Release Dates Being Prominent Next To Albums on Artist's Site

[superstix]

Music Fans: Do release dates affect the way you choose what to listen to / download / buy?

 

Music Artists: In the discog section of your own official website, do you (or would you) make the release date a prominent thing next to each release or leave it out?

 

I ask this because I wonder how it affects an album's potential to be heard.

 

For example... if someone on the quest for fresh music lands on an artist's website and sees a release date of say 3 or 5 years ago, might they be less likely to give the music a try than if the release date wasn't staring them right in the face? Or would most people not care when it was made and listen based on other factors?

 

Music should be able to be appreciated for the content, not the context, right? So should a listener hear the music first without the context of a time period and let them seek out the release date later if they really want to know? On the other hand, as a listener myself, context can change the way I "hear" the music. Sometimes it makes me more open to a particular sound or idea knowing when it was made. (Also, the timeline of one's releases can be important for a listener to hear how the artist's sound progresses with each new work, but that is more of an issue with displaying things in synchronized order versus listing exact dates.)

 

Obviously dates are not something that can or even should be avoided completely what with them showing on discogs.com, label websites, and Amazon, iTunes, Bleep, Clone, etc., so I'm thinking only in terms of how an artist should handle this on their own website(s).

 

Display album release dates on an artist's website, yes or no? I keep going back and forth. What say you, WATMM?

[Caretstik]

I'm not put off if I come across music which is pretty old. Personally I prefer to see release dates though, as if it's someone I'm already interested in or grow to like I always have to check out their entire back catalogue (my own OCD) and so it gives me some idea that there may be other releases around. Context isn't everything either but it is important for me. So yeah, release dates please.

[Cryptowen]

I usually get an artist's albums in chronological order unless they have a huge discography and/or sharp stylistic turns in their career (someone like Tom Waits would be an example of both).

[eh Speedy]

Release dates often affect how soon i can get a record if it's not out yet

 

But I say yes, give a release date. For one because having to guess and lie about knowing the release order of a particular artist during small talk at dinner parties is, frankly, disingenuous and rude. Two, I don't think people take time in to consideration much at all and if they do it's certainly not at the top of the list of things to consider when buying a release. And three, besides music is hardly ever purely about music anyway. If it was we would need artist names to know who we wanted to follow (on reputation), we wouldn't need album names to know that this group of songs is separate from another group of songs and we wouldn't need album covers for MP3 releases. Why?

[Guest Sprigg]

I don't much care; good music is good music, regardless when it was made.

[Guest Calx Sherbet]

i like it, cause i usually want to hear their oldest work, then their newest work. then go from there

[o00o]

I like it too so I can give it a fair chance. If something is pretty old but was very progressive at this time its nice to see that.

[Guest couch]

I don't pay attention to it other than saying "oh well it came out in early 90s" or something. If an album sounds really dated then I blame it on that too. Not listening to an album or band because their last release was really long ago seems silly. And for upcoming releases I don't really get all excited about them and usually get new albums a month or so after they come out.

[sidewinder]

I like it simply because I often go to artist or label sites for official info about an album. If it's lacking, it sucks and can't be used as a source for submitting things to Discogs or RYM. The year something came out doesn't usually affect my desire to hear it or not hear it. If I'm researching it I'm obviously interested in it for some reason and I'll probably already be aware of the general time frame in which it was released.

 

But I want FACTS dammit. And artists/labels should provide it all on their sites.

[jeremymacgregor87]

I get a bit put off if an artist has say 3 or more releases in the same year - it's a quality control issue. (take Omar Rodriguez-Lopez for example... man has about 15 solo albums in a few years) ... i think it shows if an artist is just pushing shit out at such an alarming rate. I didn't much care for Bibio's "The Apple and the Tooth", 2009 saw too much of him imo.

 

The only time a release date will bother me is if I'm discovering an artist and they have a bunch of recent releases that sound dated. This is my own problem i guess, as I have to have all of my track tags PERFECT. I'm curious how I'd feel had I not known the date. Like Kettel - I thought Myam James part 2* sounded pretty week, but I later found that that was '09 or something. I'm a bit shit in that respect - expecting an artist 00s track to sound crisp and new and vice versa.

 

 

* wait... didnt flahbulb have a hand in that? whoops

[Guest illfly mandog]

A release date doesn't really effect whether i will check it out or not. It definitely effects how i hear it though. Might not be fair but, oh well.

[jeremymacgregor87]

A release date doesn't really effect whether i will check it out or not. It definitely effects how i hear it though. Might not be fair but, oh well.

 

basically this

[Guest Coalbucket PI]

If someone has been releasing stuff for a while I would have more faith in them being 'established', although I would probably want to hear the newest one first and then I'd look for reviews to decide which older one to listen to next.

[luke viia]

I enjoy knowing what year something was released, as well as what label it's on, the names of the musicians involved, the instruments / gear involved in the making of the music, the artist's thoughts on the album, and so on... none of that is essential though and plenty of "mysterious" albums grab my attention just as easily.

 

The year, in particular, helps set the music into a particular historical / cultural context and can make listening to the music itself a richer experience (I'm thinking of the "Ethiopiques" series as I write this).