The album is no longer the unit of musical currency

.. which I THINK is not really that much different to how people have always taken music on board.

Haven’t the play lists simply replaced radio?

@JohnPhilpin I had a similar thought a few years ago as a research project for a composition class I was in. I found that while streaming has taken off, radio listenership hasn’t dropped too much. I was surprised by that.

@JohnPhilpin The album was always the unit of currency for the music snob—the person who overvalued the significance of the artist’s intent and undervalued the music’s effect on most people: fun, dancing, etc. I was fully in the snob group, and have since learned to embrace the playlist and enjoy silly pop songs alongside album-length artistic statements.

@JohnPhilpin When I started my journey into MP3 files, as a former tapehead (and mixtape maker), my dream goal was to have a collection of loved music I could cycle through without commercials. Apple Music, iTunes Match, and ubiquitous WiFi have pretty much got me there. I still buy Albums to support artists, but anymore I am just as apt to grab a track that I know I like—then, I might do a deeper catalog dive later.

@JohnPhilpin Nothing has replaced radio 📻 . Radio will always reign supreme. Nearly every person still active in ham radio has a story about the first time they heard a distant station on a short wave radio, perhaps 50 years ago. It is nearly always described as a magical moment, something that gave them a chill, a strong sense of wonder. They turned it on and this music appeared from out of nowhere, perhaps with some crackling & atmospheric noises that helped to make it sound like it was somehow coming from far away, just through the air, no wires, no nothing. Just magic. Totally different from a play list or any other complicated contraption based upon wires and physical connections.

You have proposed a false equivalency. Surely you know you're not supposed to do that. It will make people mad at you. Grrrrr! 😡 Watch out! 😡😡