ALBUMS ARE DEAD - My Tips for new bands 

Me rambling about the current state of the music industry and what to do as a band today. Don't get me wrong I will still put out albums simply because I love the format and I still have a passion of putting out music in the album format. What are your thoughts? Discuss! AND SUBSCRIBE SHIT!

My advice for all of you out there wanting to release music. First off, make sure that the music you're making is fully reflective of you and your band as musicians and artists, and that it's something you're proud of and have fun playing. If you're releasing music to fit in with a genre or scene stereotype then chances are unless what you're making is an exceptional example of the genre, then people more than likely aren't going to be interested in it. My second point, and this mirrors Ola's view, don't sign to a label and don't recruit a manager. They provide absolutely zero value and exist only to drain you of your money if you're at my or Ola's level in the industry. Thirdly, like Ola says, marketing is a big factor. But when you do it, do it from a place of passion and be genuine. Don't use the 'marketing strategies' of big faceless companies or bands who have no direct connection to their fans. Engage, speak to people and share in their enthusiasm for music. Inject your personality into promoting your music. And for the love of all that's good and holy, don't directly message people asking them to check out your band. Lastly, be patient and have a sense of perspective. You often see bands or artists explode onto the scene that seemingly come out of nowhere. But trust me, every single one of those people has put in literally years and years of work into what they do. Overnight success stories are almost non-existent in the music industry, so be prepared to sink a lot of time and effort into your music.

Another option is releasing each song on your album as a single every 2-4 weeks until you've released them all, and then compile them as a final album. That way, you are still fresh in people's minds, but still have a complete album at the end that people can buy as physical copies if they want.

I wouldn't have believed that albums are dead until this summer, I help teach a music related summer camp and the kids were taking a break from playing their instruments and were playing a game of jeopardy one of the questions was "name an artist and one of their albums" half of the kids responded with "what's an album?" It was a really surreal experience

Great speech. The censorship sound is annoying though. Censorship is also dead.

Albums mean more to me than youtube channels.

I started to think out of the box, but the donuts were inside the box.

Everyone sounds super sad and depressed because who honestly gets into music as an art form / form of expression to make social media content?

👍🏾

As a music fan, I have no interest in the way musician are prostituting over the internet. I want a good album.

I've been saying this for soooo long! So happy to see you share the same thoughts

I still love and buy physical albums... I'm just 21. I just hate it when music is released just as singles for the sake of releasing it. Sure that marketing is really important nowadays but I don't even listen to bands that only release singles...

By far, the most straight up and direct way of describing the current state of the music industry. Ola basically said it best. It's all about marketing, presentation and streaming. The market is over saturated and people are burning cash to make an album with little to no return. Most musicians I notice are not releasing anything beyond 4 tracks due to cost. Singles and EPs are the norm now. Amazing how things have changed.. Sigh

I studied media sciences and if I would have to sum up the current media consumption behaviour in a dark way.. it's like a drug you start to get used to. That's why you need more and more new stuff to get one dopamine kick after the other. An Album used to be something to get excited for, to listen too 1000 times and to get a long lasting kick out of it because the market was not saturated. Now the mindset is like an addict, too unfocused, too jumpy, too damaged to enjoy one thing to it's fullest. The newsfeed on facebook and the 1000 subscriptions are like a conveyor band shoving one kick after another into your brain. Market researchers already noticed a "subscription fatigue". All this happens in a cacophony of screams for attention, where you have to stand out from the ones that want to stand out from the mainstream... (this got darker than I intentioned).

You're not the only one saying it, Ola. But you ARE probably the "biggest" one saying it. Music nowadays is a large chunk of marketing that's more important than ever...

Brilliant video! Another thing I would like to point out is that now music is often on the shoulders of single musicians. Those “lone warriors” compose, record, promote everything themselves, in the meantime doing videos, day-jobs, and caring about family. This is why making full-length albums is impractical and exhausting for them. Collaborations push it faster, but still...I am even not talking about making good money by selling music. It’s become charity by fans. Young boys write me all the time asking to give an opinion on their music. They full of time and hope, and even giving a dollar on Bandcamp could encourage them to KEEP WRITING MUSIC, to take this craft several decades further. Which is important, I believe.

Being harsh and all, but you only speak the truth. I´ve never thought of it that way of being constanly uploading videos and being on people´s faces all the time, but looking at it that way, that´s how I hooked up on your channel and music, you were ALWAYS on my RU-vid homepage. Smart marketing and tips for upcoming musicians. Thank you Ola.

