THE MUSIC ALBUM IN THE DIGITAL ERA:

IS IT REALLY DEAD?

Student Name: Halil Cengiz Karakuyu

Student Number: 424972

Supervisor: Simone Driessen

Master Media Studies - Media, Culture & Society

Erasmus School of History, Culture and Communication
Erasmus University Rotterdam

Master's Thesis
June 2016

Word count: 28406

 THE MUSIC ALBUM IN THE DIGITAL ERA

ABSTRACT

This study explored the position of the music album in the contemporary (digital) music industry. The death of the
album debate suggests that the music album will be wiped-off the scene because of proliferating digital music. The
fact that digital music allows listeners to skip or cherry pick songs leads to this technologically deterministic vision.
On the contrary, vinyl records are getting popular again in the digital era. The original format of the music album, the
LP, is getting more and used every day, which does not resonate with the death of the album debate. The relationship
between formats and the music album was explored, to understand how changing technologies were affecting the
music album. This research identified the reasons for the death of the album, and explore if the debate has credibility.
This research used the Social Shaping of Technology approach to discuss the death of the album. Drawing on
interviews with musicians from the Dutch alternative music scene, this research examined the role of the position of
the music album today, and paid special attention to the role media technologies in the creation of music. The research
refrains from giving hard-to-understand technological descriptions of music formats, but rather how by interaction
with these formats, society and technologies are mutually shaped. Results indicated that the music album was vibrant
and alive in the Dutch alternative music scene. Moreover, the single and the EP were mainly used to promote an
album. The music album was found to be put in the center of the promotional structure for a band/musician, and that
live shows boosted record sales and vice versa. This research also included the vinyl perspective and results indicated
that vinyl was the most revered physical format. Moreover, the CD is considered as obsolete by the Dutch alternative
music industry. It was found that the Dutch alternative music scene uses physical formats and digital music conjointly,
both for the promotion and releasing music. Physical formats and digital music are given meanings by people, and
these technologies evolve according to the meanings and practices attached to them. This research used thematically
analyzed face-to-face interviews conducted with ten bands belonging to the Dutch alternative scene.

KEYWORDS: digital music, physical formats, social shaping of technology, Dutch music, death of the
album

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Table of Contents

Abstract and keywords

1. Introduction……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………1
1.2 The death of the album…………………………………………………………………………………….….
1.3 Resea h uestio ………………………………………………………………………………………………..8
2. Theoretical Fra ework………………………………………………………………………………………………….11
2.1. The birth of an industry………………………………………………………………………………………
. . The e a a d e fo ats…………………………………………………………………18
. . . The e o o i a d i telle tual di e sio of fo ats i the ’s……………22
2.2 The LP and the concept album…………………………………………………………………..…….…23
. The usi al u i the digital e a……………………………………………………………………..27
2.3.1 Vinyl comeback…………………………………………………………………………………… 9
3. Methodology……………………………………………………………………………………………………………..…33
3.1. Method of data olle tio ……………………………………………………………………………..….33
3.2 The sample..............................................................................................................34
. Data olle tio ……………………………………………………………………………………………………36
. A alysis………………………………………………………………………………………………………..…….36
4. Results………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..………..41
4.1 The music album as main the output.................................................................…...41
. . The al u feel……………………………………………………………………….……….……46
4.1.3 Format hie a hy………………………………………………………………………….……..51
4.2 Conjoint use of physical formats and MSS ….…………………………………………………………..
4.2.1 The death of B-side………………………………………………………………………..……
5. Conclusion/Discussion…………………………………………………………………………………………….……
6. Refere ces…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………...71
Appendixes……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….…….. 1
1. INTRODUCTION
The 2000’s saw great progress in the research and development of music technologies, the
interaction between music and the “carriers” of music underwent drastic changes as well. Physical
formats like the cassette seem to be long gone, and the CD is losing the battle over young and fresh
technologies. The debate over illegal downloading is more than twenty years old, and digital music
retailers are getting more and more popular. Digital means are getting more prominent as new
technologies proliferate, such as smartphones or tablets with high-speed internet connection.
The moment new technologies are introduced to the record industry, worries arise mostly
regarding industry practices, alongside the rising academic interest. The research on digital music
has been a growing field that focuses on the reactions of the record industry in terms of economics
and copyright issues; how illegal downloads effect both the record industry and the musicians or
listener motives (Ku, 2002; Zentner, 2006). The possibility of copying and distributing music not
in physical copies, but simply as chunks of data was the first round in the fight between physical
formats and digital music. In a sociological perspective digital music has been mostly a matter of
consumer studies; the way listeners interact with digital technologies and their behavior
(Magaudda, 2011; McCourt, 2005; Sen, 2010). Albeit digital music has been acknowledged as
something that might jeopardize the future of the music industry, its salience and potential of
changing the face of the record industry is not overlooked. The introduction of Napster and
downloading MP3 files were game-changers for the record industry and the way listeners
interacted with music, in terms of pirate distribution and economics (Alexander, 2002; McCourt
& Burkart, 2008). With the introduction of iTunes, in 2003, digital music sales started to become
a substitute for physical formats such as the CD or cassette (Koh et. al, 2004), a few years later
music streaming services (MSS) started generating more revenue than ever and consequently they
became one of the major growth areas in the shrinking music industry (Friedlander, 2014). In
essence, both digital music and physical formats serve for listening to music. They are used to
make sound come out of a loudspeaker, to create physical impulse for our hearing organ. Yet, the
properties of these physical and digital sound carriers, and the practices that come along with their
usage leads to different practices in the way the music is to be listened, produced and distributed.

1.2 The death of the album

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One of the most prominent debates in the music industry stems from this difference of physical
formats and digital music. The “death of the album”, a result of single songs being preferred over
complete music albums on digital music platforms (Von Wiegandt, 2013; Newman, 2014; Sen,
2010; Burnett, 2015), is being correlated to the proliferation of digital music and MSS. It is
suggested that the emphasis on music albums is undermined and “single” songs will be the main
fuel of the music industry in the future. Thus, the music industry and music itself is considered to
be undergoing a paradigm shift, lean its back on singles, namely single centered:

Fans and consumers of music are making a lot of purchases than ever before but
they are choosing selected tracks over whole albums. The album, a compilation of
‘good’ and ‘bad’ songs has lost that hold over music lovers and it is no longer a
primary product in the digital era (Sen, 2010, p.9).

The album, considered to be a primary product of musical output, is under the threat of extinction.
Though the ‘death of the album’ initially looks related to consumer behavior, some sentimentality
can be driven out of the argument regarding how the music album is conceptualized and what the
reasons behind its death are. Even though sales are well, the primary product of an art form that
might have ‘bad songs’ yet, good enough to be held better than a single, is undergoing a substantial
change, which is to be yearned.
The death of the album debate should be discussed from multiple perspectives, which
cannot be confined to either technological or social conditions, but a mixture of them. The view
that the music album is expected to die ‘soon’ is a reaction to the introduction of a new format, a
confrontation (Schäfer, 2011). This refers to ‘the collision of a new media practice and the
established conventions of production’ (p.126) where an effort to preserve the old practices are
made; as in the case of lamenting the death of the album. Old media practices that are embedded
in social life, are tried to be kept intact. Moreover, in his article Art versus technology, Frith (1986)
points out to the deterministic view in the music industry that ‘technology is somehow false or
falsifying’ (p. 265), when the ‘authenticity’ of music is the case. New technologies are not wanted,
as it is thought that they are somehow not suitable for the practices that are in use, or even
dangerous. The clash of social and technological conditions are observable in the death of the

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album debate. New technologies such as MSS and digital music are thought to eradicate the music
album; a product that apparently means a lot to the music industry.
The Social Shaping of Technology (SST) is a concept to explain how ‘there are choices
inherent in both the design of individual artifacts and systems, and in the direction or trajectory of
innovation programmes’ (Williams & Edge, 1996, p.866). This means that the development of
technologies does not emerge from an internal logic where the technology is the only determinant,
but the choice of developers and social factors shape technologies too. SST is crucial to understand
how sound reproduction techniques developed both in relation to technology and social factors
that shaped the trajectory of these developments. In the death of the album debate, the idea is that
that single songs are what people want, due to the new technologies that offer the chance to listen
to individual songs from an album. It is clear that new technologies change industry practices, yet
pushing a form of musical output into oblivion just because a new technology arrived is a
deterministic view. SST stands in strong contrast to the rationality of technological determinism,
which overlooks the existence of choices for any given technology during the design and
utilization (Mosemghvdlishvili & Jansz, 2013). The development and utilization of the music
album has a strong relationship with the social conditions in the music industry.
The start of the death of the album debate can be traced back to the launch of the iTunes
Store in 2003, when Apple’s digital music retailer made it possible to purchase legal digital songs
instead of purchasing the whole album: ‘since 2003, consumers have faced a song-by-song choice
between stealing and a la carte purchase for about $0.99’ (Waldfogel, 2010; p.306). This was the
first wave of attacks of digital music on the music album; isolating a single song and putting it in
your iPod without the need to bother with the rest of the songs. ‘The availability to purchase legal
digital songs changed the individuals’ music consumption alternatives. Instead of having to buy a
whole CD, the alternative to downloading any particular digital song illegally is now to purchase
it in MP3 format (Aguiar & Martens, 2013; p.2). Consumers are casual scapegoats in the death of
the album debate: ‘the industry statistics tell us that people just don‘t seem to care about listening
to more than a song at a time. The album format is dead’ (Burnett, 2015; p.290). Consequently,
the music album which has more than one song, is deemed to fail to attract listeners, and eventually
it will lose its popularity among the artists who create them. The music album would be confronted
again when music streaming services (MSS) were introduced.

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 MSS are a subgroup of streaming media; such as audio or video files sent via the Internet
from the service provider to be immediately played back on a user's computer (Price, 2012).
Streaming media differs itself from downloading as it was in the case of iTunes Store, since the
users do not own a copy of the media in their hard drive but get access to play it. MSS differ from
the likes of MP3 files, which require downloading and space to store them; instant access to
millions of songs are granted to those who have an internet connection and the device that has the
software to run it (Marshall, 2015). MSS are getting more popular every day, they are becoming
substitutes for consuming and obtaining music from other channels (Wlömert & Papies, 2015).
Digital music in fact became the primary source of income for recorded music, surpassing the sales
of physical formats for the first time in history, accounting to 45% of global revenues in the music
industry (IFPI, 2016). The opportunity MSS gives to access music anytime, anywhere without the
need to download it takes the death of the album debate further. MMS offer a vast catalogue of
artists and albums and grants users the chance to create playlists from the database by letting them
cherry pick the songs they wish (Hagen, 2015). Moreover, they offer a “weekly discovery” playlist
that is curated by algorithms specifically for the user based on their listening preferences (Pierce,
2015).
Bold as it sounds, scholars elaborate the death of the album argument by underlining the
effects of listening practices that come with different technologies, connecting it to a broader socio-
cultural context. ‘As the CD slouches toward extinction, there is no way of knowing if long-format
creativity will be a priority for younger artists and listeners, whose listening practices were not
defined by sustained, set-order listening’ (Decker, 2013; p.106). Formats are considered to be a
primary and intrinsic part of the creative process, so much that the adjective used for creativity is
‘long-format’. The creativity found in the long-format is dented, which does not seem to be a
problem about selling “bundled” songs with or sale figures, but more about the decay of a revered
form of art that is strongly influenced by the properties of the technologies that are associated with
it.
Yet, on the other mode of musical consumption, in physical formats, strange phenomena
is happening contrary to the assumptions made by scholars claiming the death of the album. Vinyl,
the original format that an album was made for (Yochim & Biddinger, 2008) is making a
comeback. The LP format which was wiped off the physical format scene with the introduction of
cassette’s and CD’s (Plasketes, 1992), is regaining popularity in the last couple of years. Vinyl is

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getting more and more popular; the overall sales increasing by 54.7% in 2014, alone to $346.8
million, which indicates a growth of 52.8% compared to the figures in 2013 (IFPI, 2015). New
record pressing plants are being opened around the world and even new record presses are
designed, a special type of machinery that has not been produced or saw a change in design for
years. The current success of vinyl should not be overlooked as some retailers announced that they
would be adding vinyl to their catalogues (Tesco To Sell, 2015), a contradicting move in the dawn
of the alleged death of the album. The rise of vinyl can be explained by the set of social conditions,
in which technological developments such as digital music also play a role.
Several reasons are given by scholars to explain the conditions that form a basis for the
vinyl revival, mostly contingent on the advent of digital music. It is contested that the ongoing
tendency towards the adoption of vinyl is the demand for authenticity; ‘a shared understanding
that listening to their preferred artists on vinyl somehow constitutes an experience more authentic
than that offered by CDs’ (Hayes, 2006, p.59). The problem of authenticity stands as the most
prominent reason behind the resurrection of vinyl, based on the immaterial nature of digital music
which lacks tactile qualities;

Digital sound files lack potential emotive contexts altogether. They are just data,
metadata, and a thumbnail, and therefore emotionally less valuable than a medium
you can hold in your hands. Through their immateriality, digital files cannot contain
their own history. Unless they are burned onto a CD, they have no physical
manifestation. (McCourt, 2005)

A ‘physical manifestation’ is an opportunity to put the physical formats into different contexts in
contrast to data, metadata and thumbnail, which lacks tactile qualities such as the sleeve of a
record. Yet, the effects of materiality and immateriality are not to be confined in a space where the
only difference arises from the sleeve/thumbnail comparison. Vinyl enthusiasts now also imagine
vinyl as human with its sonic imperfections as well as the records content and tactility. The
perceived authenticity of vinyl does not only derive from its artwork or the content of the record,
but also as a connection to the past that sounds more ‘alive’ in comparison to the CD let alone
digital music (Yochim & Biddinger, 2008). Yet, the most important aspect of vinyl in addition to

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the given qualities, that most directly concerns the death of the album debate, lies in the sole
physical qualities of the vinyl record.
Opposed to digital music, where single songs can be purchased off of an album, or tracks
can be easily skipped with a click, vinyl records have a ritualistic quality to them. Vinyl is
considered to be a “slow food equivalent” of music listening practices: ‘it demands attention and
ritualizes listening to music’ (Bartmanski & Woodward, 2015, p.58). A vinyl record plays songs
continuously on each side of the disc that prevents skipping songs, with the exception of raising
the needle. ‘Dropping or picking up the needle in the middle of a side is always tricky: Serious
phonograph users, concerned for the health of both the needle and the disc’s groove, invariably
frown on the practice’ (Decker, 2013, p.99). Vinyl exerts slow listening in a ritualistic way, which
in contrast to digital music makes the listener give attention to the whole album. This overall
‘cultural meaninglessness’ that is attached to digital music, one of the most important factors in
the comeback of the vinyl, eliminates the notion of ‘slow listening‘ that vinyl offers in contrast to
the ‘fast-forward’ mode of contemporary culture (Bartmanski & Woodward, 2015). Yet, there are
different approaches on this ‘slow’ mode of listening and whether the content of an album should
be worth listening. The vinyl revival also needs to be a part of this research, since it reveals how
new technologies and social conditions interact and shape the structure of the music industry.
The music album, which is revered in literature, is occasionally deemed meaningless as
well. The death of the album debate also refers to filler songs. ‘Popular music frequently contain
‘filler’, that is, unwanted tracks that pad out albums containing few really “good” songs’
(Keightley, 2004). Filler songs are seen as ‘bad’ songs that lack a certain artistic imprint, belonging
to a commercial logic.

