Are we done getting full albums?

[meck77]

Also HMx just released abbey road for TB:RB. So I highly doubt they are done releasing full albums

[DeuceMRP]

I remember when Harmonix first announced that we'd be getting full album downloads of classics, iconic, or important albums. But in the past year, we've only had one album announced that fits that description (Ten) and 3 others released that are new/promotional (Chinese Democracy, Backspacer, and Back From The Dead*). It's been nearly 6 months since we got the last "classic" album release, and in that time we've gotten two "greatest hits" packages from bands that could've benefited from full album releases.

I hope Harmonix hasn't abandoned full (classic/iconic) albums because I really enjoy playing the deeper cuts from some of my favorite albums in the game.

Your thoughts?

First off, Ten is not an 'iconic' album, but it is a classic, i'll agree with you there.

An important album = Megadeth's Peace Sells. You might not like the music, i'm a huge Megadeth fan but I can't stand peace sells. That doesn't mean you can't call it important or a classic. It was one of their most iconic albums behind RIP.

I don't see why they would stop releasing albums or greatest hits. I'd imagine a greatest hits set of 10 from Pantera coming in a few weeks. I wouldn't mind a full album as long as it's not TGSTK or older Pantera.

[iagomonk]

First off, Ten is not an 'iconic' album

If you say so. I've got no time to argue over the semantics of largely unimportant labels. To a shallow Pearl Jam listener like me, it represents the band's apex.

The Christian Examiner nominates "iconic" and "amazing" to its list of overused words, finding over 18,000 "iconic" references in news stories alone, with another 30,000 for "icon", including use of the descriptor for SpongeBob Squarepants.

[T-Hybrid]

First off, Ten is not an 'iconic' album, but it is a classic, i'll agree with you there.

Well hopefully going forward HMX will ask us our opinions regarding what's iconic and what isn't.

It would be one more argument to pile on top of the stinking heap that includes "OMG this song is charted wrong" and "OMG this song isn't *insert genre here*"

[Alvarado6411]

*Cough* Dave Mustaine said they're in talks for getting Rust In Peace *Cough*

[XinZ]

Your thoughts?

My thoughts? I like a lot of the albums we have (The Cars and Doolittle excluded), but I like the Best of Packs a hell of a lot more. It seems that they just add a lot more to the game by including a bands best songs as opposed to a few songs that aren't quite up to the same level.

[west siide]

What appeals more to a broader audience, Greatest Hits releases or individual albums?

You can't expect HMX to crank out albums that don't sell well, regardless of whether they are "classics" or are quality music? That's a tad unrealistic.

There are only a handful of albums that are not compilations that have a broad enough appeal that people would want to buy the *whole* thing.

Going by worldwide numbers, non-compilation albums that have sold the best:

Thriller: 110m sold
Back In Black: 49m
Bat out of Hell: 43m
DSOTM: 43m
Millennium (Backstreet Boys): 40m
Rumours: 40m
Come on Over (Shania): 39m
LZ IV: 37m
Jagged Little Pill: 33m
Sgt. Peppers: 32m

After that you get into Celine, Mariah, more MJ and Backstreet Boys - moving on

Abbey Road: 30m
Spirits Have Flown (Bee Gees): 30m
Born in the USA: 30m
Brothers in Arms: 30m (where's the DS HMX!)
Bad (MJ): 30m
The Wall: 30m
Slippery When Wet: 28m
Appetite: 28m
Supernatural (Santana): 27m
Cracked Rear View (Hootie): 26m
Nevermind: 26m

After that for stuff that fits into the RB format you're delving into:
Joshua Tree, Hybrid Theory, Oasis, Blondie, Def Leppard in the 20-25m albums sold.

So what do you suggest HMX do?

Do GH editions or try and get these albums? Where should the focus be?

[wrldindstries302]

What appeals more to a broader audience, Greatest Hits releases or individual albums?

You can't expect HMX to crank out albums that don't sell well, regardless of whether they are "classics" or are quality music? That's a tad unrealistic.

There are only a handful of albums that are not compilations that have a broad enough appeal that people would want to buy the *whole* thing.
o what do you suggest HMX do?

Do GH editions or try and get these albums? Where should the focus be?

They have shown time and time again that they're not just about releasing what's "more popular". If that was their business model, we wouldn't have Doolittle, and we wouldn't have New pornographers, and we wouldn't have Dinosaur Jr., to name a few.

And I completely recognize that greatest hits collections sell better. But HMX knew from the beginning that the hits would sell better (and if they didn't they were being thick) but we still got albums. It was (and has been stated before) a labor of love.

And personally, I like albums better than hits, because any band worth listening to has far better music as album tracks than as singles. I was just wondering if they've changed their tune with regards to releasing what's "popular".

[Xander730]

Also, it's not the easiest thing to find an album with 4 good instrument parts, usable masters, lots of popular songs, and few filler songs.

Def Leppard Hysteria

[White_PawZ]

I don't need to argue anything, if you go to "Albums" in the Music Store, Dr. Feelgood is listed there while Back from the Dead is not.

Issue resolved.

--------

Moving back to the topic at hand, I would imagine that the rapid release of albums was done as it was to give people a look as to how it would work. Not to mention testing the waters to see how people would buy into them.

It's entirely possible that the sales they are seeing from albums isn't warranting the investment (both time and money) that it takes to make them possible. Which is why we're starting to see a step towards larger artist packs (The Who, Iron Maiden, Queen) with a mix of hit singles vs. deep cuts.

What value is there in putting The Colour and the Shape out there if most people will just pull "Monkey Wrench" and "My Hero" out of the pack and leave the rest behind? At that point you might as well just put those two in a pack with something else.

Heck, that's probably why we've started seeing artist packs having two radio hits and a third deep cut. The idea is that anybody who's a big enough fan of the band would buy the 3-pack anyway, and those that pick and choose would either buy one radio hit or look at the pack and say "Yeah those two singles I like enough to spend just a bit more on the pack".

But you can't really take that kind of risk on a full album...where people will either buy the WHOLE album (12-13 songs) or just the one or two radio tracks. There's a lot of wasted effort with little return.

T-Hybrid nailed it. I think this post says it all.