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By Quincy Jones Fri Apr 18, 10:53 PM ET

LOS ANGELES (Billboard) - Ever since Shawn Fanning launched the original Napster -- and even more so now that legitimate downloading has taken off via iTunes -- I've been hearing lots of talk about the death of the album.
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It's getting louder and louder, and it has our industry running scared. As you all know, single tracks -- whether they're purchased legitimately or downloaded illegally -- are cutting into the sales of albums, which are far more profitable.

The big question is, What, as an industry, should we do about this? Do we deny consumers the freedom of choice of buying single tracks, as Jay-Z did with his "American Gangster" album? That's one way of preserving the art form known as the album, but I think there's an even better solution.

Artists, producers, songwriters and A&R folks: Rise up to the challenge and make your album so good that fans will want to buy the whole thing. I realize every album can't have six or seven top 10 singles, like Michael Jackson and I were blessed with on "Thriller" and "Bad," but you've got to try. If it's good enough, the fans will buy it. Maybe they'll want to whet their appetite by only buying a track or two at first, but if you keep coming out with good tracks and pique their interest, they'll be back.

There's actually an opportunity here to sell more than just the album. Release a digital track early. That's an easy sell, but make sure the rest of the album delivers that same kind of quality and excitement, and they'll be back to buy additional tracks and/or hopefully the entire album as you conceived it. And don't forget special packaging for the physical product. If you and your team deliver quality goods, the fans will want to buy it.

Can you imagine a world in which people only bought a single download of Miles Davis' "So What" instead of the greatest jazz album of all time, "Kind of Blue?" Or "Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)" instead of Marvin Gaye's complete masterpiece "What's Going On?" Or even a single track from Herbie Hancock's Grammy Award-winning "River: The Joni Letters" instead of the whole collection?

We need to stop complaining about single-song downloads and instead focus on making better music that'll make fans want more than just one song.

Reuters/Billboard

Bob Lefsetz rips into Clive

Artists, producers, songwriters and A&R folks: Rise up to the challenge and make your album so good that fans will want to buy the whole thing.

I respect Quincy Jones and all, but c'mon. That's the secret to saving the album? Make it good? Raise the bar above mediocre?

This is like saying that the way to save the neighborhood ice cream man is to point out that your truck needs a refrigerator.

Have the songwriters and the artists been holding back or something? They weren't already trying to make good albums?

"Okay, we're going in the studio now. Remember, don't mention the good songs we have."

Making your album "so good that fans will want to buy the whole thing" is what you're paying the producers and "A&R folks" to achieve. If you have to tell them that, you're already fucked.

The problem today is too many chiefs and not enough indians. Too many people who want to be solo acts, when they could be so much better if they contributed with other talents in a group setting. In today's atmosphere, the Beatles would have broken off into solo careers after Beatles For Sale or Help.

There are a few artists who can create whole albums of great material on their own. But for most musicians, if they could rein in their own egos and find musical friends with whom they can create a synergy -- like the Beatles, XTC, CrosbyStillsNash, U2, the B-52's (LOL) -- we would see a greater number of top shelf albums.

Really, is anybody interested in a Geddy Lee solo album? OK, he did one to get it out of his system, but basically, without his bandmates in Rush, he's got minor potential. That's what we've got in today's music world -- too many minor potential artists that might have major potential if teamed up with sympathetic and synergistic partners.

JMO.

Great observation, autodidact. Something I hadn't thought about for a long time.

auto flings dead-on "zingers" all the time George.

And I agree! Very rare is the individual artist who is best as a "solo act"

...sure, some songs/projects could be done all by ones' self, but as a "career" (even if just a hobby) music is much better when you find a few friends to join with you to make the noise.

Music is so much more awesome when it is a cross-talk between 2 or more musicians.

I could easily (using todays technology) go solo, play all the instruments, and come up with sorta "ok" stuff... Example: "B Goode 2 Me"

...but, I prefer having at least 1 other person playing/singing along with their own contribution to the tune.

Yup! That version of "B Goode 2 Me" is ALL me. Every instrument, the recording and songwriting and everything is my "solo" effort!

...Technically "ok", but kinda lacks something, doesn't it?