In addition, to reduce the cost of promotion and distribution, music was sold as a
collection in an album of many solo songs or instrumental pieces, forcing artists to
develop several tracks to make their music commercially viable. This practice
invariably led to inclusion of several "not-so-good" songs and/or instrumentals in
an album. This also forced buyers to buy an album in order to get one or two songs
or musical pieces of their choice. (Sen, 2010, p.5)

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It is suggested that the music album is ‘bloated’ with commercial concerns; songs that are not
worth a listen are forced upon the listener and the artist. This is contrasting the notion of the
concept album ‘appearing as the ultimate refusal of the commercial imperatives of the cultural
industries’ (Keightley, 2004; p.389). The concept album in academic and critical music discourse
is identified as a long piece of musical recording that has a large-scale musical structure and
narrative unity that ‘eschewed the commodified three-minute-or-less singles that dominated AM
format radio in favor of longer compositions and extended improvisations (Stimeling , 2011,
p.389). A difference is being created between what a music album might be; some that have songs
that not worth listening to, and on the other hand concept albums of high artistic value countering
cultural industries. Large-scale musical structure and narrative unity that is correlated with high
artistic value lies deep in the essence of the concept album. Musical work made up by different
auditory aspects that form a whole are usually found in artistic music where ‘variety introduces a
certain richness into the structure of a musical work and may constitute one of its values’
(Ingarden, 1986, p.128). The creation of value that surpasses the collective value of each song
points to rather ontological issues concerning the music album. On the other hand, the filler
argument is further elaborated by defending the notion that a la carte options giving listeners the
chance to buy a single song rendered the ‘album concept’ meaningless. ‘For the artist this means
no more room for ‘‘filler’’ material to fill out an album with a few hits. Every song will have to
stand on its own if it is to generate retail sales’ (Burnett & Wikström, 2006, p.582). Commercial
concerns and artistic concerns are in clash; filled albums against concept albums on two sides of
the music album spectrum. However, the areas where filled albums and concept albums
differentiate from each other is rather blurry, thus what constitutes a music album in the essence
is ambiguous.
The death of the album debate needs to be explained regarding both technological and the
social set of conditions according to SST. As much as the debate stems from the introduction of
new technologies; there also is a side to it where social conventions are in stake. The deterministic
view in the death of the album debate suggests that albums will be rendered obsolete by
proliferating digital technologies. However, an old technology, vinyl, is making a comeback on
the contrary. Moreover, the debate is not only concerned about the effects of digital music on the
music album but also the subjective quality of music albums. This points out to the clash of

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technological and social matters, whether music albums are still necessary or not in the
contemporary music industry.

1.3 Research question

The lamented “death of the album” still needs to be further investigated if these concerns reflect a
reality or not. The value given to the music album and consequently to physical formats makes the
involvement of MSS in the picture socially relevant. Moreover, the problem needs to be addressed
as a part of how relatively fresh technologies operate, MSS prove to be important in the media
landscape in means of distributing music, hence scientifically relevant.
Still, as MSS are relatively new, there is a lack of research on the future of the music album,
especially in congruency to the digital era we live in. Research on MSS are related to the field of
computer science, economics or consumer studies. Yet, their impact on the music industry from
the artists’ point of view, especially over the position of the music album today is a gap that needs
to be filled. To understand the debate further, it is necessary to understand what constitutes a music
album, the dying form of art. The difference between filled albums and concept albums is rather
vague, specifications are not given concerning the ontology of music albums in general.
The vinyl perspective that is on the contrary to the foundations of the death of the album
debate is also vital to explore. It is necessary to understand the “revival” of vinyl that happened
mid-2000. Literature on vinyl and its current resurrection is extensive, especially the physical
manifestation of the vinyl record is frequently examined and forms a base to understand how
digital music changes the listening practices. Digital music does not manifest itself physically and
the cultural meaninglessness, the lack of sentimental value is attributed to this very immaterial
quality of digital music. The following sections in the research will focus on the cultural
meaninglessness of digital music, in which consumer behavior towards music on physical formats
and digital music is not the same. However, the options physical and digital music offers, and the
conclusions that are reached in the death of the album literature is not only on the consumer level,
but directly references musicians too. Thus, the value of physical copies, which is intertwined with
the rise of the MSS era should be further examined with a musician perspective. Moreover, as the
literature was being reviewed, questions about the nature of singles arose. The status of the B-side
is also contested in the digital era. ‘A single-only model threatens listener’s musical exploration,
even more so in the era of the digital download where there isn’t at least a “B” side to the 45 rpm

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single’ (Newman, 2014). It might be argued that as digital files do not exert a material B-side to
be filled with a song the B-side might be dying too. A sub question is posed to answer whether it
does or not. The main research question and the sub questions are formulated accordingly:

RQ: How do musicians give meaning to the death of the album in the contemporary music
industry?

SQ1: How do musicians conceptualize the elements of a music album in the contemporary music
industry?

SQ2: How do musicians give meaning to physical formats and digital music in the contemporary
industry?

SQ3: What is the status of the B-side in the digital music era?

We have reached a time where digital music is getting beyond the traditional practices of the record
industry, especially MSS, ‘streaming services took over as the leading revenue growth engine for
the music industry’ (Burnett, 2015, p.293). The presence of digital music and its inevitable rise
needs further academic research to foster a deeper understanding of how it changes the face of the
record industry. A better understanding of how MSS and the music album interact might be
relevant knowledge to be used in the future of designing streaming services for software
developers and the creation and distribution of music albums for artists and music executives. This
research aims to add a perspective to the literature about the death of album and digital music
through a musician point of view. Moreover, it aims to reveal how technology and society mutually
shape each other; how the design of music technologies are affected by a set of social conditions,
and reciprocally, the set of social conditions are shaped by music technology. This research will
use a Social Shaping of Technology (SST) approach to draw a clearer picture on the death of the
album debate, by thematically analyzing interviews with ten Dutch musicians. The SST approach
suits this research because the death of the album debate stems from not only from technological
conditions, such as the introduction of MSS, but also how these technologies shape the music

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industry and the meanings given to the music album. Thus, the social and technological dimensions
of the death of the album debate will be covered not separately, but in relation to each other.
The second chapter of this research will present the theoretical framework firstly by
explaining the history of the music album and how it was socially shaped, to better understand its
current position in the digitally driven contemporary music industry. The next chapter will present
the methodology of the research, the properties of the sample and how the analysis was executed.
The fourth chapter will present the results of the analysis and the main themes that were identified
to answer the posed research questions in relation to the theoretical framework. The final chapter
will be a conclusion section summarizing the main points and findings of the research and with
recommendations for future research.

2. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

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The death of the album argument needs to be explored in order to reveal how new technologies
interact with existing ones. The music industry is heavily dependent on technology, yet as a part
of cultural industries is shaped by society as well. Though there is ample research on digital music
and its impact on the music industry, literature on the death of the album with a musician’s point
of view is minimal. To understand how musicians give meaning to the position of the music album
in the digital era, there are two important aspects to analyze.
First, the history of the music album must be examined to understand how it is
conceptualized. This requires an extensive understanding of sound reproduction and the music
industry, in strong relation to the set of social conditions that were effective on its birth and today.
Most research in the field is interested either in how the record industry operated, or solely in the
technological advancements in sound recording and reproduction processes (Morton, 2000,
Patmore, 2009; Welch & Burt 1994). However, the additional impact of MSS on sound carriers
and the social shaping of the music album are unexplored.
Secondly, to understand what “kills” the music album, it is necessary to understand the
“revival” of vinyl that happened in mid-2000’s (Bartmanski & Woodward, 2013; Hayes, 2006;
Buskirk, 2007, the format that delivered the music album originally. The extensive literature on
vinyl and its resurrection, especially the material culture of the vinyl record, forms a base to
understand how the immaterial culture of music streaming services change the listening practices
in contrast to physical formats.
This research uses the Social Shaping of Technology (SST) approach to explain the alleged
death of the album. SST is a large body of research, directly concerned with changing technology
and how this change is shaped among a set of social conditions. ‘Changing technology will always
be only one factor among many other: political, cultural and economic’ (Mackenzie & Wajcman,
1986). SST suggests that certain design choices are shaped socially. Kranakis (1997) interprets
these set of social conditions as environments, in which the design is shaped:

Individuals take stock of their environments in order to decide which strategies are
most likely to bring success (...) This does not mean that environments are one
dimensional or all-knowable. An individual responds according to his or her
perceptions of what are the most significant elements and characteristics of the

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 environment, and these perceptions may in tur be shaped by a host of factors
(including personal psychology). (p.100)

She interprets three dimensions to study this environment; intellectual, economic and
organizational (p. 101). The intellectual environment refers to what is popular and respected
within the intellectual community of the person, who adopts a technology, to be understood and
accepted by his peers, which this brings the difference in the design and use of technologies.
(p.101). The economic environment refers to the commercial expectations and the financial
structure, in which the technology is made use of and the organizational structure refers to different
trade-offs and compromises with regard to technical control over the design process, financial
control, and control over the supply of labor (ibid). These three dimensions have an intertwined
relationship, where each dimension effects the other respectively, and affects the design of the
technology. ‘The technical details for the designs embodied tradeoffs among these elements, and
specific choices often undercut other goals or influenced other elements of the design’ (Kranakis,
1997, P.100).
SST is in strange contrast to technological determinism where the changes in technologies
are credited to either advancement in scientific knowledge or to an inner logic; and are heavily
influential on society. SST suggests that a set of social conditions is required to be added up next
to the sole technical aspects that change technologies because ‘rather than adapting a technology
it might be shaped’ (Mackenzie & Wajcman, 1986, p.5). Adoption of technology is a crucial
element in both explaining technological determinism and SST. SST suggests that technologies do
not emerge out of scientific epiphanies but from a gradual process where existing technologies are
developed and shaped. Existing technology provides grounds for the techniques and devices that
are to be modified, and is a resource for creative use in new circumstances and settings. Mackenzie
& Wajcman (1986) assert: ‘Even what we might with some justification want to call revolutions
in technology often turn out to have been long in the making’ (p.9). This long making lies parallel
to the process of adoption. Adoption is not a fast-forward process but rather a long one, for
technologies are shaped by slowly stepping on the shoulders giants. ‘Very often, technologies
show increasing returns to adoption- the more they are adopted the more they are improved, and
the more attractive they become (p. 106). Technological determinism eliminates adoption, and
considers technology exerting its internal logic over the society. SST suggests that the history and

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development of technologies are path dependent, which means that some past events continue to
exercise their influences (Mackenzie & Wajcman, 1986). In its basic sense certain technologies
have certain affordances and designs that get imprinted in their development that cannot easily be
reversed. Mackenzie and Wajcman (1986) illustrate path dependency with an example from the
history of personal computing, the QWERTY keyboard which was designed to prevent keys
ordering them in relation to how frequently they were typed. The design is virtually useless after
the introduction of electronic keyboards, which do not feature any mechanical keys to get stuck:
‘but proposals for alternate layouts are useless: the triumph of QWERTY has become in practice
irreversible’ (p.20). Path dependency illustrates how certain technologies can get stuck in past
conventions that do not offer any practical advantage in the day, but are still in use due to mutually
agreed procedures. Moreover, the path dependency on certain technologies shows how society
adopted technologies, focused on certain aspects and nipped several in the bud. The QWERTY
keyboard in essence has no prominent advantage over any other configuration. However, as there
was a consensus among its use, the electronic keyboards design was contingent on it: ‘which of
two or more technologies eventually succeed is not determined by their intrinsic characteristics
alone, but also by their histories of adoption’ (Mackenzie & Wajcman, 1986; p.19). The analysis
of consequent sequences of adoption reveals how society shapes technologies. Technology as
contested before is not a matter of the sole quality of the product, but how it is utilized and
embraced by the society; as technology and society are mutually constitutive.
The music industry itself can be considered as a result of social shaping. The recording of
music is a process, in which a very old form of culture, the performance of music is captured with
a variety of technological processes to create a new form of culture; ‘that is part of an industry, so
commercial concerns also form a part of recording practice’ (Morton, 2000, p.13). Thus, the future
of the record industry should not be foretold by simply looking at technologies in a vacuum.
Deterministic reasoning is commonly found in literature related to music technology and the music
industry as new confrontations happen. The music industry is addressed as conservative, and
whenever necessary uses new instruments and technologies to do old things in a more efficient
and pocket friendly way (Frith, 1987). Using new things to do old things as a confrontation raises
many questions in the music industry. Whenever a new technology is introduced, as in the case of
digital music, the conservative music industry starts to question its future; mostly in regard to
matters of finance and aesthetics.

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 Technological determinism in the pre-recorded music industry is not a new phenomenon
and dates back as far as to the introduction of radio in the early 20’s. Radio still functioning, as a
prominent medium to listen to music, is a major industry that has an important influence on culture
(Liebowitz, 2004). But radio as usual as it seems today has been one of the technological
scapegoats of the music industry decades before digital music was introduced. The modern view
on radio is documented as a contribution to the sales of pre-recorded music. Liebowitz (2004) uses
the term exposure effect to explain this phenomenon: ’the exposure effect occurs when someone
makes a purchase they would not have made except for the fact that they were able to sample the
product in another venue (listening to a copy or on the radio)’ (p.97). Though radio today is seen
as a positive force in music sales, it was not welcomed in the 20’s. Record sales fell by 90% in the
U.S between 1921 and 1933, 1921 being the year radio was introduced (p.106). Though the global
financial depression of the 20’s is credited as having a strong impact on the figures Liebowitz
(2004) suggests that the introduction or radio could be held responsible for the massive decline in
record sales. The worries caused in the music industry that record sales would be impaired by radio
were prominent:

Record producers, recording agents, and the artists, moreover, did not disagree,
believing that records played on the radio would hurt their record sales. These
views became entrenched in 1922, when the secretary of commerce sanctioned
large stations for using records and required stations to disclose whether their
programs were transcribed. (Leblebici et al. 1991, p.349)

The exact opposite of exposure effect was considered to be happening; ‘the substitution effect, as
its name implies, occurs when someone forgoes the purchase of the original (record) because they
have access to an alternative (the copy or in this case, radio play) (Liebowitz, 2004, p96). Yet, the
deterministic notion of radio hurting record sales as a substitute left itself to the embracement and
joint use of radio in the music industry, after the adoption of radio was completed. The
revolutionary idea of being able to listen to music without purchasing any record ceased to be
perceived as a threat and as new business models were introduced to the industry, radio was taken
advantage of a medium that could be used to support the market by exposure effect (Liebowitz,
2004).

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 The introduction of radio to the music industry reveals that technologies do not operate and
develop through an internal logic that can be pre-determined, but rather in a mutual relationship
with the set of social conditions that are prevalent and the people who are involved in their usage.
As the industry was confronted by a new technology, worries in similar manner to the death of the
album debate arose. The economic environment was set on the harsh conditions of the Great
Depression. The music industry leaning its back on the record sales developed a reaction to radio,
record producers and artists took measures against the radio, and the cultural environment led the
state to sanction radio stations. However, the pre-recorded music industry and radio stations started
operating together, a shift in the organizational environment happened. The deterministic view that
radio would destroy music turned out to be wrong; the industry adopted the technologies and used
them according to their own needs. The substitution effect that was expected left itself to exposure.
Deterministic views fail to take into consideration how social groups can take advantage of
different technologies. It can be seen in the radio example that the relationship between different
ways of listening to music are shaped both technologically and culturally.
The death of the album debate rests on technological determinism and implies that the
impact of new technologies (in this case digital music) will cause a paradigm shift in the industry
similar to radio. Yet, the death of the album debate cannot simply be overpassed by labelling it as
technological determinism in reaction to the introduction of digital music. As adoption usually
consist of developing existing technologies and requires time, the history of the music album
should be examined from the beginning to properly understand how it was socially shaped.

