Thread by @sweetbtstea

How BTS Dodged A Massive Bullet By Remaining Album Artists And Rejecting The Ongoing Singles Artist Trap: Part 1

[BY THREAD POLL]

INTRODUCTION

I've been meaning to address this topic for a while, certainly as soon as I realized what a smart decision it was to have BTS continue to release singles as always.

If you're new, BTS will release a lead single at the same time as their album. Sometimes a second single comes in the weeks that follow. The emphasis is ALWAYS on the entire album as BTS are most definitely album artists.

But now they've crossed over into major singles markets.

This release style can be frustrating to some American ARMYs, particularly those who between LY: Her and LY: Tear felt BTS were in danger of not catching on without a couple of lead singles to build interest among non-fans.

It's true that within the last decade the rate at which American music artists have dropped singles has increased exponentially. In fact, the heavy emphasis on singles rather than albums is now so normal that no one has stopped to ask WHY...or even if it's uniformly a good thing.

To appreciate just why turning BTS into pop singles artists just like SO MANY current pop stars would have been a bad move, we must first understand why the American music industry became a singles market—and the consequences that are presently unfolding.

I. THE GOLDEN AGE OF THE ALBUM ERA

It's widely accepted that the golden age of album releases ran from the 1960s all the way to the early 2000s.

Intriguingly enough, the American music industry was somewhat of a singles market before the shift towards albums. The term "single" actually originated in the 1950s.

It used to be that labels emphasized a hit single, but everything changed when technology made albums longer, and certain artists and groups began to spend more and more time creating a solid cohesive album.

The best-remembered albums from this era are those that not only spawned multiple hits but also set a tone for who that artist or group was at that particular time.

During this time period, music stars weren't just given the space to create; they evolved and influenced others.

Also worth pointing out: an album's hit singles were not front loaded. In other words, even if an artist or group released a single or two BEFORE the album, it was common to release a few singles after it dropped as well.

For example, Michael Jackson's 1982 Thriller saw singles released from 1982 through 1984. One single (The Girl Is Mine) was released ahead of the album. Six singles came after the album dropped.

I suspect this was much easier to pull off before the Internet, at a time when people didn't have such easy access to the full album unless they went out and physically bought it. Pirating via person-to-person sharing did hurt this practice in a way.

The Album Era ended with the decline of the CD and the rise of consumption by way of streaming. These days, most music fans don't stream an album; they stream singles in personal or curated playlists.

Enter the Singles Era....again.

II. THE RAPID FIRE SINGLES ERA

As I said, the emphasis on a hot single release isn't a concept that's new to the American music industry. Still, something is different this time around. Artists are releasing more singles than ever before.

rollingstone.com/music/music-fe…

But to be more specific, it's NEWER acts that are responsible for this rapid-fire pace. Cardi B released six singles ahead of her debut LP. Boy Band Pretty Much released six singles, but there's no word of an album release. It's uncommon to find anyone dropping anything less-

than three singles before an album/LP or EP release.

There are even artists who are foregoing the physical album releases altogether, focusing their energy on releasing song after song. Today, it's not about a coherent, cohesive album; it's about saying everything you can about yourself in three minutes

thebalancecareers.com/need-physical-…

On top of that, you're challenged to create an *endless* string of hit singles in order to make sure you stay relevant and that your career doesn't dry up and die.

In the biggest, most competitive market, it might only take one big flop to spiral downward.

It felt like this spring and summer was particularly brutal for pop artists.

And the winner was? The one guy who dropped a meme song, not an album. It seems like it's the idea of a dominant hit single that matters in the end, not an album.

....But that's NOT always true.

III. AN UNFORTUNATE (AND PREDICTABLE) CYCLE

Let's say we have a promising pop act who breaks through with a minor hit. Their follow up hit is a monster that goes number #1 on Billboard and stays there for weeks. Great, huh? The singer scores another #1 bit...and another!

Suddenly they're a pop sensation.

Following a string of #1 hits, the pop star's new single peaks at #3 on the chart. Still a great feat in a competitive market...but a little worry sets in. Their next single peaks at #7. The next one barely breaks the Top 20. And the single after that? FLOPS.

Before long, this once promising music star is "falling off" as they get fewer and fewer streams and radio spins. Their hot streak has cooled considerably.

Meanwhile, there's a *new* pop sensation on the scene with a big hit under their belt. And the crowd moves on...

Today's American mainstream music rat race has trapped young pop artists in a virtual hamster wheel where they need to churn out "bop" after "bop" to stay on the wheel, otherwise, they'll be replaced about as quickly as they fall off.

While an outstanding album could keep a talented artist in the spotlight for a few years, a hit single in today's market rarely gives an artist more than several months of clout...and that's stretching it. Unless they get "memed," today's music listeners seem move on pretty fast.

I don't want to kick anyone while their down, but I still remember when "All About That Bass" was everywhere, and so was Meghan Trainor. That was in 2014. Five years later, and she was expressing heartbreak over how poorly her lead singles were received.

https://twitter.com/musicnewsfact/status/1089558512718381056

She's hardly alone. I'm sure you can think of plenty of artists within the last five years alone who dropped promising singles and then a few songs later were either visibly not as popular as they once were or are already back in the throes of obscurity.

Despite the apparent perils, this approach has gotten so normalized within the past few years that nobody really questions it. Or asks themselves why today's mainstream artists do not have the endurance of those from decades past.

In a market where hardly anyone is selling albums anymore, BTS kicked in the door with a crazy amount of pure album sales. Which is great!

But when you're used to things working a certain way, you can even take a miraculous situation and criticize it for not fitting the norm.

I myself had started to buy into the singles artist hype, but I eventually got over it.

But if you're thinking there's some added "mmph!" to be had by BTS changing up and becoming singles artists...You'll find out in Part 2 why that's a terrible idea!

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