covers, red carpets, new boyfriend. She played every move there is to play. And yet... nothing.

 

Of course, there is something to be said about the music itself which is lackluster and did connect with audiences. But I feel like back in the day, the promo and strong rollout could at least get you a decent first week and a top 10 hit. 

 

When we look at the recent most successful eras from mainstream stars, most of them had very little promo. 

 

Can we say that the traditional album rollout system as we know it is obsolete? Does it have more to do with the specific artist and the music? What is the best way to go nowadays? 

[Stepfon]

I think it depends on the artist and the music. 

[Katamari]

depends

 

you have to strike while the iron is hot nowadays. her album probably should have been released with Illusion and some kind of big promo event like snl or something

 

a traditional rollout could work if you have a big enough song to carry you through to the album...maybe idk we need someone who hasn't reached a peak yet  

 

ariana kind of did a traditional rollout sans the live performances and she did well  

[Devin]

depends on the artist & how the public receives their music.

[Just a Gay on ATRL]

I feel ari and bey did it right this year. Drop a single then drop the album less than 2 months later. Make the gap short & let the public pick all the singles after the lead.

 

The way Taylor and Billie did/are doing it makes sense for those 2, but is kinda boring. It's obviously a very successful strategy, but idk... I thought the rollout this way was kinda boring.

 

Long drawn out gaps between the first single and the album release are a death sentence nowadays. The public doesn't have the attention span anymore.

[Illuminati]

I don't think a quicker release would have changed much. She needed a hit to create buzz and it was probably better to release 3 singles to see if something sticks than give up immediately

[Anthinos]

Yes, I think so. An album should feel like an event and the artists should be more creative when it comes to promotion. I think the worst thing is when artists wait for months after the single. You can't keep up the hype forever. We live in a world in which there is an infinite amount of music. It's easier to be forgotten. The album should be released soon after the single.

[makeawish]

i think ariana is an a good example of something where pushing onto the album quickly saved a potentially dodgy situation: she releases the first single, which is a hit initially but is (imo?) a bit divisive and fades quite quickly, but then bringing the album out on the back of the much better second single gave that one more momentum and helped make it all much more of a success.

 

whereas dua just kept dribbling out more stuff that was weighed down by the bad impression the first song had made, so dragging it out just made things that much worse.

[thatsmydemi]

The thing is that you never know when a song is going to click with the GP or not. In Dua's case, none of the singles she put out connected in the way her past singles did. If those three singles had clicked with the GP, we could've witnessed a massive pop era with 2-3 big hits before the album release. 

 

It's not about the rollout many times, although of course it can have an effect. Ariana had a less traditional rollout and it worked for her only because the GP clicked with the second single. Had the second single been poorly received, the album would've probably underperformed or flopped. 

Edited May 4 by thatsmydemi

[aotearoa]

45 minutes ago, Gui Blackout said:

new boyfriend

damn 

[gatito]

the music has to be good enough to begin with

[Dialamba]

Beyoncé : no visuals 

taylor : one single 

Ariana : two singles 

dua : 3 singles 

 

 When you think about it the best strategy is taylor, Beyoncé has poor longevity due to not promoting her singles and has no mv & Ariana killed ES's momentum at first with Yes and, while Dua dropped too many singles and the era was long. 

[Rico Shameless v2]

Hmm, I wouldn't call 6 month campaign "traditional".

 

When I think traditional I usually relate to how Britney eras used to roll out.

 

September - Slave 4 U/MATM/Gimme More/Womanizer

Album - November-December w/2nd single impacting at the same time.

 

So basically lead single then album/follow-up single a couple months later. Ariana did it recently.

 

I feel like 6 months is a bit tiresome. As well as mentioned, the singles just weren't hitting for Dua. Houdini/Training Season/Illusion are all fine songs but they didn't sound like era-hype lead singles. And hearing the album they truly sound like they were designed to be because all the other songs don't have any oomph at all, instead of just making kick ass music and the best songs brewing from that. At least not to kick off an album cycle.

 

She also did all that promo with no album date in site, yet when the album comes there's absolutely nothing.

[makeawish]

29 minutes ago, Rico Shameless v2 said:

So basically lead single then album/follow-up single a couple months later. Ariana did it recently.

 

i feel like that is more traditional for the britney era, but also, that was for a chart where you could still get out a third single at some point, whereas now it's so much harder to get the third track any exposure. i think the best way of doing things now might be the guts rollout, releasing two singles about a month apart and then pushing a third track with the album a few weeks later.

 

but dua wasn't even doing this, i mean i will never understand releasing the lead single in november for a may album release. maybe you'd do that for an indie release where you want a few tracks to get attention over time, for a chart campaign it just looks dumb as sh*t

Edited May 5 by makeawish

[eleganceislearned]

A traditionally long one works if the songs are really good - performances of great songs can then go viral from televised performances and music videos, and keep everything going.

 

If there's just like, one potential hit, then a short rollout is the way to go. 

[shimind]

Yes. In India, we have Punjabi music industry (and most other regional music industries) where artists release droplets every 2 months and an album once every 1 or 2 years... but mostly they focus on single smashes 

[MatiRod]

If you're a big established star it's a waste of hype IMO. The album should've come out a couple months ago.

 

But for new up and coming artists if you just release an album when no one is listening then... no one will listen.

[Pinkbutterflies]

Anyone with a brain and isn't delusional enough to think they know more than actual profession marketers, could see traditional methods of promotion such as VISUals and performing at award shows aren't effective anymore. It's not like the world doesn't know about your music; they just don't like it.

[Funnyfatty]

This promo would still work back in the day. We had no streaming so you had to buy the album. Isn't 1200 streams = 1 pure sale? If for example 50.000 people streamed her album yesterday, it looks like a flop. But if there was no streaming (like back in the day) those people had to buy the album which would have a huge difference. No one streamed the album 1.200 times yesterday so. 

[Machete]

Yes. The smartest move if you're a semi-established artist (at least one hit album) is to drop everything at once. It is far too risky to put out a pre-release that can be rejected and ruin your hype (Ariana).

[Soda Pop Queen]

It's been becoming more and more obsolete with each passing year since 2013. You can thank Cowgirl Carter for this.

[Bey'Knight]

12 hours ago, Gui Blackout said:

Of course, there is something to be said about the music itself

This is the only thing there is to be said. 

[cat1867]

5 hours ago, Machete said:

Yes. The smartest move if you're a semi-established artist (at least one hit album) is to drop everything at once. It is far too risky to put out a pre-release that can be rejected and ruin your hype (Ariana).

If there is a proper hit, I think it works fine to drop one single a month or two before the album release (eg Cowboy Carter)

 

Issue with Ariana was the song wasn't good. She was smart to not keeping on releasing pre-release singles after it underperformed.