2.1 The birth of an industry

According to The Oxford Dictionary of Music (Kennedy & Bourne, 2004) sound recording
is: ‘the storage of sound through mechanical or electronic means, so that it may be heard, copied,
analyzed, or otherwise processed’ (p.690). The history of sound reproduction, hence recording and
listening to music goes back to the invention of the Phonograph. Patmore (2009) gives an insight
of how the earliest sound recording and reproduction techniques emerged with Thomas Edison’s
1877 invention of the ‘Phonograph’. The first design of the phonograph featured a revolving
cylinder covered with silver foil, which was etched by a needle vibrated by sound waves. Yet,
Edison would not be interested in his invention until he had seen Alexander Graham Bell’s
Graphophone, which used wax instead of silver around the revolving cylinder and showed a

15
potential of commercial exploitation (Patmore, 2009). Edison’s main intention for the Phonograph
was for it to be used as a dictating machine rather than playing music. Moreover, the technical
properties of the Phonograph were not suitable for the use in the cultural industries. Even though
the phonographs made by ‘The Edison Speaking Phonograph Company’ were used in fairground
and entertainment arcades to play music: ‘the key weakness of the early phonograph machines was
that the cylinders they used could not be easily duplicated’ (Patmore, 2009; p.120). Though some
small systems were developed to catch the performance of musicians simultaneously on multiple
wax cylinders, essentially each song had to be performed over and over again to be etched on
different waxes. ‘Copies could only be made by performers repeating their act many times’ (ibid).
The main problem was the difficulty of creating copies; not only the fact that each wax cylinder
was different from each other in content, recording sessions were time consuming. This might be
credited to the interests of the relevant social groups that were involved in the use of the
Phonograph, as SST suggests. As Edison’s Phonograph was intended to be used as a dictating
machine in the first place, the need for copying was obsolete since every voice message is a unique
piece compared to a musical song, which is structured. The intended use of the invention set by
the relevant social group (in this case The Edison Speaking Phonograph Company) was partially
blocking the path for copying music, since it was not a path Edison was considering take. However,
another inventor would overcome this problem; Emile Berliner.
Emile Berliner was also fascinated by Bell’s work and started working on his own design
of a sound recorder. Wile (1990) documented the phases of Berliner’s invention of the
Gramophone. The Gramophone in its simplest terms is really close to the Phonograph; it records
and plays back sound. Yet, the major difference of the Gramophone reveals itself in the medium
that is played: instead of a wax cylinder, the Gramophone uses a medium in the shape of a “disc”.
Moreover, these discs were developed to be copied easily and offer a better sound quality (Wile,
1990). Berliner’s research would result in two massive differences: firstly, instead of a cylinder,
Berliner placed the etched grooves on a flat surface (Wile, 2009). The reason why Berliner uses a
flat surface instead of a cylinder is not clear, yet seems to be an arbitrary choice. However, his
decision of using discs instead of cylinders will find more importance in the future of the record
industry; as opposed to a cylinder a disc has sides, which will be explained in further in this
research. Secondly, with the help of his assistant Louis Rosenthal, Berliner found a way to copy
these discs by using copper as the original, and zinc discs for the copies (Wile, 1990). This

16
eliminated the problem of repeating the performances over and over again, recorded music had
now a chance to be copied by mechanical means, hence the birth of the record industry. Berliner,
though he was an entrepreneur with heavy financial concerns, thought of his Gramophone
sentimentally. He saw it as a device that would be used to hear the voices of deceased relatives,
the utterances of great leaders but most importantly whole evenings would be spent at home
flicking through collections of records (Wile, 1990). It is certain that the different expectations of
Berliner and Edison put the Gramophone and the Phonograph in different trajectories. The
Gramophone was path dependent on Edison’s invention, as its point of departure was using the
wax cylinder and the basic notion of etching grooves by a needle. However, Berliner’s vision that
it could be used for recording and reproducing music as a cultural medium was the most important
step in the birth of the music industry: ‘Prominent singers, speakers, or performers, may derive an
income from royalties on the sale of their Phonautograms, and valuable plates may be printed and
registered to protect against unauthorized publication’ (1888 as cited in Wile, 1990, p.18).
Berliner’s intention to use the Gramophone as a device that could bring musicians royalties
paved the way for the record industry and the disc format: the disc based Gramophone became an
agreed upon standard in the pre-recorded music industry in early 1900’s (Patmore, 2009). The
adoption of the Gramophone by the public was a process heavily managed by Berliner and his
enterprise ‘The Gramophone Company’. By recording and distributing music all around the world
ranging from the Americas to the Far East, an industry was created which rendered the product:
’not only as a toy, but the basis of an international business’ (Patmore, 2009, p122).
The battle between Edison and Berliner, which eventually led to the birth of the pre-
recorded music industry, is fruitful to conceptualize how technologies are adopted and designs are
path dependent. In the initial development stage, Berliner had to adapt Edison’s sound
reproduction technique, using a needle to etch grooves on the surface of a medium. Whilst Berliner
adopted the technology to improve the sound quality problem, he made use of other materials than
wax, and gave the medium a disc shape. Berliner’s invention was path dependent, yet resulted in
a different morphology for the medium that was used for playback. The more experience gained
with a technology, the more it improves; then it is further adapted, which results in more
improvement to be made (Mackenzie & Wajcman, 1986). Arthur (1989) suggests that some
technologies might become obsolete in time, as less people prefer using it and the industry can
become “locked-in” to a technological path that is hard to leave. The pre-recorded music industry

17
as early as 1900’s became locked-in with the disc format, which might be credited to Berliner’s
enthusiasm: ‘(…) Under different “in- significant events” - unexpected successes in the
performance of prototypes, whims of early developers, political circumstances - a different
technology might achieve sufficient adoption and improvement to come to dominate (Arthur,
1989, p.116). Today, it is certainly difficult to assess on which of the technologies for sound
reproduction was significantly better, but it might be argued that the heavy promotion of the
Gramophone might be one of the in-significant events that created its success. Arthur (1989)
asserts: ‘historical “small events” are not averaged away and 'forgotten' by the dynamics - they
may decide the outcome’ (p.117). The outcome of the developments in the first 30 years of the
pre-recorded music industry would be a path of adoption that was locked-in to disc formats for the
next 70 years. The history of the music album is contingent on the evolution of the early disc
format, namely the 78 rpm, in which the industry became locked-in and relied upon for a long
time.

2.1.2 The 78 era and new formats

Shuker (2006) defines formats as one of the most important parts of popular music that are
‘providing empirical data for historical studies of market cycles, shifting consumer tastes and
changing opportunities for musicians’ (p.252). Dowd (2005) brings a more specific definition and
uses the term technological formats to refer to products that ‘record firms exchange with
consumers, and consequently, provide crucial income for record firms’ (p. 5).
Though several speeds were tried for the 7-inch records that dominated late 1800’s and
early 1900’s (Welch & Burt, 1994), by the 1930’s the major record companies of the era agreed
upon the use of the 78 revolution per minute (rpm) record (Dowd, 2005). Records sold in the 78
era were actually “single” songs, since the 78 rpm disc did not allow any music more than 3-4
minutes. Moreover, most of the early 78 rpm records did only feature music on one side, double-
sided records appeared later in the industry (Gronow, 1983), which means in fact a large number
of songs were actually the single song on early records. A small detail in the history of 78 rpm’s,
but a major event for the music album also happened in this very era. The first music albums were
compiled and sold by putting several 7-inch records in books, similar to the reasoning behind
photograph albums, hence the album. (Dowd, 2005; Evans, 2015). This archaic version of the
music album can be considered operating in a similar manner to those of iTunes Store and MSS;

18
songs that formed an album could be ‘cherry picked’ and listened individually, by simply pulling
them out of their respective pockets. Yet, it was not possible to speak of the large musical structure
and narrative unity of the modern music album in the early 20th century; this would have to wait
until a format with longer playback time would emerge. The 78 era holds a significant importance
in the history of the music industry. Dowd (2005) documents that the emphasis of the Big Three
on 78 rpm singles led to the creation of Variety charts that documented the best-selling 78 discs
(p.13).
The fact that the industry was single oriented in the 78 era is actually worth to consider in
relation to the death of the album debate. The fear that the music industry will go single oriented
because of digital music resonates with the 78 era. As mentioned previously in this research, the
deterministic approach towards the introduction of radio forced record companies to request a ban
for their 7-inch singles to be played on radio stations (Liebowitz, 2004). A bold promotional move
by Capitol, where employees would self-deliver free singles to radio disc-jockeys for promotion
actually bore fruitful results. Numerous consumers and jukebox owners who heard the songs on
the radio and bought the record afterwards are credited to make Capitol one of the major companies
(Dowd, 2005). The fact that Capitol wanted to stimulate sales was an important step for the
industry to be locked-in disc formats. This points to human intervention in the course of
technologies, that deviates the development from a path focused on sole technological advantages
but rather an adopted one. Rather than taking sharp turns and moving according to the assumption
of the substitution effect, the impact of radio and the strategies record firms took, led the industry
to be locked-in to the 78 rpm format for some more time with the joint use of radio. Though the
single centered system based on radio promotion of the early 40’s was relying on 78’s, some
inherent problems with the records would leave the adopters/developers in need to perfect the disc
format; heavily contingent on the economic, political and cultural conditions of the era.
The first problem with 78 rpm records were related to the material resource of the records.
A hard wax based compound “shellac” was used both in the record and in military industry up
until the war. This points out to the economic environment of the pre-recorded music industry in
war time. Due to the lack of materials caused by the ongoing World War II, shellac was limited
and some producers turned to vinyl to press their 78 rpm records. (Bartmanski & Woodward, 2015;
Dowd, 2005). Moreover, Gramophone records were not selling well and could not be produced in
the end of the war (Patmore, 2009, p.128). As financial concerns in the economic environment

19
affect technological change, also states shaped technological projects often on a vast scale; ‘war
and its preparation have probably been on a par with economic considerations as factors in the
history of technology’ (Mackenzie & Wajcman, 1986, p.15). The need to find materials other than
shellac was the first reason for vinyl to be accepted as the main material for discs.
The second problem with shellac records was regarding two technological shortcomings
of the format. According to Langlois & Robertson (1992) the need for greater sound fidelity and
easy use was a concern among music enthusiasts even before World War II started, because shellac
was poor in sound quality and: ‘longer classical works required several disks and were frequently
disrupted, sometimes in mid movement’ (p. 304), as the earlier form of the musical album was a
compilation of multiple 7-inches. To overcome these problems, one of the major companies,
Columbia started working on a design (which would become the Long Play record) that would
increase the playing time and reduce the wear on the records (Langlois & Robertson, 1992, p.304).
Though vinyl was the obvious candidate to reduce the wear on records and raise the sound quality,
the playback length was something that needed more research to be conducted. As Columbia did
not want to switch to magnetic tapes, for the fact that the transition would cost million dollars
(Osborne, 2014, p. 68) the company adopted the disc format for their new technology. Economic
reasoning led the pre-recorded music industry to be locked-in in the disc format: path dependency
of technology made a past event continue to exercise its influence (Mackenzie & Wajcman, 1986,
p.19). The choice of the disc format was socially shaped; it was in congruence to the needs of the
public and record companies. However, the product that was developed by Columbia came along
with another problem that had to be resolved: the playback length.
The solution for playback length was rather arbitrary. After a survey on the repertoire of
classical music, Ed Wallerstein the president of Columbia Records decided that 17 minutes on
each side of the record would be enough to fit 90% of classical pieces on a two-sided disk.
(Langlois & Robertson, 1992, p.304). Wallerstein’s decision is worth considering for the fact that
it was shaped through an analysis of classical music; not only because classical music needed
longer playback time, but also had an average length that determined the LP’s running length. It
would be a deterministic view to assume that Wallerstein would decide on 2000 minutes of
playback time per side if %90 of the classical music repertoire was at those extremes. Yet, the fact
that the decided running length of the LP was dependent on the norms of classical music also
contributes to the idea, that the process of design is intertwined with the cultural norms that are

20
accepted in society. By the fall of 1948, Columbia would introduce the 33 rpm 12-inch LP (Long
Play) record, which would be highly successful among classical music listeners, for its
uninterrupted listening experience and robustness. Columbia’s attempts to make the LP a standard
reinforced the density of the network and further encouraged consumers and forced competing
firms to adapt the format too; RCA for example lost $4.5 million on records between June 1948
and January 1950 when it began to issue its own LP’s (Langlois & Robertson, 1992, p.304).
Still the LP would not reach its peak of sales until late 50’s, as the industry was locked-in
in the singles that were the norm (Morton, 2000). However, the technical improvements that have
been made by the LP had to be combined with the cheaper packaging of the 7-inch singles to fill
the gap of high fidelity singles. The move was made by RCA, six months later after the LP format,
the 45 rpm 7-inch single took its place in the market next to the 78’s among single formats (p.39).
This points out to the trade-off between the economic and cultural dimensions. The gap for high
quality singles was seen as a business opportunity, because the public was still showing interest to
singles as it was the convention of that era. The economic and intellectual environments shaped
the design and uses of the new formats. RCA would use the format for joint releases by their signed
artists, in the form of the archaic music album containing several discs, yet the music industry was
not aware of the capabilities offered by the LP format. Apart from classical music, the industry
would still rely on creating a string of three minute songs that were acceptable by the listeners;
‘Thus the first generation of popular albums contained either songs by a single artist, a collection
of specialized ethnic or season songs, dance music, or even thee songs of the different big bands
of the thirties and forties’ (Ennis, 1992, p.133). Even though the LP format was adapted, the single
oriented nature of the music industry locked them in a path that was not easy to deviate from. The
LP had to mature through the 50’s where it roughly represented 19% of the total record sales into
the 60’s in which the sales of the format constituted almost 80 percent of the total expenditure on
records (Keightley, 2004, p.378).

2.1.3 The economic and intellectual diversion of formats in the 50’s

In the early 50’s the music industry decided to use the two new formats (LP and 45 rpm) in
accordance to the musical genres and the relevant social group they wanted to attract. ‘Record
firms revised their product conception concerning the format of their product while retaining their
old assessment concerning its uses’ (Dowd, 2005, p.19). It was decided by the major companies

21
that the LP was mainly to be used in classical music and the 45 rpm disc would be used for pop
music (Patmore, 2009). Radio was another contributor to the diversion created between the LP and
the 45 rpm; as AM radio stations were not playing full length LP’s but singles, the exploitation
system confined LP’s into an ample repertoire of classical music, where pop music LP’s were
mainly heard only in record stores (Ennis, 1992, p.135). The decision of the major companies
might prematurely be credited to the playback lengths the formats offered. However, the
organization of the promotion of records shed further light on how the diversion of the formats
was socially shaped. Not only were the technological aspects regarding the running length key
factors to this separation, but also the audiences they attracted:

RCA-Victor struggled briefly to establish its invention, the 45 rpm, as a medium

for classical music, it instead became identified with teen pop singles. Conversely,
the Columbia-invented LP became the medium for albums of music aimed at adult
listeners, whether classical, jazz, Broadway musical scores, mood music, or the
theme albums of adult pop vocalists like Sinatra. (Keightley, 2004, p. 377)

Due to the diversion in the audiences, the record companies had to adapt strategies to embed their
formats into the market. The SST approach strictly defends the notion that technological systems
have a dimension of being economic enterprises as well: ‘(...) if they are involved in market
competition then technical change is forced on them’ (Mackenzie & Wajcman, 1986, p.12). At
this stage of the pre-recorded music industry, record companies made operational changes
regarding their pop divisions, separating the production and marketing of singles from that of
albums (Keightley, 2004, p.377). This strategic move is a path the industry is still dependent on in
the digital era. Jarynowski & Buda (2013) suggest that the release of a music album by the major
companies today is usually premiered with a single, in which the success of the released single
determines the emphasis the label will put on the album: ‘When it turns into a failed single hit,
given album falls from the album list and the promotion stops’ (p.6). As in 1957, Billboard
Magazine dedicated a chart to the LP’s to complement the hit singles charts (Dowd, 2005, p.19)
the LP format became an entity on its own. The death of the album debate actually overlooks the
relationship (formed due to the separation) between the single and the music album, how they are
used jointly in the music industry. However, the commonalities between the 50’s and mid 2010’s

22
go further than the joint promotional use of the music album and the single. The intellectual value
given to LP’s and singles also start to diverge.
At this stage, the industry started to notice the intellectual potential held by the LP.
Keightley (2004) by using sources written in 50’s documents how a high/low discourse began to
emerge when the two formats were contemplated in the pre-recorded music industry. In contrast
to the faddish, unstable and ephemeral singles market: ‘the album market represented at once an
economic foundation for the record industry and a site for the valuing of ‘orthodox’ traditions that
resist novelty and ‘mindless’ consumption’ (p. 382). The value given to the LP, though it was
based on the financial concerns of the pre-recorded music industry, sheds light on how social
groups can adopt a technology and give meanings to them, as representing novelty or instability.
Though several formats have been introduced such as the EP, which featured a running length in
between the two major formats and 3 or 4 songs on each side (Ennis, 1992, p.135), the major
formats etched their marks on the industry, as both are still in use today.
As the LP had found its way into the pre-recorded music industry and became adopted as
the main format for long-play the conditions for the music album to emerge were ready.

