Paying for studio time isn’t really a thing in the era of DAW (Digital Audio Workstation). In fact, many of the legendary studios have shut down in the past 20 years or so, because they couldn’t turn a profit.
I think, but may be mistaken, that it isn’t that albums are a rarity, but that artists are taking way longer between releases.
I don’t know who the hell you guys are listening to, but the bands I listen to often release albums so quick its hard to keep up.
King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard released 5 studio albums in 2022 and have released 4 albums since then.
Osees have released five studio albums since 2020 and have another one coming out this year.
Melvins have released five studio records since 2021.
Granted, those are prolific bands. There are other artists I listen to that take several years between releases, but that is far from a rule.
Yeah, I also thought about mentioning them. They churned out 28 albums since 2012. Another favorite band of mine, Motorpsycho, have been reliably releasing at least one album per year since 1989, and a lot of EPs in between. And Neil Young just isn’t stopping from releasing two or three albums a year, new stuff mixed with archival releases.
Nah, most bands stopped releasing an album per year by the early 80s. Around when “corporate rock” or “arena rock” became a thing. I think at that time, the record companies started pushing bands to stay on the road longer. Or maybe it wasn’t the record companies - did they get a cut of touring money back then? Anyway, that’s my own conjecture, totally not backed up by any facts.
When I look at some of my favorite current musicians, quite a few of them play in as many as half a dozen side bands not to mention their own solo work. Many band members don’t even live in the same city as their band mates. This trend is bound to limit the number of albums released under the same artist name.
I’d never heard of them, so I looked them up. Aussie-focused band - which is not a problem, but then this caught my eye:
Good thing I’ve never given them any of my money.
Ehh, the actual cite doesn’t mention Ukraine, it just mentions his investment in AI for military drones. Either way, there’s about a million different reasons to not have your music on Spotify.
Fair enough. Still, I’m not sure self-published bands fit the spirit of the OP.
Umm, they started a record label. Plus, I don’t know why’d you ding them for being smarter and harder working.
You know what? You’re right. I’ll bow out now.
I don’t listen to Charli XCX but I’m fond of her album naming convention of:
Brat
Brat and it’s the same but there’s three more songs so it’s not
Brat and it’s completely different but also still brat
The second being the “Deluxe” with some added tracks and the third, I believe, being remixes and featured artists on the tracks. All three released on vinyl.
My wife has expressed frustration with Taylor Swift and her dropping an album then dropping the same album again shortly afterwards with two or three bonus tracks.
And I know you’ve bowed out, but to clarify things further they said “Slava Ukraine” at the end of their show tonight (they livestream just about every one these days). So it is pretty obvious they’re not anti-Ukraine.
All artists do that nowadays. It seems to be SOP.