Olá Ola, you said it all. No jokes today. I’m depressed.

Great stuff Ola. As strictly a consumer of music I like listening to a whole album... I like to think a complete album tells a story (with some bands, some bands no) but can totally see your viewpoint as an artist. Makes complete sense.

Having heard your views in the past on the state of the music into totally agree. I am 49 and back when I was younger it was all about the record deal. Now it doesn't matter. Excellent video.

This is true. I'm an entertainment attorney. Labels have been trying to push people into overall deals for precisely this reason. They recognize that revenue streams are far more diverse than just album sales now. It makes more sense to release singles on Spotify/Apple Music etc and ex post lumping them into a collection you want to call an album. The old days where people sat around waiting for their favorite band to release a new album are long gone. One note though, definitely eventually re-bundle your singles as an album though. Search algorithms and payouts are slightly better on them ultimately because that part of the business hasn't entirely caught up with how people consume music now.

The Music industry died and was resurrected as the Clothing industry. - Bands no longer sell music, and give away free shirts at shows; they now give away free music, and if people like a band's music, they'll buy the shirts.

I agree with what you said, nowadays albums are the least reliable source of income and exposure for a band: people don't buy albums or go to concerts anymore. At the same time I may be dumb, nostalgic or stupid but I'll probably stick to doing albums simply because I get the most fun doing it. At the end of the day If you're having fun, just do it.

I totally dig where you are coming from, Ola. You honestly are today's inspiration of Metal music, and even with the Industry, because I know releasing music is tough, and you gotta work hard to even protect your music from theft and copyright, ect... You are a great guy, dude, and I'm not just randomly saying that, Ola. You truly have almost changed somewhat part of my life. I truly just thank you very much for all the great things you do, dude. Music needs more people like you today!! \m/

If you absolutely want to put out an album because it's your dream and the album will be like your "baby" and you don't really care about the results, or selling or not...just go for it, but if you have a band that you want to promote, have gigs ...I completly agree with you, I don't think spending time and money recording an album will help at all nowadays so you better invest your time on the social media providing a few good songs and quality contents and maybe you'll find success

This is a really tough subject for a lot of amateur and intermediate level musicians. Especially those who are sitting on a lot of music, and not quite sure what the right format to bring it to the world is. I think your advice and insight on this subject is definitely needed for a lot of people. The landscape has changed drastically for new and old artists alike, however all hope should not be lost. Communities like this one are a great way for like minded individuals to gather together over common interest, and have a better shot at sharing their craft with those who might be interested. But you did make a powerful point. Don't go waving your CD in peoples faces. I needed to hear a lot of what you said in this video and I hope others can gain similar insight also.

The current state of the music industry has basically removed any motivation on my part to pursue the dream of becoming a professional musician. It was already pretty unlikely before, but now it's damn near impossible. Even if I did make it, being a professional musician nowadays is not really a sustainable career path, especially in metal. I'll always be a musician, I'll always play guitar, I'll always record music and maybe one day I'll release some of it. But I can't see myself being able to work 24/7 like Ola has to, especially due to having a full time (sometimes more) job already just to not starve and lose my shelter. Making music takes so much time, but that isn't enough anymore, Ola is a prime example by diversifying and starting a guitar brand. The Periphery guys all have signature products they presumably take a cut of, Misha also has his own pedal company. Chappers started a guitar brand. Josh Middleton does Kemper packs. The list goes on. There is almost no metal bands now that make money purely from tour and sales.

IT'S 2021 AND..... OLA WAS RIGHT ALL THIS TIME!!!! PEOPLE ARE ALL OVER RU-vid NOW. THANKS OLA! :)

The 1st album I ever listened to from start to finish was Black Sabbath: Black Sabbath. That was how it was recommended to me and I want disappointed. Started buying Sabbath albums left and right and listening to em all the same way. And this was in 2010, there was plenty of RU-vid around. Albums didn't die, music did.

I don't usually watch the same short video twice in a row. I'll probably return to this one even more. Thanks dude.

Yea your wife was right. Drunk Ola is aggro Ola.

It's literally how I got in my current band, through RU-vid. I love albums but I agree, singles is where the momentum is at!

Don't mind me, just a lone guy without a badge passing through...

i just started to listening to albums again instead of playlists. I love it because you find more new songs and you dont get bored as fast.