2.2 The LP and the concept album

The introduction of the LP is one of the most crucial technological advancements among the
factors that contributed to the birth of the music album. The LP came with two sides, each offering
an uninterrupted playback time of approximately 20 minutes. For the first time musicians outside
the disciplines of classical and jazz music, those who were part of popular music had found a
different form of artistic expression, where they could write songs longer than the 3 or 4 minutes
single formats allowed. ‘The creative opportunities offered by the LP albums combined with the
technological advances in communication of the products of the industry provided popular culture
with the unique opportunity for the creation and general, mass distribution of rock music
simultaneously with the events which were influencing that music’ (Harris, 1993, p.11). As years
passed by with compiling songs on LP’s, which became a synonym for album, the music industry
slowly learned how to use the medium.
The interpretative flexibility of a technology refers to the ways in which several different
users of the technology conceptualize it and make use of according to their own needs (Mackenzie
& Wajcman, 1986). Theorizing the relationship between society and technology requires a deeper

23
understanding of the social groups that are involved, as technology advances according to the
needs of the relevant social groups; actors who mention and think of the technology in the same
way (Bijker, 2009). Interpretative flexibility lies in the core of how technologies are adopted and
conceptualized by relevant social groups because they form the base of the quasi-arbitrary
decisions that shape the future and the use of relevant technologies. Though popular artists such
as Frank Sinatra and notable jazz artists, Miles Davis and Charlie Parker were pioneers of the LP
using them to create moods and themes and making artistic statements (Bartmanski & Woodward,
2015; Frith, 1986), the most important events regarding the future of the music album were
happening in the rock scene. With the efforts of many artist, from the likes of The Beach Boys
(Granata, 2003), Frank Zappa (Borders, 2001), Willie Nelson (Stimeling, 2011) and The Beatles
(Moore, 1996), the LP was used as an instrument in its own sense.
The rock mythology has a regular debate over which LP was the first concept album, The
Beach Boys’ Pet sounds (1966) or The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967).
The meaning of a concept album itself is ambiguous in many ways and hard to define: ‘The idea
of the concept album is not well defined and has ontological problems behind it. Letts (2005) in
her research over the music band Radiohead and their use of concept albums points out that the
term is not well defined and has different meanings such as; ‘a collection of songs organized
around one central theme’, ‘an LP intended to be integrated on a set theme’, ‘a practice of tying a
series of songs together by using a recurring melodic theme and a program’ and most satisfactorily
‘as the level at which the music, production, cover art, and so on come together as a complete work
of art’ (p. 9). Though these definitions are made after the introduction of other formats than the LP
it is necessary to look at how Columbia’s format played a role in, at least, establishing certain
aspects of what a music album means today.
Firstly The Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds is necessary to examine as it was released prior to Sgt.
Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Granata (2003) states that even though ‘key albums by the
Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, The Beatles and many artists were released in 1966, Pet sounds was
one of the milestones of the ‘long play album as a viable medium for the rock genre’ (p.16). Brian
Wilson of the Beach Boys expresses that eventually he would like to see longer singles – so that
the songs could be more meaningful (p.58). Brian Wilson’s attempt to create meaning through
longer singles is actually worth considering when the ontology of a music album is questioned. In
essence a single is a 3 or 4 minute song that stands on its own, that has no connection or relation

24
to any other song that can create a narrative. Pop music and narrative are not concepts that usually
come together: ‘popular music (…) tends to manifest itself in three- to four-minute songs, often
intended as dance accompaniments, which describe essentially static rather than kinetic cameos,
vignettes, or states of mind’ (Nicholls, 2007, p.297). Granata (2003) notes that the album had a
certain theme about adolescent relationships and a concept to it, yet Wilson did not intentionally
wanted the album to a concept album: ‘In all honesty I was not aware at any point that we were
writing an album that had a beginning and an end to it. In fact I had nothing to do with choosing
the order of the songs in the order they’re in’ (p.88). This statement still gives a notion on what
the importance of the order of songs are on an album as they form the narrative through the album.
Nicholls (2007) asserts: ‘narrative theory to popular music truly comes into its own in relation to
the analysis of larger units, whether these be extended tracks or, more particularly, albums
containing a large number of individual songs that are in some way related to each other.’ (p. 308).
Pet Sounds was actually a flop in the U.S market, which might partially be credited to the set of
social conditions of the era. Granata (2003) asserts:

With few exceptions, most rock ‘n’ roll albums of the day were “assembled” by
adding filler tunes to a handful of the artist’s hit single. Radio’s AOR (album
oriented rock) format didn’t yet exist, and rock groups were slow to follow the
impressive concept model perfected by traditional pop artists such as Frank Sinatra
and Ella Fitzgerald. (p. 89)

Though Brian Wilson wanted used longer playback time to create meaningful artistic statements
in contrast to the kinetic narratives found in singles, the ordering of songs to create a greater
meaning and be praised as a concept would wait to be established by The Beatles. The latter would
prove to be more competent in using the LP: ‘kinetic narratives (as opposed to static cameos)
became an increasingly important feature of Beatles albums, most notably on Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely
Hearts Club Band.’ (Nicholls, 2007, p.308).
Sgt. Pepper’s (1967) is almost universally accepted as the first concept album (Letts, 2005,
p.10). Sgt. Peppers was an album in which the songs were ordered according to the sides of the
album (Moore, 1997) Due to its physical nature, a vinyl disc has two sides, A and B. After each
side is finished playing, it is required to flip the disc and put the respective side on the turntable.

25
The duty to do the track ordering in fact wasn’t the Beatles’ but their producer George Martin’s
design. As he was fearing listeners would not care about the second side of the LP ‘Martin’s
rationale for the running order makes it clear that ‘Side One’ generally carried greater weight than
‘Side Two’ (Moore, 1997, p. 24). Some points might be drawn parallel to the death of the album
debate at this point. Martin’s decision to put heavier songs on the A-side were socially shaped,
because he feared that listeners would not listen to the B-side. However, the sides that created this
problem of balance were the result of the two-sided nature of disc formats. It is evident that the
use of the LP was technologically and socially shaped, and the narrative of the album was shaped
according to these dimensions.
The path that Berliner opened and that the LP was dependent on another aspect that paved
the way to strengthen the concept of an album: the artwork. The Beatles were also innovative with
their use of the sleeve of the LP: beginning with their Sergeant Pepper LP of 1967, the cover art
was used to help convey the album’s concept (Macan, 1997, p.58). Compared to other formats,
which might include CD’s or Cassettes, the large sleeve of the LP is pleasant to view. The
packaging and its huge display of the artwork is still an important factor for buyers of vinyl; ‘as it
is usually not possible to listen to these records before purchasing, visual information and metadata
provide especially important filters for ‘digging’ through record collections and separating the
good from the bad (Ahmed, 2012, p.1807). Artwork actually becomes a part of the narrative of the
album, alongside the audio content the artwork also has a symbiotic relationship with the music
album. Sgt. Peppers’ famous album cover and the badges in the sleeve were considered as a
complementing factor to the overall listening experience of the album, as well as the order and
contents of its musical tracks (Letts, 2005, p11). This raises questions about the ontology of a
music album, whether the album exist solely in the domain of sound or other factors are evident
in its being. Nicholls (2007) suggests that a complex narrative discourse can be rendered through
multiple media in popular music: ‘including lyrics, music, prose, and art work’ (p.301). Thus, it
can be argued that The Beatles’ use of narrative was actually quite intertwined with the LP format
and the large artwork it offered, and the practice still is in use today. Music enthusiasts celebrate
records’ aesthetics and the large space they offer for album covers in particular (Yochim &
Biddinger, 2008). It might be argued that if Berliner had not introduced the disc system, today
album artwork could have been much different; for instance similar to the design of a soda can
which is imposed by the shape of the wax-cylinder. “If” this cylindrical shape was in use we might

26
have been arguing how the artwork could have been used in a continuous fashion, as it would not
be confined to four sides and corners.
The LP, with its long playback time designed for classical music and the large space for
cover art it offers stands out to be the most important format that led to the birth of the music
album. As it can be seen from the literature on 60’s, most of the times the “LP” is used as a
synonym for the music album whether a concept album or not. But is a music album defined as a
piece of narrative work that is pressed on an LP, with 20 minutes of playback on each side? This
notion is actually technologically determinist as today many albums are pressed on CD’s or not
even released on a physical format but only digital. What are the specifications for a music album?
To answer this one must look at what today an album means, since the LP is not the only (and not
the most common) format that is around nowadays and an album can be released on multiple
formats.

2.3 The music album in the digital era

To understand what constitutes an album it might be fruitful to examine what properties a musical
release has to have in order to be counted as one today.
The Official Chart Company in the U.K is responsible for setting rules on chart eligibilities.
In their 2013 edition of eligibility rules (The Official Chart Company, 2013) the specifications for
albums are in fact separated for digital and physical releases. A physical album in the U.K to be
eligible to enter a chart has to run: ‘Over 25 minutes or (has to include) more than four songs where
the format does not qualify as a “Maxi” single or remix single as defined by singles eligibility
rules’ (The Official Chart Company, 2013). The definition for a digital album is actually the same.
Even though it is stated in the document that musicians and labels have the freedom to package
and market their products the way they want, the rules they set are the main criterion for album
eligibility (p. 2). The rule for an album to include four or more songs is actually problematic.
Wouldn’t a recording with a ‘single’ song that uses a large musical structure running for 40 minutes
qualify as a music album? The ontological problem of what a format is becomes more evident
when The Official Chart Company’s single eligibility rules are examined.
According to the Official Chart Company (The Official Chart Company 2015) a single is
defined as either a physical or digital release that does not exceed 15 minutes. Yet, the separation
of digital singles into three shed further light on how the definition of formats are in ambiguity. A

27
digital single with three songs becomes a ‘bundled single’ where singles that consist of only one
song are called as “digital audio tracks” that either can be streamed or legally purchased (p. 4).
The naming of formats are actually path dependent, yet their properties are completely different.
The 7-inch single in actuality is no single and accompanied by the B-side, due to its physical nature
that has two sides. The bundled single in the digital realm is actually a reflection of the 7-inch,
with complementary tunes to the title song. However, as digital files don’t exist materially and do
not have a B-side, it is needed to indicate that the title song is not alone but accompanied. These
songs are not considered as B-sides but only as a part of the bundle. As the impact of digital music
caused the death of the album debates to flourish, it might be reasonable and equally deterministic
to suggest that the B-side is dead. The status of the B-side is also contested in the digital era, it is
suggested that; ‘A single-only model threatens listener’s musical exploration, even more so in the
era of the digital download where there isn’t at least a “B” side to the 45 rpm single (Newman,
2014). It might be argued that as digital files do not exert a B-side to be filled with a song, digital
singles will usually take the form of digital audio tracks rather than bundled singles. As charting
these digital singles does not require a B-side, at this point it is necessary to pose a new sub-
question:

SQ3: What is the status of the B-side in the digital music era?

The status of the B-side in the digital era needs more focus, as by its name indicates it should not
be visible in the digital realm. The separation of digital and physical is evident, yet some
ontological questions about the nature of the single can be raised. Why does the term “single” refer
to the same product, even though the specifications on digital and physical formats are different?
The fact that a single should not exceed 15 minutes is actually exerted by the 7-inch, as it cannot
run more than 15 minutes. The path dependency of the technology forces the non-physical format
to be defined in symmetry to its physical format version. Because the single is culturally relevant
and has been the backbone of the record industry prior to the LP (Dowd, 2005; Keightley, 2004)
and today still holds an important position in music marketing (Dewenter, 2012). The single is
here to stay, but in different shapes. At this point, it is necessary to consider the relationship
between physical copies and digital music and how society shapes their future

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2.3.1 Vinyl comeback
The long gone LP format is making a comeback, the original format that an album was made for
(Yochim & Biddinger, 2008). Vinyl is getting more and more popular (Hayes, 2006; Buskirk,
2007) and some retailers announced that they would be adding vinyl records to their catalogues
(Tesco To Sell, 2015). To make a claim on the death of the album, one first has to understand why
certain consumers are returning to vinyl and how this return is intertwined with the advent of
digital music.
Bartmanski and Woodward’s (2015) extensive research on the culture of vinyl in electronic
music gives hints of how vinyl has never died in the electronic music scene with the extensive use
of 45 rpm ‘single’ discs by the DJ’s in the 90’s. Moreover, the book deals with the ‘material culture
of the vinyl record’ (p.viii), how the visual and tactile aspects of the records lead also to aesthetic
consumption among listeners (p.26). They argue that the comeback of vinyl is not the sole result
of ‘purists’ wanting to return to the roots but with the aid of ‘the young cohorts that grew up with
laptops and iPod’s also play a significant self-conscious role’ (p.xxi). This leads us to a more
critical approach to the comeback of vinyl, since from a SST point of view it is not only the vinyl
that formed a base for its revival, but the intertwined relationship with digital technologies formed
a consciousness in the consumers to make it popular again. A branch of cultural industries the
music industry is being partly driven and shaped by the demand of the audiences.
The given reasons why people returned to listening to vinyl records may be useful to shed
light on how the effect of music streaming services should be analyzed. The material qualities of
the vinyl record stands as one of the most important aspects of the idiosyncrasies of the format.
The packaging of the vinyl and its huge display of the artwork is an important factor for listeners
Ahmed (2012) in his ethnographic study of DJ’s uncovers certain points of ‘crate digging’, the
activity of seeking old records, that is strongly associated with vinyl. Though the research is about
the discovery of new music through crate digging it also mentions some points about the
materiality of vinyl such as the importance of sides: ‘forced to buy the ‘whole record’, may also
promote creativity by encouraging DJs to listen to new tracks, for example B-sides’ (Ahmed, 2012,
p.1811).
Magaudda (2011) argues that the departure from material to non-material produces a
change in the subjective value that is attached to music data. The interviews in the research give
information on how consumers relate to the objects they listen to music through. The interviews

