Singles Vs. Albums

Todd McCartyMusic8 Comments

singles vs albums heat on the street music marketing

Singles vs Albums – The Dilemma

Most music streaming services are now focused on singles. Spotify, Apple Music, Pandora, and playlists, commercial radio, etc. The singles vs albums debate continues. Should artists focus on releasing stand alone singles, or should they take the traditional route and release albums?

Simple Answer:  Both.

It’s a good time to stop and review your strategy for releasing singles and albums. I recommend a blend of albums and singles. Have a steady flow of new music going to your fans. Signed artists may have a contract that is based on “albums” and a traditional cycle (18 months). Typically they will release two or three singles before the album comes out, and then promote additional singles from the album in the post release period.

If you are not constrained by a contract, I suggest releasing singles every couple months, and later packaging those into albums or EPs. And you can even group singles together into batches of 3 songs. Actually Apple and Spotify allow a single to be 3 songs and less than 30 minutes. So singles don’t necessarily have to be one “stand-alone single”. 

Genre Matters

First of all, genre matters greatly when discussing singles vs albums. Pop and EDM artists have had success with a stand alone single strategy. I’m not being wishy washy with a “both” response to the question. The overall goal is music consumption. So all of it matters. Albums, EPs, singles, mp3’s, CDs, streams, vinyl, YouTube views, internet radio and terrestrial radio play, etc.

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New Buzz Term – music consumption

Even after stand alone singles have become hits, pop artists are still releasing albums. Today, record labels don’t have the expectation to sell millions of albums or singles. Rather, the expectation is to sell millions of album “equivalents” – since that’s what the new Billboard 200 chart measures. It no longer measures the album format, and is a blend of everything. “Music consumption” is the buzz term that labels now use instead of sales. Therefore, putting things into terms of “album equivalents” gives the industry a way to easily calculate how much money was made.

10 digital tracks = 1 album equivalent (or about $9.99 gross)

1,500 streams = 1 album equivalent (or about $9.99 gross)

How a Hit Pop Album Compares to a Hit Rock Album (2x Platinum)

Typical Hit Pop Album Consumption 

Breakdown:  150,000 Physical Albums + 150,000 Digital Albums + 250,000 Track Equivalent Albums (TEA) + 1,450,000 Streaming Equivalent Albums (SEA) = 2,000,000 Album Equivalents (2x Platinum in the USA)

Typical Hit Hard Rock Album Consumption (Gold)

Breakdown:  150,000 Physical Albums + 25,000 Digital Albums + 50,000 Track Equivalent Albums (TEA) + 275,000 Streaming Equivalent Albums (SEA) = 500,000 Album Equivalents (1x Gold in the USA)

As a result, the rock artist had about 65% of the consumption from singles. And the pop artist had 85% from singles. This demonstrates how genre matters in the singles vs albums debate. It’s also interesting that even with nearly a decade of album sales in decline, overall album consumption in 2022 was up 9.2% with 974.9 million album consumption unit sales compared to 2021. Source: Luminate 2022 Year End Report 

Sara Fischer with Axios demonstrates with this graphic that Hip Hop, Latin, and Electronic/Dance fans are streaming at much higher rates than other genres.

Another helpful source is Nielsen MRC Data’s 2022 Year End Music Report and this infographic.

singles vs albums music marketing neilsen luminate soundscan billboard charts

Like what you’re reading? I teach my fanbuilding and Spotify strategy inside Band Builder Academy.  Learn More HERE

So What Should Your Singles Strategy Be?

Let’s not ignore the fact that singles drive album sales. Today it’s rather pronounced with streaming services focusing on playlists and moods over albums. So, it’s a good time to stop and consider your “singles” strategy. What are the 3 or 4 best songs from your albums that you will focus on? You should have a track development plan for a new focus track every 2 to 3 months.

Download My Track Development Plan here

Singles Lead Back To Album Sales

In my research I came across one rock fans consumption process. It was on a gaming forum that almost unanimously preferred the album format. 