As a musician today you have to be everything else as well: Promoter, producer, advertiser, salesman, booking agent, manager, social media expert… it's insane! The way Ola discredits the album as a means to introduce your music into the world though is quite disheartening and also not completely true in my opinion. But the tendency is very real and has to be considered. I think as as a band the challenge is to honestly assess where you're at and prioritize where to invest effort in order to take you where you want to go. To me releasing an album in a way that you envisioned it is and always will be an honest and right thing to do. I was socialized musically understanding that the album is the highest form of audible art in my time. That will probably never change for me. And i don't fully understand the mechanism by which the young kids consume music nowadays, i suppose it's some algorhythmical sinister corporate trickery! I consider all efforts that spawned later (Videos, video channels…) as means to tease you into buying an album after all, or buying gear and generating add-revenue in the more recent cases.

Your channel is still better than the other 49 metal channels out there. We love you brotha

This is why personnaly I do not even think about living of my music, and I am preparing an album; what matters most, is what it brings to the musicians: experience in recording and all the process of making and writting an album. People sees music as a nugget box and as you say, the attention span is very, very narrow. That's kind of pathetic. My two cents after 20 y of music ? Do it for yourself and your band. Grow through your music. If it works ? great. If it does not ? The experience you gained through this stage is the most valuable thing you can get imo, so it does not matter.

Dude, you made a lot of sense in this video! And that also Rings true not just for trying to sell an album of Music, it relates to all things a company may be trying to Market! Don't do one huge bulk release, space all your items out over the course of many months or years so that you could constantly be marketing something new, but it's all old stuff in the grand scheme of the company's product line..... Thanks for the advice!

I don't know man, some albums you forget in a week, some stick with you months, years or decades. I've been listening to Moonsorrow's Varjoina kuljemme kuolleiden maassa and Verisäkeet for months now without growing tired of them and I could not imagine those songs being released as singles. I would say if you want to make an album, don't let it be just a collage of some songs you have laying around. Make a coherent theme album and make sure you actually have something profound to say and to offer with this piece of art you are putting out. Albums are not dead, there still is a place for them, but perhaps for most bands these days an album isn't the format that is going to help them the most to advance in their career.

dude ola is the man, by far my fav musician now days

Dat shirt tho

This is why we are trying to diversify ourselves as much as possible. Just releasing an album doesn't cut it anymore.

I dont agree, maybe in the beginning of a career this is true, but once you have a solid fan base, these people want albums!

Makes a lot of sense. Good insight for up and coming musicians Ola

I listen only full albums. And it's always annoying to me how short good albums are. Make them longer guys. And make them dope.

Ola has a great point. Because I, ask myself, when was the last time I purchased an album CD? Technology helped us move forward and get advanced easily, but at this topic that Ola is talking, it killed the excitement of going to the record stores to purchase the album. Because again, you can just get it streamed almost everywhere.

That was a great speech. That crowd was boring LOL

While it may be harsh the honesty is much appreciated

Not sure "thinking out of the box" means adhere completely to the "marketing is everything" way of thinking. I mean, this works for pop stars, but in metal people are actually still interested in Music. Visual and music-related are still considered as "secondary" (which is not the case for, say, Nicki Minaj). Moreover, Metal is one of the few genres where people buys music, pay for it through different means, including by buying physical copies of albums. I think that there are plenty of really talented artists (mainly guitar players) who, instead of focusing on music, they just focus all their efforts on RU-vid contents and never put out an album. I mean, the primary goal of an artist should be to make music, the rest should be a way to get exposure for the music, not the main objective. I mean, I would fucking buy one of their albums. I'm not gonna name them, though ahah. And I don't think it is a matter of "level" as Ola was saying, because their "level" is high enough to get the right exposure for an album.

I’m a professional on Marketing. Right now working on Accounting for pay my classes as always and studying hard to finish my bachelor this year, and you say all the truth about work on a album without exposing the band before. We’re on a high competitive level on any aspects of our lifes at this times. Life is hard right now for our generation, we have to stay focus. Respects to you 🤜🤛🤘❤️.

Basically you're a RU-vidr, not a musician. We do albums because that's what we want to do. Our priority is our music, not how many views we'll get for every burp.

I don't know how ,but I love you even more now man!

Another good example of this is to take a look at the video game industry, especially on the Steam platform and mobile gaming. It has never been easier to get involved in and be creating video games, but that also means that there are even more people crowding the field than ever before. Actually getting noticed, let alone making lots of sales that can fund further development and growth, has become even more difficult and requires finding ways to stand out from the rest of the crowd. And with living in the Information Age, there is so much going on to pay attention to at any given moment via so many different avenues, and without access to massive marketing machines that can provide blanket coverage across so much means that it's easy to get overlooked and be otherwise forgotten.