29
on vinyl show how people compare and contrast it to digital technologies, it is argued that ‘the
changes that affected music consumption when digital music activities began to pass through the
computer screen have generated a sense of loss of meaning and cultural value around the musical
experience (Magaudda, 2011, p.29). The article covers mostly how people create value and
meanings with musical objects, though it does not include streaming, still some crucial points
about digital music are given.
In his research among British teenagers, David Hayes (2006) observes that records are seen
to be more authentic in contrast to digital music due to their materiality. It can be seen that the
interviewees romanticize the records, and put a substantial amount of value into them:

According to their narratives, four distinct characteristics contributed significantly

to the development of their affective relation with vinyl: the appeal of LP jackets,
custodianship of records, engagement in the listening experience (including
participatory aspects of the turntable), and the quest for elusive vinyl recordings
(Hayes, 2006, p.52)

Throughout the article, because of the given reasons, it is argued that the tendency towards vinyl
could be considered as a politicized act, for listening to music through vinyl gives chances to listen
to music excluded from the industry narrative and history. Young vinyl listeners mostly repeated
the fact that vinyl was more authentic compared to digital technologies that are meaningless.
This ‘cultural meaninglessness’, one of the most important factors in the comeback of the
vinyl, eliminates the notion of ‘slow listening‘ that vinyl offers in contrast to the ‘fast-forward’
mode of contemporary culture (Bartmanski & Woodward, 2015). Consumer behavior towards
music on physical formats and digital music is not the same. The differences are both on the level
of listening and production, thus the position of the music album, which is was constructed in
congruency to digital formats in the prevalent MSS era should be further examined.
What a music album is gets even harder to describe in the digital era where physical formats
and digital music differ so much in nature. The music album forms an interesting example to the
relationship between technology and society. The constant shape shifting of the music album needs
to be further examined as it is not clear what constitutes one. Moreover, the set of social conditions
in which the music album exists in the current digital era must be examined to reach a conclusion

30
whether it is dead or not. The death of the album debate suggests that the music album will lose
its importance because people do not want to listen to albums anymore. Yet, it is not clear what an
album is; the many traits found in an album as multiple songs are either revered as a part of
narrative unity, or condemned as fillers.
The music album is the result of many historical events, starting with Edison’s invention
of the phonograph. The phonograph is further adapted by Berliner and put into a disc form, which
results in two sides to be used for recording. With the shaping of the economical and organizational
environment due to World War II, a new material vinyl is introduced to the music industry, which
leads to the development of the LP. The running length offered by the LP is used by numerous
artists to create long narrative unities on the two sides of the disc, which results in the music album.
The evolution of the music is heavily dependent not only on technological developments, but also
on economic, political and cultural set of conditions. The present study aims to reveal how
musicians give meaning to the position of the music album in the prevalent music industry under
the scope of the death of the album debate. Literature on recorded music and music industry is
extensive, yet the relationship between musical carriers and how they are socially shaped is a
relatively unexplored territory, more specifically if the opinions of musicians on death of the
album, and consecutively musical carriers and formats are to be investigated.
This research is focused on the death of the album debate. SST suggests that the
development and uses of technologies should not only be explained by looking at the sole technical
dimensions; but economic, intellectual and organizational environments that shape these
technologies (Kranakis, 1997). The birth of the music album is a suitable example to explore how
these dimensions shaped it. The birth of the music album was contingent on the early developments
in technology, such as the introduction of sound recording and reproducing machines that paved
way for the pre-recorded music industry (Patmore, 2009). The industry operating in an economic
environment with high financial concerns, decided to stick on the disc-formats and new
technologies such as the LP and 45 rpm were developed accordingly (Dowd, 2005) and the
industry got locked-in them. As the single was the more popular in the cultural environment the
music industry was single oriented, however with the proliferation of the LP the organizational
structure was built upon the joint use of singles and LP’s (Keightley, 2004). At this stage of the
industry the affordances of the LP format were started to be used creatively by musicians such as
The Beatles and The Beach Boys to create music albums that are similar to those of today (Granata,

31
2003; Moore, 1997). The history of the music album shows that it is both culturally and
technologically shaped.

3. METHODOLOGY
Research on digital music with a death of the album approach tend to fall in the field of
consumer studies. Yet, these researches are either too focused on the impact of file sharing and the
consumer relationship (Waldfogel, 2010; Aguiar & Martens, 2013); or on MSS and their position
in the media market and how they raise their share (Burnett, 2015, Wlömert & Papies, 2015).
Moreover, how they change the industry by the way in which they are utilized by music consumers
(Von Wiegandt, 2013). Digital music and its relationship with the musician is researched in ‘death
of the album’ related literature; how distribution mechanisms and market dynamics underwent a
change and the power started to shift from record labels to the musician (Sen, 2010), how musical
carriers and their affordances shaped concept albums pre-digital music (Decker, 2013) are
observed. However, the meanings musicians give to different formats and the position of the music
album today in the industry is largely overlooked. The technologically deterministic nature of the
death of the album argument usually puts the musician in context as an ineffective agent; yet as
the creator of the lamented product that is the revered music album, their opinions on its position
in the digital era are vital. Musicians form one of the most prominent relevant social groups that
are involved in the debate, since they are the ones who produce the material; whose choices most

32
directly determine what the music album is, why and how it is made, and in which ways it is
utilized.

3.1 Method of data collection

A small sample of ten bands was interviewed in order to find answers to the research questions
with non-standardized, face to face to face interviews. With non-standardized interviews the
interviewers have a list of topics on which they want the respondents to talk about, whilst having
the option to phrase questions as they wish (Gilbert, 2008). This gave the researcher/interviewer
the opportunity to ask the respondents what seemed sensible in the course of the interview;
whatever might contribute to the research, alongside topics that were predetermined. Face to face
interviews can be more flexible and can extract more information (Gilbert, 2008). Face to face
Interviews were chosen as the method to gather information on the subject, since a questionnaire
would not suffice to gather the personal insight and unique experiences of the interviewees, more
importantly in such a vast topic where opinions are virtually unlimited. Probing questions were
used to delve into the matters and mine answers in a solid way since probes are ‘encouraging
respondents to give an answer and as full a response as the format allows’ (Gilbert, 2008, p251).
With the help of probing questions it was sought the respondents to communicate underlying
attitudes and beliefs, instead of giving superficial or easy answers that would jeopardize the quality
of the research. The researcher maximized his efforts to lead the discussion with a medium level
moderation (as it is a non-standardized interview), so that the respondents would have space to
think outside the framing of the questions with the additional probe questions.

3.2 The Sample

A sample of ten Dutch bands with members between the age 16 and 34 were interviewed to find
an answer to the research questions. Crouch & McKenzie (2006) argue that the work of linking
interviews and continuous analysis on individual experiences and social context require small
sample sizes; ‘so that all the emerging material can be kept in the researcher’s mind as a totality
under investigation at all stages of the research’ (p.495). Recruitment of Dutch musicians, held a
substantial impact in the data collection not only because the musicians were under the same set
of social conditions determined by their political and geographical territory, but also were
members of music industry that was operating since early 50’s.

33
The Netherlands is a country with interests and involvement in the global music scene that dates
back to the beginning of the 50’s where ‘genres like beat, rock and pop, punk and new wave as
well as soul, disco, funk and later house, were taken up by local musicians and in several occasions
develop into distinct local styles’ (Rutten, 1996, p.4). The volume of the Dutch national repertoire
was on a rise in the early 90’s prior to the digital revolution in music. Netherlands had its fair share
of declining profits in its music industry. The music industry shrunk 1.3% in the year 2014
compared to 2013, where only slightly more than a half of the sales were of physical formats, a
decrease of 8.9% to be compensated with a rise of 17.2% in MSS generated (Jaarcifers Audio,
2014). Though streaming is getting more and more popular in the Netherlands which is congruent
to the global rise of MSS in general, the sales of vinyl are also on the rise; the Netherlands is the
5th largest vinyl market in the world where 14.1 million records were sold in the year 2014 (IFPI,
2015). The Netherlands still has several record pressing plants and hosts the largest vinyl record
convention in the world (Doran, 2016).
Musicians were contacted over Facebook and through the e-mail addresses provided on
their official websites. Half of the required interviewees were recruited through snowball
sampling. Snowball sampling is a method for obtaining samples of numerically small groups by
contacting a member from the population and asking them further to give the researcher more
respondents with the similar required characteristics, when there is no adequate list to use as a
sampling frame (Gilbert, 2008). Each new interviewee was recruited through a message with a
reference from the previous interviewee. This also resulted in a more homogenous sample, for
most of the musicians belong to the same genre or are part of the same scene, and their
conceptualization of the subject is not expected to yield results that do not form a coherent pattern
at all. ‘Snowball sampling can only be used when the target sample members are involved in some
kind of network with others who share the characteristic of interest (Gilbert, 2008, p.180). This
was an advantage for the research as the uses of technology are heavily relevant on the social
groups that are involved (Bijker, 2009).
There were several differences between the ten interviewed musician/bands. Five of the
bands have not released an album, and two were waiting for their LP’s to be pressed. A distinction
was drawn between the seven bands who were already pressed or were in the waiting line to be
pressed on vinyl, and the three who were not. The criterion of vinyl and non-vinyl bands has been
chosen to reveal how the two different groups conceptualized themes relevant to technological

34
formats in the prevalent digital era. The whole sample consisted of musicians that identified
themselves as the member of a rock band in the Dutch alternative music scene; all bands -with
minor differences had - the most common rock band line-up of- a vocalist, guitarist, bassist and
a drummer; and had taken part in small and large scale festival line-up’s in the Netherlands. None
of them were signed to a major label. The composition of interviewees had different band members
with different roles. In none of the interviews were all band members present. One band was
present with three band members, two bands with two band members, and the rest of the interview
sessions were carried out with a single member of the band. With seven interviewees, guitarists
were the most common band members in the sample. Three bands were comprised of students
under 18, one band had a member with a part-time job, and the rest of the interviewees were full
time musicians; with one interviewee also working as an instrument repairer and two other
employed as booking agents.

3.3 Data collection

The interviews were conducted in places ranging from café’s to studios places where the musicians
would mostly feel comfortable. Fifteen people were interviewed, all interviews were given by a
single member of the bands with the exception of three bands that gave the interview with an
additional bandmate, which resulted in two interviewees, and one band with three bandmates as
interviewees for the session. The interviews were conducted between the 31st of March and the
17th of May. The interviews were recorded using a sound recording device, later to be transcribed
on an online transcription service. The interview transcripts were coded in Adobe Reader.

3.4 Analysis
Transcribed interviews were analyzed using thematic analysis. Thematic analysis is a method used
in qualitative research design for identifying, analyzing and reporting themes that are found in the
data (Braun & Clarke, 2008). With the help of thematic analysis the researcher was able to segment
the data and reassemble it with the final aim of getting clear results that would help in answering
the research questions. The thematic analysis was executed at a latent level to reveal how the
interviewees conceptualized the related topics. According to Braun & Clarke (2008) ‘thematic

35
analysis at the latent level goes beyond the semantic content of the data, and starts to identify or
examine the underlying ideas, assumptions and conceptualizations’ (p.84). This approach gave a
clearer understanding of the relationship between the meaning of the fragments and the larger
patterns that were formed.
Alongside analysis at a latent level the researcher based his thematic analysis more
theoretically as this approach gives the chance to code for quite specific research questions (Braun
& Clarke, 2006, p.84). As this research employs the SST approach, which focuses on certain
aspects of how technologies shape and are shaped by society, theoretical thematic analysis seems
feasible to focus on these certain aspects of the data. The music industry, as it was presented in the
earlier sections of the research has varying views on how technological advancements will affect
the industry. Much of the concepts relating to SST and the music industry in relation to the death
of album debate are compiled from a massive body of research, and need to be organized according
to the research questions. According to Braun & Clarke (2006) though the data that is described is
not considered to be rich with a theoretical thematic analysis, it is assumed to provide a more
detailed analysis of some aspects of the data.
The thematic analysis of the interview transcripts started with multiple readings of the data.
The ‘repeated reading’ activity of the data in the beginning of the research involves scrutinizing
the data in an active way with the aim of searching for meanings patterns and so on (Braun &
Clarke, 2006). Several small notes were taken at this point and the ideas on how the codes were
going to be named became less blurry. After the initial reading the open coding process started by
comparing the first interview within itself. As thematic analysis is made to gain an insight on how
codes are found recurring in a text and how they would be of use to answer the research questions
by assessing relationships with and within each other, constant comparison method (CCM) was
used to give guidance the coding process. CCM reveals interpretations of phenomena, assesses
categories or forms connections between them by assigning segments (Boeije, 2002). Each
interview was coded and compared within itself. CCM starts at the open coding process of analysis
by conducting comparison within a single interview to determine what has been exactly said in
passages, then further compared to spot the commonalities and differences between them (Boeije,
2002, p.395). The open coding process and constant comparison generated a number of codes
assessed to fragments of each interview that were later to be compared within their own groups
and new data that was collected. Sensitizing concepts have been drawn out from the literature to

36
guide the coding process. ‘In qualitative research the relevant or “sampleable” units are often seen
as theoretically defined’ (Silverman, 2011, p.390). As an example, fragments that were giving
information on whether the single of a band was released digitally without a B-side were coded as
“the death of B-side”, based on the result loss of the loss of sides that are unique to formats such
as cassette and vinyl (Newman, 2014). After each interview was compared within itself, not only
for the conceptualization of the data and checking the meanings of fragments, but also for checking
spelling mistakes or deleting/adding codes, the open coding process ended and the axial coding
process started.
Axial coding refers to the organization of codes between the dominant and less important
ones and form connections between them (Boeije, 2010, p.109). Categories started developing
through the axial coding process and while the analysis was still ongoing interviews of the vinyl
bands were started to be compared within each other to investigate if different interviewees were
thinking similarly or differently in accordance to the related topics. Fragments assigned with the
same code were compared between different interviews given by different band/musicians within
the same group, first to be started with vinyl bands. Boeije (2010) defines the aim of comparison
between interviews within the same group to further develop the conceptualization of the subject
and to discover the combination of codes, which are assessed. This is to result ‘in an extension of
the amount of codes (the code tree) until no more codes are needed to cover all the various, relevant
themes contained in the interviews’ (p. 309). The code “album as a whole” which indicated that
the album was perceived as a single piece had to be segmented as “album as a whole (sonic)”
which referred to the state of unity of a music album when only the sound content in isolation was
mentioned. When album artwork was referred as complementary to the overall music album this
was coded as “album as a whole (artwork)”. The axial coding stage continued with the comparison
of vinyl musicians with different experiences, to further investigate how meanings were attributed
to each code. ‘The aim of comparing the interviews of persons with a specific experience with the
interviews of others who are involved but are not undergoing the experience themselves is to
complete the picture already obtained and to enrich the information on the first group (Boeije,
2002, p.399). The question ‘does being pressed on vinyl create a difference in the way the band is
perceived by the music community?’ was coded as ‘vinyl respect’ in the instances where
respondent referred to vinyl being a source of respect among the community. The further the
interviews were compared it turned out that ‘vinyl respect’ had actually two different dimensions