“I tend to listen to albums. It pretty much plays like this: Find band. YouTube band. Play tracks on repeat via YouTube. Get annoyed with YouTube. Buy album.”  

 

 

Some Fans Still Prefer Albums

Most fans of rock, metal, jazz, or classical prefer their favorite band to release albums. And too many stand-alone singles in an album cycle risks frustrating your album buying fans. Yet, these are typically your best fans that are buying your concert tickets, merchandise, and everything you put out there. You will hear die hard rock fans talk about their favorite albums vs. singles. They like the story or theme of an album.

There is a “completist” audience that wants to own all of the band’s material, rather than the most popular tracks. Some have a fear of missing out on a track that wasn’t a “focus track” or “single”. They want those deep cuts.

If you pose the question of “Singles vs. Albums” on forums or social media to a hard rock or metal audience, you almost unanimously get “album”. Anybody who disagrees gets made fun of. An album of material has more chance of making a strong connection to the listener that could last a lifetime.

EP vs Album

Another recommendation is releasing an EP if you are a new artist. Apply the same singles strategy to the EP. The only difference is an EP is shorter and cheaper, so it’s easier to grow your fanbase with.

You could also release singles one by one, but as you go, package them into multi-track singles. That’s right a single is not defined as only one song. On Spotify and Apple Music at single can be up to 3 songs, as long as the total play time is under 30 minutes, and no single song goes over 10 minutes. One thing I like about this strategy is now you can talk about your singles in some sort of “context”. Rather than, “hey here’s my new song, go stream it”.  Multi-song campaigns can make your releases more interesting and give us (fans) context, a theme, or concept to get excited about.

If you don’t have the things on this short list, I recommend an EP or 3-song single campaigns.  

  • Have you established your sound / style?
  • Have you developed your branding and identity?
  • Do you have a track that has streamed 150,000?

I’ve spent all this energy talking about how some fans want an album, so why am I recommending an EP for new artists?

Because you need to establish volume at this early stage. Get fans in the door. Making money is not the goal in the early days. Think of it as testing the market. Sound advice for any business. An EP can be used as a development tool to prove you are ready for a full length album. If you sell 5,000 or more EP’s (album equivalents) in a short amount of time, that will prove you have a paying fan base. A short EP with 5 or 6 back-to-back bangers is going to leave your fans wanting more. It builds anticipation for a successful full length release.

I used this EP-first strategy with many bands including Mayday Parade, Motionless In White, The Word Alive, The Maine, Tonight Alive, and Go Radio. I Prevail had already self-released the Heart Vs Mind EP, but we chose to re-release that with fantastic results, setting up the debut full length.  

Conclusion

In conclusion, music consumption is not as black and white as singles vs albums. The overall market for singles is bigger than albums, but certain fans still prefer to experience an album or multi-track release. Send me more questions and perhaps that will inspire another blog and get us thinking about more out of the box creative ideas. 

Like what you’ve read here? I’ll teach my full fanbuilding and Spotify strategy inside Band Builder Academy – Doors now open!  Learn More HERE 

Todd McCarty

8 Comments on “Singles Vs. Albums”

  1. Hi Todd
    Great article.. I am curious about when the timing is best to release singles.. When you “So if you want a steady flow of new music going to your fans, you can promote your album over a traditional album cycle (18 months). Then promote singles from the album every couple of months between albums. ” I read it as you first release the album and the singles over the following months? I would have thought the obvious was the other way round – to release singles and the at the end release the full album.. or maybe I am misreading you?
    Also, can you even pitch a single in Spotify (for the official lists) if it have previous been released as a part of an album?
    Regards
    Rasmus