I agree with your views. The industry has totally changed. Big names even has to tour nonstop to make ends meet. And when the touring stops, so does the moneyflow. I think its best to have a "normal" job that pays the bills, and then do as much music as possible on the side. Not really the rockstar lifestyle, but alot less stressful.. :)

Need to evolve with the times.

Ola, just seeing this for the first time and you couldn’t be anymore right. Thank you for sharing this with the Internet!

Its absolutely true and people have to hear this. I released a full album, made a few sales here and there and got stream revenue. Next thing you know,another band releases their music and you’re already forgotten in a few months. Its harsh but its the truth.

Ola - I agree with everything you said. I hate that it’s that way with marketing. I think your videos on development of killer riffs and multitrack recording are awesome. There’s a lot of old timers like me who still listen to the same music they did in the 80’s. Even though I’m not on stage anymore, metal is in my blood and I still feel like when I was 15 when I hear a good riff. Most loyal fans ever. Keep doing what you’re doing, pay the bills. You are appreciated.

Here is my 2 cents on the issue..You might as well start making music to please yourself,first and foremost.Then,if you feel you become really good at it,maybe it's time to share sth with the outside world.The mistake most people make is,releasing stuff too early,way too early,where their music is far from being considered even okey.They all rush to fame and glory,making it even harder for everyone else to be heard and seen. There is not any filtering of music,so the potentially ''golden'' stuff is buried under mountains of garbage and frighteningly bad music.

I agree with everything Ola said except the statement that albums are dead. Although I haven't had the success that Ola has had, I've still noticed that album releases get way more attention than single and even EP releases. Especially when it comes to metal, I think albums are still king. Having said that I think even he agrees with that despite the title of the video. I think he's essentially saying that you can't just release an album, you have to market and promote it properly. Which includes RU-vid videos and releasing singles prior to an album release.

Casual F-bombs sit deep within my heart

I love albums. I especially love albums where the intention and concept flows from one song to the next in a progressive format, (ala Dream Theatre and Devin Townsend, instrumental albums, etc) because the album itself wants to take you on a journey. Most music fans still listen to albums. Casual fans never really listened to records, they just went on the radio or something like that and they'll still do the same thing today clicking around on Spotify or whatever. But for, it still makes sense for some artists to release their material in bursts, I don't think its going to go away. You’re always going to hear advice about the “right” way to market your art. But there isn’t a right way. The tools we have today to distribute music don’t care if you release one song, five songs, or a triple album. It’s easy to get a single song on iTunes and see how it performs before you put the energy into an entire album. It’s also easy to put out an album without worrying about the costs of distributing a dozen songs. So just do whatever works for you for each project because there is always someone who hasn’t heard your music :)

I don’t like singles. I still prefer 10 or so cohesive songs at once. I never listen to playlists or shuffle. Having said that the news all the time concept is great. Maybe rather than singles...bands should look into changing the “album cycle”. Two years is too long these days. Btbam has done a couple split albums that released 6 months apart...that is a great idea as well.

Thank You, Ola! Again and Again!

There is plenty of bands only doing albums and they kill it.. just coz you can't you think its dead.. Advice is advice Doesn't mean its good/correct

If you really are a musician, you'll want to put your album out regardless of anything...it's stronger than you! I understand what you mean but what would become of music without the album format/concept? It would absolutely kill the artist's voice! What about the journey of making an album, it's like you're saying to people to stop having babies! lol Abort, abort! No! Just do it for your own sake! For music itself. Damn it not.

honestly that's just what I needed to hear, its such a basic way to promote yourself but its so effective. I was stressing about an album i released which obviously got no attention so I took it down for later use. I'm gonna try this technique and see what comes of it in the next year or so. Thank you!

This is a good talk for getting big online/internationally. Not locally.

music and nuka- cola, my 10 to this man

Excellent points Ola. Not just sound music advice. This is for entrepreneurs everywhere. Thanks!

I still like albums. My music collection has always been albums, and there are 2 ways that I support artists - buying their music in lossless or CD format & seeing them live / buying some merchandise at a gig. I agree marketing is everything to get people interested but if you want my money, make a quality album or play a gig in my area.

Man, we 1000000% F agree. We together have a voice that will be listened too.