37
to it. Being pressed on vinyl made the artists feel a sense of accomplishment towards him or
herself, in which the artist felt the medium was an important aspect of his or her musical integrity.
This was coded as ‘vinyl accomplishment’. On the other hand, musicians responded the same
question by referring to the feelings they had towards the vinyl pressings of other artists. Whenever
the musicians stated that being pressed on vinyl was an indicator of the effort and enthusiasm
bands/musicians put into their work this was coded as ‘vinyl respect effort’. As the comparison
continued it was revealed that not only vinyl was a medium that meanings were attached by
musicians, but also CD’s Cassette’s and digital music. Thus, relevant codes in relation to formats
were categorized under MATERIALITY/IMMATERIALITY, in which the ‘vinyl respect’ sub-
category comprised of ‘vinyl respect effort’ and ‘vinyl accomplishment’ were put under. Other
subcategories of MATERIALITY/IMMATERIALITY included ‘cassette alternative’, ‘CD
inferior’ and ‘digital’
The axial coding process ended when no new codes were generated after the comparison
of the newly conducted interview transcripts. Salient codes were raised to categories and generated
codes were collected under relevant categories, namely THE POSITION OF THE ALBUM,
WHAT MAKES AN ALBUM?, MATERIALITY/IMMATERIALITY, EP/SINGLE,
RELEVANT SOCIAL GROUP, ECONOMIC ENVIRONMENT PROMOTION ,
MULTIPLATFORM. As the preliminary categorization was completed, selective coding started.
Selective coding, which is also called theoretical coding refers to looking for connection
between the categories in order to make sense of what is happening in the research. (Boeije, 2010).
The categories that were composed through the axial coding process has become clearer in the
selective coding phase; by further segmenting, merging or deleting codes within categories,
followed by forming and naming the main categories and locating subcategories in the code tree.
The subcategory of ‘vinyl respect’ was put under the newly formed physical carriers category,
which belonged to the main category of TECHNOLOGICAL FORMATS. Technological
formats are what record firm’s exchange with consumers and form the main basis for their income
(Dowd, 2005). The main categories that were formed were labelled as FORMAT ONTOLOGY,
TECHNOLOGICAL FORMATS, RELEVANT SOCIAL GROUPS, ALBUM ECONOMIC,
DIGITAL ECONOMIC, PROMOTIONAL USE and CONJOINT USE.
The SST approach to explain how technology and the set of social conditions mutually
shape each other was adopted to conceptualize the relationship of the main categories in order to

38
answer the posed research questions in relation to the findings: ‘certain categories are adopted as
theoretical concepts, since they will most certainly become a part of the theoretical model’ (Boejie,
2010, p.115). SST suggests that the change in the development and use of technologies are socially
shaped and depend a range of factors: political, cultural and economic (Mackenzie & Wajcman,
1986). Kranakis (1997) suggest that the set of social conditions that create the environment shapes
the strategies in which a technology is utilized and developed. The environment is examined
through three dimensions: the intellectual, economic and organizational environment (p. 101).
Categories have been linked and ordered according to these dimensions to form the theoretical
model of the present research to explain the patterns that were found in the data. All categories
were put under these theoretical concepts, with the only exception of RELEVANT SOCIAL
GROUPS; the only category that had links to each and every category and the theoretical concepts.
This category was selected as the core category by the researcher due to several reasons. A core
category is ‘central, meaning that a lot of other categories are linked to it, appears frequently in
the data and can be formulated in a more abstract way, which can then result in the possible
application to other fields of research’ (Boejie, 2010, p.116). RELEVANT SOCIAL GROUPS
was an overarching theme found in the analysis that was integrated in all categories.
A theme is used to capture the important aspects of the data that represents a degree of
patterned responses and meanings that are found in the data set, in relation to the research question
(Braun & Clarke, 2006). Three main themes have been identified through the selective coding
process in relation to the research focus:

(1) ALBUM AS MAIN OUTPUT: The music album as the main form of creative
output in the Dutch alternative music scene.
(2) FORMAT HIERARCHY: Album centered utilization of the EP and Single in the
Dutch alternative music scene.
(3) CONJOINT USE: Conjoint use of physical formats and MSS.

The first theme will be used to answer the RQ in the first section of the results (4.1). As the second
theme also stems from the meanings given to the music album as the main output, it will be
introduced as a subsection (4.1.2) to answer SQ1. The third theme will be used to answer how
musicians give meaning to physical formats and digital music in the contemporary music industry,
namely SQ2. This theme will be introduced under the second section (4.2) of the results part. As

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SQ3 is about the position of the B-sides in the contemporary music industry, which relevant to
physical formats and digital music, the results will be introduced as a subsection (4.2.1) further in
this thesis. The selective coding and thematic analysis ended with the defined themes that were
extracted as results of the analysis.

4. RESULTS
Three themes were identified via thematic analysis. The main research question of ‘How do
musicians give meaning to the death of the album in the digitally driven industry?’ was asked in
order to find out the position of the music album in the contemporary music industry. The first
theme in accordance to the research question was identified as ‘the music album as the main form
of creative output in the Dutch alternative music scene’.

4.1 The music album as the main output

The death of the album debate suggests that albums will lose their importance and the music
industry will go single oriented. The interviewed musicians, who all belonged to the alternative
music scene, all agreed that there was a great amount of difference between pop music and the
alternative music scene. Interpretative flexibility suggests that different social groups might give
different meanings to different technologies (Mackenzie & Wajcman, 1986). The interviews
exposed (this interpretative flexibility) that the intellectual environment in the Dutch alternative
scene had its own conception of what the position of the music album was in the digital era:

I think there are different levels. If you are talking about us and the kind of scene
we are in. The album is very much alive. (...) More into the popular music. Then I
don’t know. I don’t think a lot of people listen to a full record by. (Arnoud, 29,
guitarist)

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The scene forms a very important base to understand why it is ‘very much’ alive. Among the
primary reasons on why the album was considered alive was the fact that it was a tradition. Letts
(2005) suggests that after the impact of The Beatles with their use of the concept album, the
industry started to consider albums: ‘not as loosely organized collection radio singles but rather
artistic utterances’ (p.21). The notion that albums are products of artistry can be traced back to the
relevant music scene as one interviewee reflects upon the question of why people still released
albums:

It depends you know. Also in what kind of music you play or what kind of scene
you're moving in. I'm really active in the band scene. I’m in a band myself and it is
still really common to create a record. But I think in dance music or house music
or that kind of music it is more a thing like (impersonates) we create a single and
we plug it. It goes out in the air. (Xander, 26, guitarist)

The single in the dance scene has a different position in contrast to the alternative music scene.
Bartmanski & Woodward (2015) note that the single format remained central in all divisions of
electronic music as the main medium (p.22). This reveals that certain relevant social groups, such
as electronic dance music or rock music might have different approaches towards formats. This is
congruent to the SST approach that in different intellectual environments, which refers to what is
popular and respected within the intellectual community (Kranakis, 1997), different paths of
adoptions occur. Singles are central to electronic music and the music album stands out as the main
output in the Dutch alternative music scene. The notion that the music album is intellectually
important in the scene was underlined when contrasted with pop music. The interviewed musicians
accepted the fact that the album is not as popular as it used to be due to the changes in the industry.
Albums sell less also after the introduction of MSS (Hiller & Walter, 2015), and some credibility
might be given to the death of album debate as it also stems from less selling albums. Yet, this
prevents from seeing the big picture and excludes relevant social groups:

Pop music used to be all about albums. But it is not really anymore. And it is also
because of radio playability, and just people knowing songs from the radio or from
a video clip that they saw. It is not really about the album anymore when it comes

41
 to pop music. But I think there’s lots of artists still around, that really care for
albums and want people to listen to their music. (Jasper, 18, vocalist and guitarist)

The difference on the perception of the music album between pop music and the musical
genre/scene the musicians put themselves in becomes more evident when looked through the
intellectual perspective. This is contrary to the technologically determinist view of the death of
the album debate. It is suggested that ‘there are a lot artists’, a relevant social group, which still
wants to release albums. Moreover, the fact that some musicians ‘care’ for albums is a sentimental
statement that finds a meaning when looked also through the economic dimension that contributes
to the position of the music album. As Nick (18, drummer) mentioned: ‘Well its art for a musician
to come around that’s always the story. So if you put out an album it is going to be hard to make
money out of it. So that shouldn’t be...’ His fellow band member Ruben (18, bassist) followed
up, ‘… a reason not to put out an album. We are not really looking to make a lot of money at this
point. We just want to make this album’.
The album is considered the main output, not only as a form of release in the industry,
but also as the main form of artistic output for the musician to come around. In fact, five bands
stated that they had no commercial expectations from an album, and were doing it for the sake of
releasing one. Other bands put another aspect to the economic dimension of the music album.
Though limits of this research were confined to the pre-recorded music market, it became evident
that the album had much to do with the live performances the musicians gave. Literature on the
death of the album debate does not mention the necessity of releasing albums to get live shows.
However, it was identified through the analysis that the music album and live performances had
a mutual relationship between them in the Dutch alternative music scene. Dewenter et al. (2012)
document that in the competitive digital market ticket sales for live performances and the record
market has a positive effect on each other; and the traditional model of a separated record and
tour management becomes highly unprofitable when legal record sales are unimportant (p.13).
Another study by Nguyen et al. (2014) also supports this idea by claiming that MSS driven digital
music also contributes to the sales of concert tickets of national and international artists (p. 325).
The results resonate with these findings as musicians stated that the album was the fuel for live
performances and vice versa:

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 Yeah of course you wanna sell the record, but the most important thing to release a
record, or why to release a record is to promote it to get shows. And at the shows
you promote your record (…) with the record you can get exposure and with the
exposure you get asked to play at several venues or festivals. And at the festival or
venue you promote the record and that’s where you sell the record. (Xander)

At this point the question regarding the death of the album debate might be reconsidered. Would
not singles be sufficient for the promotion of live performances, hence the band? The answer is
strictly related to the organizational environment in music marketing. King (2009) suggest that
touring kick-starts all the other marketing segments such as the pre-release press that have a
contribution to an musicians overall success and is focused on gathering attention for a record in
through media. The organizational environment refers to the organizational structure and networks
in which the design is adapted to. Dutch media seems to be indifferent to the single and EP formats
released by a band in contrast to an album, as noted by Bram (26, drummer): ‘You don't get a lot
of promotion with singles.’ His fellow band member Arnoud remarked:

Yeah if you want to get serious press and serious press of course leads to better
tours. Because in the end it’s all connected together […] so if you've made an album
you get serious press and if you make an EP some people will write about, it but
it’s not that important.

For a band to get press attention in the Dutch alternative scene the main way is to release an
album, not a single or an EP. The intellectual environment is focused on albums, they are highly
praised. Moreover, trading-off with the intellectual environment, if a bands promotional system
needs to operate properly, a band’s existence does not make any sense without the presence of an
album in their discography. The organizational structure of the music industry, more specifically
the press media pushes musicians to release albums. Without an album, a band is not able to get
live shows or press attention because the trade-off between the intellectual, organizational and
economic environments imply that a band is not worth writing about, is not worth to listen and
promote:

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 The only way to say interesting things for an audience is to produce these
things.(…) When you put out a record you can put out a tour, you can make new t-
shirts, bags whatever. You can make new merchandise. I think that's an important
aspect you know to keep re-inventing yourself as a band that's a very practical
sense. (Bram)

Yet, the points given about the music album’s position in the Dutch alternative music scene needs
to be backed-up with not only how musicians place the album at the core of economic growth,
but also their musical growth. Interviewed musicians carry the view that an album is a chance for
growth and re-inventing the band. It is not possible to determine whether the chicken or egg came
first; whether the music album is the result of high artistic aspirations of these musicians, or
whether the traditional view that a music album is a sophisticated work of art led them to be
locked-in a path where the album is the main output. Still bands give meaning to the music album
as the propeller of their artistic output, the main source of artistic growth for the band

If you're a musician and you're in a band and you put time into it as much as we do
it’s the natural thing to do because that’s why you’re here. Making an album after
an album after an album. As soon as it is done you’re already working on the songs
for the next one. (Alex, 27, guitarist)

The points underlined by the musicians, about the (still relevant) position of the album, in the
digital era stands strongly opposed to the technologically determinist view that the music album
would be wiped off the scene. It looks as if the death of the album debate was not only removing
a format from the music industry, but also was undermining the novelty of a music album as an
artistic ‘medium”, which became the core product for virtually every aspect of a bands/musicians
existence. Firstly, the album has strong roots in the intellectual environment of musicians in the
Dutch alternative scene. The musicians explicitly expressed that they belonged to a certain social
group that was articulated as the Dutch band, indie, underground or alternative scene; and in this
social group, the album was a revered product. The importance of the album in the relevant
intellectual environment might be credited to the rock tradition of successful albums; these
musicians conceptualize the album as the standard form of musical output that is the core of their

44
careers. Five out of ten from the interviewed musicians explicitly expressed that they knew their
album would not sell as albums did in the past, but for the sake of having this revered product they
still felt the urge to produce one, as an accomplishment. The organizational structure of the music
press, according to musicians, is also focused on albums; the press does not take EP’s and singles
as serious as music albums. The fact that music albums sell less is actually at the core of the death
of album debate and a strong point. Rather than succumbing to this idea and ceasing to produce
music albums musicians put it in the core of their promotional structure. As research on the
relationship between concert sales and the impact of digital music indicates that live shows and
record sales have a positive correlation between them (Dewenter, 2012; Nguyen et al. 2012),
confirming this musicians of the Dutch alternative scene rely on live shows to sell their records,
and produce their records to get these shows.
This indicates that technology shapes society; the outcomes of the digital era force
musicians to pursue different organizational structures for promotion. It is premature to reach a
conclusion based on a small sample of Dutch musicians that the album is still alive. Yet, the results
indicate that among this relatively small social group the album is pretty much alive and vibrant
as it used to be. The notion that the album is the main purpose for the existence of a band is a result
of the intellectual environment. This idea is so strong that the economic environment, in which
albums do not sell well, forces musicians to find alternate ways to generate an income; live shows.
The organizational environment is shaped according to the other two the latter environments;
resonating with previous studies (Dewenter, 2012), albums and live shows have an exposure effect
between them. However, the way society shapes technology and makes according to their own
needs is not evident in these examples; the way how formats are used to shape the industry by
giving meanings to them must be further examined.
The next section will present the results found according to the second research question
on how musicians conceptualize the elements of a music album in the contemporary music
industry; which yielded results that point to the relationship between the single, EP and album trio,
and their hierarchal structure.

4.1.2 The album feel

As it was illustrated in the theoretical chapter of this thesis, defining what a music album is
problematic. Let alone what a music album is, certain aspects regarding the eligibility rules in

45
charts for records to be considered as an album and single are also ambiguous. The responses of
musicians indicate that in the digital era this ambiguity becomes more evident. Moreover, the
results indicate that rather than technical specifications, the meaning given to formats create a
hierarchy between them, where the music album is the main product and other formats are released
to complement it.
Regarding the technical specifications of an album, how many songs one should contain
and what the running length should be was an aspect musicians could vaguely describe. However,
they were able to give a simpler definition of what constituted an album. Though most of the
musicians could give a number for the running length and for the number of songs that a record
should have to be eligible to be called an album, a feeling of an album was the main determinant

It has to be longer than 15 minutes maybe… or maybe not if you are a Grindcore
band. All your songs are one minute when you are (…) I actually think you can call
everything an album. If you say it is an album. Unless it is one song. That’s not
really an album. (Mitchell, 23, drummer)

The interviewee specifies that an album has to be more than one song, which is a single. However,
he fails to give any specified running length. Another musician refers to the arbitrary decision of
calling a product album:

I do not know if there is an official definition. If it feels like an album then it is.
(…) For me it is more the number of songs I think. But of course Melt Banana….
if you have 40 songs that last 10 seconds. (Martijn 30, guitarist)

This musician explicitly refers to the album feel, if a record feels as an album it should be referred
to as such. It is noteworthy to mention the band the interviewee refers to, Melt Banana, another
band that is categorized under the genre of Grindcore. Grindcore is a genre that utilizes extreme
speed, often featuring extremely short songs (Kahn-Harris, 2006, p.4).The example of Grindcore
given by two different interviewees indicates that the number of songs and the running length of
an album is contingent on the musical genre; hence, the intellectual environment the musician
produces the music album.

