NEWS. Last week, R&B-pop singer Rihanna released “Good Girl Gone Bad” — her third album in two years.

No one can dispute that her songs usually become cherished hits, yet some might wonder if her “TRL”-ready tunes will give her career longevity. In today’s music marketplace, though, that might not even be the point anymore. Increasingly, artists and record labels are cashing in on our short attention spans in an oversaturated media climate by releasing more, more and more.

“I think you’re going to see shorter windows between album releases,” says Brian Garrity, senior business correspondent for Billboard magazine. “It’s more about staged singles versus being album-driven.” He says record industry executives speculate how the future will shape out, whether companies will lean more toward EPs (shorter albums) or find ways to stagger singles. “We’re at a time when artists want a perpetual line of communication with their fans.”

No better example of this exists than Beyoncé Knowles, who has become an omnipresent force since her solo debut in 2003. Most recently, she re-released her 2006 album “B-Day” with videos for each song and extra tracks. A live album recapping her current tour is expected by the end of the year.

“There’s a greater sense of urgency on labels and artists to put out product as fast as they can,” says Garrity. “This is going to work better for some than others. You’re more apt to see this with younger acts that don’t have an established career.”

Gone are the old days when Madonna, Michael Jackson, Prince and Sade had fans wringing their hands with anticipation between albums. If they were new artists now, they’d

likely be pumping out singles like Italian ice on a hot day in Little Italy. Today, “if you start to build a fan base and then start to disappear in today’s fickle marketplace, people move on,” Garrity says. “They’re staying front of mind.”

Ne-Yo, the songwriter-turned-performer, just released his second album in two years. “The way

the business is, people love you one second and then hate you the next millisecond of that same second,” the singer says. “It’s definitely smart to strike while the iron is hot. At the same time, there’s never a shortage of material. I’m excited to get new material out to let people know how much I’ve grown or where I’m going now.”

Of course, the artistic blitzkrieg strategy can backfire. Increased productivity usually means a dip in quality, and overwhelming your fans can potentially

cause burnout. (See the hilarious site www.

beyonceitis.com.) “That’s definitely a fine line you have to walk,” says Garrity. “I still think that by and large, you’re seeing artists take a year or more to put out follow-up material. But it’s a misconception that everyone goes away for four years — that’s the luxury of certain artists who can make money on the road and with album sales and can wait that long.”

Feeling fatigued by even your favorite artists? Get used to it.

www.Beyonceitis.com

SoulAlive said:

Yeah...I thought this was funny too... They give that chick way to much credit... The person who created this site has Beyonceitis
[Edited 6/13/07 6:56am]

banks said:

I would take Madonna and Prince out of this statement. They've been pretty consistent. The only reason I wring my hands for Prince is because I can’t get enough. Now Michael and Sade are another story.

JackieBlue said:

Yeah i agree too, how Madonna and ESPECIALLY Prince got lumped into a category with 2 artists that almost never record new work is beyond me. The thing is Prince and Madonna were both pumping out single after single. The problem still is with singles, true someone like Rihanna has released 3 albums in 3 years but so did Britney Spears, actually Britney had 5 albums in 5 years plus world tours, plus about 5 singles from each album, Rihanna's cd's basically have spawned 1-2 singles per cd then have disappeared. One good thing coming out of this is that everyone seems to be getting back to 10 track albums, with the exception of Rap artists who still load it up with 18 tracks filled with skits and segues, and as i have said before Downloading may be killing Sales but CD's killed the artists.

lastdecember said:

From 1969 to 1984 Michael released 25 albums.

LittleBLUECorvette said:

Ok but the article is pointing out 80's output from these artists. If that was the case, hell, the friggin Monkees released 11 albums between 1966-1970

lastdecember said:

That was when labels were throwing out albums

throughout most of the 70s, bowie was releasing at least two albums a year. i guess this is a trend coming full circle again?

I agree with the article to a small degree, but I don't think the entire market is like that. In fact, I believe that artists who do that are the ones, in FACT, that burn out the fastest. With Rhianna, didn't she release an album LAST year?? After a while, she's just gonna fizzle out.

Case in point: Britney Spears. Her first three albums were released in a span of, well, three years. By the third album, she was a bit overexposed, and the public was a bit tired of her. Granted, all the tabloid bullshit didn't help either. But she overloaded the public so much that they just kinda got sick of her. By the time In The Zone came out, it still did alright, and 2 years in between her album before that rather than a year created a small level of anticipation. Wasn't long until she fucked up with the tabloid dilemmas, but thats another story...

Now, let's look at JT and Christina Aguilera. Both there albums came out in 2006, with there last albums coming out in 2002. I think because of this, there albums were of much better quality than there contemporaries. Say what you want about them, but you cant deny that there work is the best pop music in today's industry(I know I'll get alot of flack for saying that, but fuck it). And sales wise, Christina did good(if not great), and Justin's album has not only sold 3 million already, but it's still selling and keeping strong. Not that I'm saying that both JT and Xtina are all of sudden the saviors of the industry, they just have better pop music than there fellow artists cause they're taking there time to make good pop music.

I'd say the same about Beyonce, but she's really shoving her new album down the publics throut. I mean, give the fans a chance to digest a single before releasing a new one!! As for Usher, it's gonna be 3 years since his last album, so I bet there's gonna be BIG anticipation for his new album.

Of course, dont take years to finish an album. Look how wonderful that worked for MJ's Invincible
[Edited 6/13/07 17:08pm]