I've seen it myself, I can't spend the time needed to discover an album anymore, especially now that I've stopped smoking... But I still love concept albums like Agressor's Towards Beyond, and I think those who had the vision to make one, even if released in chunks, will stand the test of time.

You have changed my mind by this film. Seriously. I always thought about releasing the album, now I have open mind for different solutions. Interesting topic.

Hell yeah dude I love this shit All I’m going to do is post a new music video every Friday with a blog video about the song topic and let whoever comes, come. If you don’t know how to do your marketing, you’re not going anywhere. I’m planning on getting like 4 or 5 albums out a year and posting regularly to build traffic and audience

I've got enough songs now to do either an "album", or take the best ones and make an "ep", but now I don't think I'll do it that way. I think I'll take your advice and just release one song at a time as a video, like one a month. Thank you for your insight. You're right. I now realize that albums are dead.

I play ROCK not Metal anymore but i do like to check your channel out from time to time. I think writing and recording an album (solo OR band) is EXTREMELY important. Putting one song at a time out in Lyric or Full Video format seems to be VERY effective. If a band doesnt have material they wont be able to book shows. Double edged sword but i get the jist of your points Ola.

So much truth in this session Ola. Truth hurts sometimes, but everything now days is about branding. It’s something not only bands need to hear, but pretty much everyone in the entertainment industry.

Yes, Ola has the point. Nowadays, making an album can be a waste of time for musicians. Having a strategic marketing plan is far more important than that, where the market is saturated. But the fact that no one really questions this same old production model & procedures since the advent of the Internet.

Very true. Commercial content marketing strategies certainly apply to underground music, which is slightly sick.

The album will never go away... how they are being released is changing. Hopesfall just put out a new album and they did quite a few individual song releases before they dropped the full album.

Truer words were never spoken.

This is a huge eye-opener. Thanks Ola!

i'm showing this to my band and you can't stop me

Having a band again after lots of time off, this is incredibly helpful. We're all super committed to the music now, but you're right when you say it's much more difficult now. ;D Great advice as always Ola, gonna share this with my dense band mates.

Holy shit, tbh, you just pretty much changed the way I want to release music in a much easier way, thank you so much, also, Solar guitars are sick af

Hi Ola. I've listened to you since day one and I'm grateful for your home recording videos! You really know how to teach and entertain. In regards to this video I think that as long as you have something that you enjoy it will work out, album or single.

I appreciate the advice and the brutal honesty with which you deliver the message Ola :)

That was actually an eye opener. I mean I kind of knew that but not exactly like that. Makes sense.

Thanks for sharing! Love the truthfulness about this video. I used to play in a band. way back the business model is give the song and make it downloadable for free. then get back the money on Ticket Sales on a LIVE Concert. but now since we're connected than ever and any consumer are more educated. they want someone who's sticks their neck out there and make free constant content to entertain them.

Excellent points. Completely agree.

OLA TED TALK! Only true words!!

Great point bro we starting a band and this info came just in time you just got a new subs.... Hello from the skabros in guadalajara much love to you!

I really do like my physical albums. If a band I like would stop releasing full albums I'd probaly stop listening to them. I'm mostly listening an album complete, not just one song and then skip to something else. Tough I know I am not the majority of guys out there nowadays, but guys like myself are still out there!

Very interesting Ola, it would be great a video going deeper in this

This is absolute gold. Subbed and kudos.

I'm just a small guy in a small band. We play a few shows around town, and get to open for a bigger band every now and then. We still love making albums because it's fun. We broke even on our last one and that was damn satisfying. We are realistic with ourselves. We know it's very unlikely we'll make any money, but that's ok. It's not failing if you're making music you enjoy. I don't expect everyone to understand or agree. I do agree with a lot of your points though.

Yes, totally agree with this way of thinking. Also if you’re working full time and trying to write and record an album’s worth of music it will be a slow process so putting out the odd batch of three or four songs makes sense to me. You can keep the same mix settings in your DAW so that retrospectively you can bundle your songs into an album and they’re not sounding detached from each other.

Yup, that's the sad truth. But still, if you wanna do it just start and don't stop if you are enjoying it. Thanks for the upload Ola, I wanted to be there but couldn't make it so this video means a lot. Hope there are gonna be more parts released from the Thomann session.

I agree with everything he says here. I've heard this from many people for years now. Rock and metal is not my primary genre currently in my life but this is probably the first time I hear these models being talked about for bands. I feel like a lot of bands are still stuck in the album format versus doing singles or a lot of videos.