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 Interviewees gave several indicators for the album feel. The results indicate that narrative
indeed is an important aspect of the album feel. Nicholls (2007) states that in fact popular music
uses narrative to create meaning in music albums amply, and narrative theory can also be applied
to the analysis of pop music.

If you are writing an album, at least for me, I have to put a theme to it. So it will
feel like the songs are connected in a way. And if I just put random songs about
things that don’t have (anything) to do with each other, for me, the album
wouldn’t feel right. Because it would feel like a mixtape than an album. (Jasper)

The notion that songs should be connected and should form a greater meaning than the sum of
each song is one of the most important dimensions that interviewees gave as an answer for what
constituted a music album. Yet, the level at which point this narrative should be was not clearly
defined by the interviewees. Nicholl’s (2007) gives five levels of narrative, which can operate in
pop music; The lowest ‘at which there is no story per se in the lyrics, and as a consequence there
is no element of narrative discourse in the musical setting’ and the highest as complex narrative
discourse ‘rendered through multiple media, including lyrics, music, prose, and art work.’ (p. 301).
Bram has uttered several of these indicators:

We really tried to give it a head and tail (…) but not the songs in general but the
album and it is actually, in our album the songs dissolve into each other. So yeah
every song directly after each other. So that helped for coherence. That’s pretty
extreme though but that definitely helps but also about tension build up.

Removing the silence between tracks and making them dissolve to each other is a trick used since
Zappa and The Beatles (Moore, 1996; Borders, 2001), and since those times is considered as an
indicator for unity in the album. Yet, as the interviewee indicates this kind of narrative is extreme,
falling at the last level of Nicholls’ (2007) levels of narrative. Albums at such a level of narrative
can be considered as concept albums, though as stated by the band such applications are extreme.
Moreover, other interviewees indicated that the album feel could be achieved at lower levels of
narratives too without forming a complex narrative that arches through the whole album. All

47
musicians agreed that there should have been either a theme or a story, in which songs could be
connected to each other: ‘We wanted to have... (Thinks) A right line or something, a story.
Everything has to fit in each other and it has to have some sort of a climax in the album’ (Mitchell).
The desire to have a line, which climaxes indicates that there is a coherent storyline in the album,
which requires songs to be ordered in a way that they create an intelligible narrative of what the
band wants to express in their record. As it is evident in the history of pop music with albums such
as Sgt. Pepper’s or Zappa’s concept albums that the order of songs form an important part in the
creation of an album (Moore, 1996; Borders, 2001) This also indicates that the order of songs are
equally important in relation the climax or tension points the musicians referred to:

Sometimes a song needs a bit more context which explains the intro and the
interlude, of course putting pieces before the songs isn't the only way. The structure
of the album also talks in a way that music can do. Where do you put the heavy
songs? Where do you put the light songs? How do you start? (Alex)

The ordering of songs stands out to be an important aspect of the album feel, so much that
musicians expressed their desire for the album to be heard in one course if it was possible. This
is actually one of the main points of the death of the album debate, that listeners will stop listening
to the entire album and prefer single songs (Von Wiegandt, 2013; Newman, 2014; Sen, 2010;
Burnett, 2015). Interviewees have similar concerns to those of George Martin’s when he ordered
songs according to the listening practices of music consumers (Moore, 1997, p. 24). Musicians
stated that they deliberately tried to keep the album interesting to attract listeners:

First of all we made the interlude and the intro, we made to make the context of the
album. You begin the album with all these sounds and we tried to make sure that
people who were listening to our album without us starting immediately with our
voices, just settled in the right mental position to accept the rest of the album. (Alex)

This means that the album is not seen only as collection of bundled songs, but rather a larger
musical work that earns a meaning through its narrative context and coherence. Accepting the
rest of the album is important. Larger musical structure reveals itself when listened in a whole, as

48
a pioneer of music albums Frank Zappa felt the urge to put a note in his album Lumpy Gravy,
giving directions to hear the album in a whole (Borders, 2001). This kind of strategies might be
considered as a complementing factor to the album feel. The results indicate that the interviewees
do not have a fixed notion of what an album means; there might be different configurations that
depend on the genre, but most importantly, an album should “feel” as an album in the essence.
Musicians rather than giving technical specifications, take an ontological stance on what an album
should be. Letts (2005) argues that in fact every album is to some extent a cohesive piece, simply
because sequencing tracks instantly grants a chance to ‘turn the running order into a mark of
cohesion, so that the overall experience is greater than the sum of its parts.’ (p.10). However,
interviewees suggest that coherence between songs should be protected, if necessary taking
measures as far as removing songs from the album:

It gets harder if you keep adding songs. That’s just some more chance it’s going to
be sh*tty. In the last album I think we only scrapped one song. We recorded and
listened and it was not the same as the others. It sounded too happy, you know. It
is a pretty bleak album and one happy song. (Martijn)

Songs that do not fit the narrative structure as shown in the fragment with “happy” in the context
of “pretty bleak” are removed to maintain the coherence in an album, to tell the story the way the
band intends to. The music album, at least in the Dutch alternative music scene, requires to have
a certain coherence to be counted as one. A younger vocalist/guitarist points out to the
specifications made by Spotify similar to that of The Official Chart Company:

The other record (on Spotify) is for me an EP. Because it is not really coherent and
I didn’t want to release it as a full album. But Spotify calls what a single and an
album is. More than 4 songs is an album to Spotify. Less than 4 songs is a single.
So actually I wanted to call it an ep or a single, but Spotify didn't want it. (Jasper)

At this point the importance of coherence comes into play once again. Due to the lack of coherence
in the release, the artist determines that the nature of the record is not of an album but rather an
EP. Yet, Spotify considers the release as an album because it exceeds the maximum number of

49
songs that can be found in a single, hence album. This is illustrative for the social shaping of
technology. The LP is the most important format that paved the way for the music album, yet the
interpretative flexibility of musicians led the format to be used as a medium in itself and the
practices are still in use in the Dutch alternative music industry. Thus the first research question,
questioning how musicians give meaning to the death of the album debate is answered.
However, the ontology of the music album is too broad to be confined into technical
specifications as running length or number of songs.

For me when I listen to an album it is not like I wish they had two more songs.
Because the album on itself is very good. It is like quality over quantity. (Tobias,
23, bassist)

The results indicate that only after narrative is introduced the collection of songs become a music
album, which is greater than the sum of its parts (Letts, 2005). Musicians where rather doubtful
when the specifications of an album such as running length and songs numbers were in regard.
However, it was evident that a recording was eligible to be considered as a music album when it
felt so. The album feel is largely based on the narrative that was formed by multiple songs.
Nevertheless, how can a musical release be called either an EP or an Album simultaneously? Is
the EP an album that fails to be coherent? The relationship between the EP, single and the music
album is much complex and indicates to a hierarchal relationship between these formats; in which
the meanings given to the formats are socially shaped.

4.1.3 Format hierarchy

In the previous section, it was shown that the music album was the main output in the Dutch
alternative music industry. When it was asked whether younger or upcoming artists were
discouraged to release an album, a musician who could be considered as an experienced one
pointed out to an interesting habit in the Dutch alternative scene: ‘Well you do see some sort of
tendency in Holland. A lot of bands bring out EP's. Just to see if it does something for them. You
don’t take the risk of a full album’ (Hendrik, 34, vocalist and guitarist). The reason why an album
is considered risky is related to the economic environment. As albums sell less nowadays, even
in the fast growing digital sales (IFPI, 2015), some bands focus on releasing EP’s. An EP is

50
defined as an ‘extended play single, a vinyl 7-inch with usually four songs (Shuker, 1998, p. 271).
The lengthy process of recording an album and releasing it is considered as a risky move, a not-
so-wise organizational strategy for an upcoming band without much experience. The EP is
utilized as a promotional tool for an upcoming band. The underlined importance of the EP by
musicians was a surprise in the results, because the format is not covered much in literature.
Results show that the EP is utilized in the Dutch alternative scene as a tool for promotion; similar
to those of singles that are utilized for the promotion of the music album (Jarynowski & Buda,
2013). EP’s are used to draw attention to the upcoming album. Moreover, as they are cheaper to
record most bands prefer it as a starting point

I think some artists who want their recordings to be very hi-fi and don’t have the
money to make an album make an EP. Or people who don’t want to go through
the whole process of making an album, which is quite a big process, would want
to make an EP. (Jasper)

The EP is considered a relatively easier format to produce in contrast to the album, due to the
running length it offers. Musicians stated that keeping the coherence in an album is harder than
an EP, hence some bands use it as a showcase to present people what they are capable of. The EP
has been a popular format among rock and punk bands for many years (Baca, 2010).

‘Because the choice is so limited you have to choose 3 or 4 songs. You can just
showcase something of yourself that can be different of an album. For me the album
is the main attraction and with the EPs you can showcase sides of yourself or
something weird. We could do an EP out of 50's noise covers. It is not an album
you know. So it doesn’t matter. (Martijn)

The EP finds itself a use as a format that musicians can use not only as a showcase, but also as a
medium where they can experiment. As the intellectual environment in the Dutch alternative scene
gives a priority to albums, the EP is considered as a format that is less serious than the album. As
the EP is not the desirable main product of a band, but an album is, the EP gives musicians

51
interpretative flexibility such as using it for experiments or showcase a side of the musician. This
points out to the hierarchal relationship between the music album and the EP:

[In an album] you can go many different directions and you can try to make
something whole that is different in a broad sense. And an EP you could do the
same thing. But it really feels different. Too short to explore boundaries I think.
(Bram)

The running length of the EP is one of the greatest factors that contributes to the hierarchal
relationship between the formats. When asked what the running length of an EP should be most of
the bands could not give a definite answer, with the exception of a single band giving a time
interval between 15-20 mins. However, what musicians could conceptualize about an EP was the
number of songs. Five bands could specify that the acceptable number of songs were between 4
and 6 in an EP. The limited running length of the EP is seen as a factor that restricts the bands to
show their full potential. Yet, it can be used as a promise to what listeners should expect of the
band if they were to release an album as Xander illustrated: ‘An Ep is a promise to make an LP.
The most bands who create an EP make it to share (mimics) ‘wow! This what we are capable of’.
This indicates that the EP alongside the single is an element in the organizational environment, to
be more specific in the promotion of the music album which is considered as the main output for
a band. SST suggests that environments shape strategies, and the way technologies are utilized and
designed embody trade-offs among the dimensions of the environment (Kranakis, 1997, p.100).
The economic environment can prevent an upcoming band from producing an album, however as
the album is the main product that attracts attention due to the intellectual environment: bands can
choose to make the start with an EP to display what potential they hold for the album. The results
show that the organizational environment, which utilizes the single as a promotion for an album,
adds the EP in the middle of the two formats. However, as shown in the previous section, the same
record could have been considered as an EP or music album according to the feeling it gave to the
musician. At this point rather than confining the EP to space where it only serves as a tool to
promote the EP, we can consider it as a separate format that has its own inner logic. Although
usually the EP is mentioned in relation to a music album in the interviews, musicians implicitly
pointed out to certain aspects that could be observed on an EP:

52
 Because an EP doesn't necessarily have to have any coherence. I mean it has some
coherence but it is only two or three songs anyway. You know you can just make
three catchy songs if you want, in general you make three songs and whatever and
you put them on an EP. (Arnoud)

The perception of the EP as inferior to the album stems from the coupling of long-format and
creativity. The EP is so inferior to the album that some bands even make use of it to compile left
over songs from their albums:

So we're going to have some leftovers. We might release another EP with the
leftovers on it. Maybe like a (mimics) ‘Hello we are still out there, and our album
is coming soon, and this is something we kind of have been working on but this is
not the album, yet. (Nick)

Yet, the limited playback times does not only count as a technical aspect that contributes negatively
to the perception of an EP. As much as an EP is considered a format to feed leftover songs from
an album, or just a release where non-coherent songs are chucked in; musicians also take an
advantage of the short playback time. One musician who thinks that their first album was not
strong enough, suggest that the EP would have been a better stage to start:

The first album when looking back, we are a different band now. Maybe it would
have been better if that would have been an EP. If we like took four or five, the
strongest songs, just skip the rest. EP’s are good for that. Just take your strong songs
put them on there you can make a fantastic product. A fantastic EP. (Martijn)

The results indicate that the Dutch alternative scene as a promotional tool, a release for non-
coherent songs or for leftovers from an album, uses the EP format. The meanings given to formats
create a hierarchy between them; in which the album is the main product and the EP and single are
used for its promotion.

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 The album feel can answer the first sub question asking how musicians conceptualized the
elements of a music album. Musicians could not give quantitative technical descriptions of what
made a recording eligible to be counted as an album, yet could mention qualitative aspects. This
indicates that the music album is not only technologically shaped by specifications of formats;
narrative stood out to be the most important aspect musicians mentioned when defining the album
feel. This can be confirmed using Nicholls’ (2007) levels of narration, in which musicians at least
subscribed to some extent, at the most extreme by creating a continuous record where songs
dissolve each other in which musicians ‘intentionally linked the various tracks as a narrative cycle.
(p. 308). Thus, apart from technical specifications, we can say that a music album is also culturally
shaped.
However, most importantly the results show that the Dutch alternative scene has certain
perceptions of the formats that have been mentioned, and define each one in relation to the other
format. The intellectual environment gives the album meaning as the main product musicians can
produce, thus they give a meaning to the EP in relation to the music album. The EP due to the less
playback time it offers, is not considered as a product that allows to explore boundaries or show
the full potential as much as a music album. Moreover, due to the intellectual environment that
reveres the album, an EP attracts less press attention. Thus, the hierarchal structure between the
albums is also reflected in the organizational environment, as the results indicated that the EP was
utilized mostly to promote and attract some attention for an upcoming band, that either does not
have the financial strength to record or has some leftover songs. The relationship between formats
are both technologically and socially shaped. It is clear that the use of technologies are dependent
on the relevant social group in question; in our case the Dutch alternative music scene, in which
their environment shapes their strategies whilst utilizing different formats. The interpretative
flexibility of our sample leads them to use the single, Ep and the music album in a hierarchal
structure; where each format is used in its own manner according to the meanings given to them.
In the light of these results it is possible to say that the music album in fact is socially shaped, and
according to our small sample is still the main output in the industry.
The next section will deal with how musicians give meanings to physical copies and digital
music, such as vinyl and MSS.
4.2 Conjoint use of physical formats and MSS

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The results indicated that interviewees also support the cultural meaninglessness attributed to
digital music. The death of the album debate also stems from the given lack of emotional context
of digital music (Hayes, 2006; McCourt, 2005). It is suggested that the vinyl revival that happened
in the late 2000s was a counter move made by the consumers to satisfy their need, not only as a
matter of style in music but also for aesthetic consumption (Bartmanski & Woodward, 2015, p.26).
All interviewees stated that in contrast to digital music, vinyl has a sentimental value stemming
from its materiality: ‘When you just upload it on the internet it doesn’t have any sentimental value.
It is just out on the internet. To make it as a physical piece. There is a lot in there you know’
(Xander).
The reasons why vinyl has “a lot in there” is extensively researched and the findings
resonate with previous literature. Vinyl is considered to be cool by the interviewees because it had
a ritualistic side to it. It is suggested that vinyl is the slow food equivalent of music, which demands
the attention of the listener and celebrates the act of listening to music (Bartmanski & Woodward,
2015, p.58). The death of the album debate suggests that the ease of listening to digital music and
being able to skip songs breaks the habit of listening to the album as a whole, the opposite of what
happens whilst listening to an album: ‘(You) stand up, put it on the record player sit down again.
You know that’s also a part of it, to actually to have something in your hands. Doing something in
order to listen to it makes it more special’ (Alex). The ritualistic side of vinyl that is exerted simply
by its physicality makes the listener value what he/she is doing. The act of holding the disc, placing
it on the turntable and listening to it is considered one of the main aspects that makes vinyl special.
This indicates that the value of a record is based not only on the content of the disc, but also the
qualities of the very object (vinyl) that is in consideration. The actual matter matters: ‘no doubt
the sonics is the food, but the haptics and pragmatics make it into a dish’ (Bartmanski &
Woodward, 2015, p, 61). As far as the pragmatics of vinyl become a ritual; the haptics, the tactile
qualities of the physical carrier also stand out as a factor contributing to the value of vinyl. Record
enthusiasts have been known to appreciate the size and quality of album cover art in particular
(Yochim & Biddinger, 2008). Even in comparison to other physical formats such as the cassette
and CD, vinyl is simply larger and offers more space to exhibit visual art. This quality of vinyl is
said to evoke a sense of humanity in which the listener appreciates the art and craftsmanship of
the album cover (Yochim & Biddinger, 2008, p. 192). The results show that the space vinyl offers
for album covers attracts not only listeners but also musicians: ‘It is a lot bigger you can make