    1. Hi Rasmus, Thanks for the question. I’ll update the article a little, because of your comment. The article was originally directed more at rock artists that are signed. But since originally published, my readership has become more broad, encompassing every genre and mostly unsigned artists. It’s difficult to write a one-size-fits-all article.
      The traditional 18 month album cycle is also more of a record label framework that works with their global infrastructure. Any artist has the ability to pitch Spotify, Apple, and other DSPs after the album comes out. It’s true, when pitching through the Spotify for Artists portal, you cannot pitch previously released tracks. But you still have the option of asking your distributor to pitch previously released songs through their direct channels. But you better have some “heat” on the song and a competitive plan.
      Many artists (in all genres) are using a singles only strategy. Each new single release is an opportunity to catch fire. Then you have momentum to release an album and ride that wave of popularity generated from the successful single.
      More and more, I am recommending this method. I’ve seen artists releasing 10 singles and holding the album off of DSPs until after all album singles have been released. That’s totally fine. But I would recommend having a plan for whatever singles your release. Instead of 10 track campaigns, you could even bundle them into two singles at a time. This is actually how it was done in the early days of the music industry with 45 singles (A side / B side). It works well in the streaming era because some fans will play those tracks back to back, on repeat. And that is good for the algorithm and causes DSPs to show your music to more fans.
      If you’re signed, you should expect a little resistance from your label. But hopefully they can see the benefit. If you’re a free agent, don’t be afraid to experiment and try anything.
      take care,
      Todd

  2. Hi Todd , thanks for the singles Vs album video, it’s really breaking down the subject from a pro perspective. Question : I’m a brand new artist in the genre of new classical with an album ready. I decided to release at least 5-6 singles before dropping the album , but what should be the order of single releases?
    If I release the strongest one first I may attract listeners and music curators but ‘waists’ the best one before I reach larger audience. If I release the best one last, listener and curators might not be that interested in the first few ones and won’t even listen by the time I release the strongest . What would you advise?

    1. No problem. Glad you liked it, and thanks for your comment. I would recommend you always put extra effort into what you consider your very best tracks. These tracks should have a long shelf life, and it’s never to late to go back and promote them after the initial push. If they raise their hand, you can never hold a great song down. Many hit songs don’t become successful hits until years after their initial release. I don’t want to ignore your dilemma though, that is a real concern. But at this point in your career, just put your best songs first, and with the greatest effort you can. If you get a little momentum, chase it, because there is that window of opportunity when one good thing happens, and you need to chase it with a few other good opportunities.
      I hope that helps you. Todd

  3. Nothing wrong with singles, albums or EPs.

    For me, there is one big DON’T.

    That is, DON’T simply pull singles off albums.

    A ‘teaser’ single before the album can be acceptable (although I would advise against).

    Pulling singles off albums is simply fleecing fans, making them fork out for the same track twice.

    If you are a band that is singles orientated and tends not to release albums fine, great!

    Releasing standalone singles between albums is also great, it gives your fans new material.

    If you are an albums orientated band and don’t really release singles, also fine.

    Just don’t repackage album tracks as singles.

  4. Hi Todd, I am a singer/songwriter who has done the waterfall strategy on streaming platforms with my latest album. I am now about to release my final single, and in a month or so, I’d like to put all the singles together on the album (which many folks have purchased the physical copy of, so it’s been out since last January). My question is, since I’ve released all these singles, I like the idea of neatening up my Spotify and deleting all the singles (which have also included all the previously released singles along with the new one) and just putting the album out there. But, if I do that and folks have added these previously released EP’s with my singles to their playlists, will I then lose them as followers or disconnect them from those particular playlists? I understand if they’ve liked the song itself that as long as it appears on the new album with the identical info, they’ll still be following it. But what if I delete the old playlists with the accumulating singles? Does that make sense? Just concerned! Thanks for your help.

    1. Hey Shannon, If you’re Beyonce or Taylor Swift, you can afford to clean up your discography and lose some listeners. But when you can’t afford to let any listeners/fans slip through the cracks, don’t. If you remove a version of a song from your discography, and somebody had that version on their personal playlists, or saved to their personal library, it will be lost. Leave it in place. You worked hard to reach that fan. Even if it’s just a few, keep it there. The algorithm is not just one monolithic thing. It has many parts. A save on a song has many parts. A playlist add drives several parts of the algorithm. All of it is important, and when you remove it, it’s has only a negative impact. Don’t delete old playlists. Leave everything the way it is. Just take my word for it.
      Todd

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