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your own cover and it is beautiful. I don’t know. I'm always very charmed by vinyl because you
can look at so much, because it's so big’ (Sophia, 17, vocalist). Vinyl is not considered as a simple
tool to record and reproduce music, but it is also viewed as an instrument to be fully engaged in
with an artist. Interviewees stated that vinyl offers a chance to have more information about a
record due to its physical qualities:

When I am really into an album then I want to experience everything they put out.
And if you don't have something physical you can't read like who produced it who
played on the album what the album cover is. Then it is totally different, then it is
only the music. But there is so much more. (Bram)

Ahmed (2012) states that the artwork is an important factor for crate diggers to the extent that
some purchases are based solely on the quality of the cover of an LP (p. 1807). The notion that the
artwork indicates quality can actually be traced to a concept album with high narrative, in which:
‘a complex narrative discourse is rendered through multiple media’ (Nicholls, 2007, p.301). Vinyl,
again has meanings attached to it not only because of its audio content, but also tactile qualities
that complement to the release. When asked if being pressed on vinyl created a difference for the
band, one interviewee whose band was on vinyl pointed out to the intellectual environment in the
Dutch alternative music scene:

Yeah I think. Because we have some sort of a retro sound. A bit. Then it was an
extra thing to put it on vinyl. Because it suited us musically and like a nostalgic
thing as well. But every Utrecht band, self-respecting Utrecht band is pressed on
vinyl too. (Hendrik)

As much as an album is a product that is precious and still alive; complementing the album with a
vinyl release holds a significant importance. The interviewee assumes that being pressed on vinyl
is a matter of self-respect, which might be correlated to the perception that an LP is the main format
for a music album (Yochim & Biddinger, 2008). Being pressed on vinyl is seen as an
accomplishment as another musician whose band is not pressed on vinyl imagines himself
drumming on the record: ‘I don’t even have to hear it. It is just like... I have made this! Like maybe

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when you are kid and you make something of clay and you got to you mama and say (mimics) 'I
made this' (Mitchell). The notion that vinyl is an accomplishment and results in self-respect stems
from the intellectual environment in the Dutch alternative scene. The given reasons for the
perceived value and authenticity of a vinyl record might be correlated to that of an album. As much
as an album is revered, because it requires through planning and effort that opens new door for
success, vinyl is respected for similar reasons in addition to its tactile qualities:

It feels more serious. And when the first time you notice that when you hold it in
your hands you really think 'this is something I made!' I think also people,
musicians themselves take it more seriously if it is pressed on vinyl. Partly of course
because it is hip, cool and sexy. But it also just like making an album costs lots of
time and money. Just feels like somehow it has more ways. Like intellectually I
can't explain it. (Martijn)

The effort put into releasing vinyl makes a band earn respect not only in their own eyes, but also
among other musicians. Being pressed on vinyl requires months of waiting and spending a lot of
money in contrast to uploading songs on the internet. When asked why they were not released on
vinyl one musician asserts that the main reason was the costs:

The big reason we didn't do it it's very costly. So we are sticking to one product. If
you sell the album on a CD or an LP you get two different lines of these things. In
a CD it is just easier to say if you need to “here man, take it”. An LP costs as twice
as much to make. (Alex)

The economic environment to get a vinyl record pressed is a tough one; vinyl is seen as a luxurious
item, which every band/artists cannot put their music into easily, especially if they are not an
established band without the finances to support. When asked if he was planning to be released on
vinyl, the interviewee directly referenced to the costs of vinyl:

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 I would like to. I have a vinyl collection as well. But it is really expensive. So for
me I’m thinking about it. But if we are not connected with a record label it probably
won’t be possible. So we would do it if we could pay it. (Jasper)

Moreover, the results indicated that the bands found alternatives to exist on physical formats. Four
bands had releases on cassettes, a relatively cheaper option in contrast to vinyl. The cassette though
deemed to be forgotten with new technologies, is actually continuing its use throughout the world.
Cassette labels in the U.S had never stopped producing them, and it is getting popular again as ‘a
growing number of independent musicians and labels in the second part of the 2000’s returned to
cassettes as a way to record and circulate their music’ (Eley, 2011). The Dutch alternative scene
has not missed the uses of the cassette:

So you have the vinyl boom, and now you have to wait a long f*cking time to get
your vinyl pressed, so now a lot of bands are pressing on tape (cassette). Because
it is way quicker and cheaper. Like in the noise scene it never really stopped. […]
to just release something digitally is kinda like it has no point. (Arnoud)

As the economic environment does not allow cheap and quickly delivered records, musicians use
an alternative to get pressed. The cassette has been a prominent format in U.S underground music
since the 80’s, as an attempt to find an ‘alternative to mainstream music industry’s distribution
methods’ (Eley, 2011, p.44). Jasper, who stated that vinyl was too expensive for him, found the
alternative of cassettes. However, the cassette is not only a cheap format but in fact similar to vinyl
as it evokes a sense of humanity:

First, I have a cassette player and no CD player. So it would be normal for me to

make a cassette. It is also something that people just like. I’m also doing it just
because I prefer the looks of a cassette and the way it plays. It feels more natural to
me. (Jasper)

As the demand for vinyl is a reaction to the relatively less authentic digital music consumption
ways (Hayes, 2006), cassette with its tactile and visual qualities seems to be favored as well. The

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materiality of the cassette is an important aspect: ‘both in its form and in the relationship it fosters
– that allows it to simultaneously serve as a site for creating new connections between people as
well as a place for resisting mainstream music industry practices and dominant political ideologies’
(Eley, 2011, p.44). The CD holds an important position in the way musicians give meanings to
physical formats. Though the CD is a physical format, interviewees stated that it was obsolete to
purchase them:

I saw an artist in Amsterdam a few weeks ago and wanted to buy an album but he
only had CD's, and I just think CD's sound as good as on Spotify then I can listen
on Spotify. And I thought it was a pity they didn't have it on vinyl. (Sophia)

Though the CD has tactile qualities like vinyl or cassette, the fact that it is digital makes it
perceived less authentic. The shift from material to immaterial produces a change in the value that
is attached to musical data (Magaudda, 2011). As the CD contains digital data, which is the exact
copy of the data found in Spotify the CD loses its sentimental value. Different relationships are
established with music when listened through different objects due to their physical affordances.
The implications of the different relationships established with music when listening to vinyl
records in comparison with CD’s are different, and the CD is perceived less authentic (Magaudda,
2011, p.28). The CD is seen less authentic in the intellectual environment of the Dutch alternative
music scene as well. However, the less authentic perception of the CD makes it find a place in the
organizational environment, in accordance to the meanings attached to it:

We do sell CD’s. But that’s just because people expect CD’s. And it is just kinda
stupid to not have them. Because then people who don't have a record player cannot
listen to it. We're not saying we're proud of. But it is something that needs to be
done as well. On the CD case it actually says; preferable way to listen to this album
is on vinyl. (Arnoud)

Though the interviewee considers vinyl as the main format to listen to the released album, CD’s
are employed for listeners who do not have a record player. The listening experience is not valued

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with a CD, due to the intellectual environment which reveres vinyl, and considers digital music
less authentic. An interviewee explains why they had to press CD’s:

Because people buy them, and I'm not just... I don't... I'm not in love with CD's. It
is like old for me. But that’s just personal you know. Otherwise we'd just put it on
Spotify and download on iTunes that kinda stuff. You can burn it on a CD. Same
thing. (Hendrik)

The relationship between physical formats such as vinyl, cassettes and CD’s are shaped by culture
and technology mutually. The intellectual environment in the Dutch alternative music scene
reveres vinyl and the results indicate that vinyl is considered as a more authentic product due to its
sentimental value. Interviewees stated that being pressed on vinyl was an accomplishment, due to
the effort given to produce one. Moreover, the results resonate with previous findings on the value
given to the large space vinyl offers for artwork (Ahmed, 2012; Letts, 2005); interviewees
expressed their interest for vinyl covers. However, the economic environment forces musicians to
find alternate ways for being released on physical formats. As vinyl is expensive to produce some
musicians turn their heads to cassettes to compensate the lack of materiality. This resonates with
previous findings about the use of cassette in U.S underground music where the cassette is used
both as a collectible artifact and a way to create alternate distribution mechanisms (Eley, 2011).
Moreover, the results indicate that another physical format, the CD is losing its importance and is
seen as a less important type of release in the Dutch alternative music scene. This is in congruence
with the previous findings that compare physical formats and digital music, where vinyl is
considered to be more authentic by music listeners (Magaudda, 2011). The value given to the CD
implies a different organizational structure for distribution; musicians employ the CD unwillingly,
for listeners that do not possess a record player.
However, explaining the relationship between physical formats and how they are used by
musicians is not enough to answer the second sub question posed in the research. To understand
how musicians give meanings to physical formats in the contemporary music industry; digital
music needs to be added into the mixture. Even though vinyl is the main product the Dutch
alternative scene focuses on, digital music is not overlooked and used heavily to promote bands:

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 The vinyl is the most important I think. The reason why we are putting it on the
internet is that more people can listen to it directly. So if somebody from Australia
wants to listen to it he doesn’t have to buy vinyl at one of our shows in the
Netherlands. The internet is more accessible but the vinyl itself is the complete
product. (Tobias)

The conjoint use of physical formats and digital music becomes a necessity in the digital era. The
use of online music retailers and MSS are seen as a tool by musicians that gives access to their
music worldwide. Listeners around the globe now do not have the obligation to purchase a record
at a gig to a band, but they can do it with a single click:

The first time we went to Poland we made a lot of friends there. And then when we
came back from Poland, the album came out and we made sure it was online. So
the people in Poland could listen to it. I don’t know how we could have
accomplished that in the same way without a digital platform. So in that way, in the
way of reach, for us it is very valuable. (Martijn)

As none of the bands are signed to a major label which has the financial power to distribute records
globally, let alone a country such as Poland in the same continent, musicians find the reach of
digital music very valuable. The importance of digital music in terms of promoting the band is
underlined further by the interviewee when asked the advantages of digital music: ‘I think if like
you’re not looking to make a lot of money and want growth, it is good that anyone can find you
music’ (Nick). As it was stated previously in the research, musicians do not expect any financial
income by the sole sale of albums, but rather use live shows to sell their albums, and release albums
to get live shows. The revenues on digital platforms are very small for musicians and streaming
services are considered to shrink the sales of physical sales (Wlömert & Papies, 2015). However,
the interviewed musicians stated that the access granted by digital music was actually a positive
force for record sales. As far as digital music gives access to music anytime, anywhere; the

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enthusiastic music listeners still wants to pay for music: ‘You can buy our digital album. You can
also stream it on Spotify […] and when you really like it, you are gonna buy the record’ (Bram).

Interviewees, when their own listening practices where regarded, shared the idea of
listening to an album first and then purchasing it. The death of the album debate also suggest that
the ongoing decay of the music album is the result of a substitution effect; where digital music will
render physical albums obsolete. The results show that musicians prefer to listen to albums online
before buying the physical copy. ‘I always listen to a band on the internet first and then buy the
vinyl. I never buy the vinyl and listen then’ (Mitchell). This indicates that buying a physical album
itself has much to do with digital music. It is suggested that music streaming actually boosts vinyl
sales, half of vinyl buyers stated listening to an album online before purchasing it (Savage, 2016).
In fact there is an exposure effect when: ‘someone makes a purchase they would not have made
except for the fact that they were able to sample the product in another venue’ (Liebowitz, 2004,
p.97) in our case digital music. As vinyl is expensive compared to digital music, purchasing a
record becomes a matter of choice. An interviewee stated that buying vinyl was an act of showing
support for a band that can be listened online: ‘It is respect. 'That’s my favorite album, so guys
here's your 7 euros!' I feel like doing a good thing going to a store as an extra respect thing. But I
can listen to the whole (album) on Spotify’ (Hendrik).

Research on online music sales indicate that MSS not only boost the sales of vinyl but also
digital album sales as well. IT has been documented that in France streaming services have no
effect on the sales of CD’s, but have a positive effect on legal music downloads: that a new music
ecosystem is emerging in which the possession as well as the access mode of recorded music
consumption might coexist (Nguyen et al. 2012, p.1). The results resonate with these findings, as
the CD is started to be seen obsolete by musicians, and they revere the access that digital platforms
give. This indicates that digital music is utilized as an organizational tool which artists use to reach
as many listeners as they can, promote themselves even stronger in contrast to a physical copy:

It is good to make an album but it doesn’t have to be on vinyl. It is more for yourself
or fans that like to have something that you make (…) most people just check on
YouTube or Spotify or streaming devices. I mean we sold a lot of cassettes, but I

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 think only 5 of the 100 has listened to the cassette. It is just you got a piece of the
band. And you support them by giving money. (Mitchell)

The second sub question posed in the research was asked to understand the meanings musicians
give to physical formats and digital music. The results indicate that vinyl holds a great significance
among physical formats due to the intellectual environment in the sample, but as the medium is
expensive to produce, some musicians compensate with cassette’s to evoke the sense of humanity
offered by physical formats. Moreover, the CD is losing its importance due to the lack of
sentimentality that is caused by its digital nature. Legal downloads and MSS find their places in
the organizational environment; similar to what an EP and single is to the promotion of a band and
album, digital music is utilized as a tool for promotion. More research needs to be conducted over
the position of the cassette and the CD in the digital era, since they are considered to be fading
away as ‘digital music sales started to become a substitute for physical formats such as the CD or
cassette’ (Koh et. al, 2004). As the results indicate, specifically the cassette holds importance in
the Dutch alternative scene as a cheaper alternative for vinyl. There also is a lack of literature on
how physical formats and digital music coexist. Even though the results of this research resonate
with previous literature (Dewenter, 2012, Nguyen et al. 2012) that indicates an exposure effect
when digital and physical copies are in context, more research needs to be conducted on the matter.

4.2.1 The death of B-side

The final sub-question was concerned about the status of the B-side in the digital era. The single
was originally a 7-inch vinyl format. The single featured an A-side, the recording considered most
likely to receive radio airplay and chart action, and a B-side usually seen as a recording of less
appeal (Shuker, 2006, p.27). With the introduction of digital formats, which by nature do not offer
any sides, the B-side is also seen to be as a part of the music industry that is in decay: ‘A single-
only model threatens listener’s musical exploration, even more so in the era of the digital download
where there isn’t at least a “B” side to the 45 rpm single (Newman, 2014). Only three of the
interviewed bands had B-sides, simply because their singles were pressed on physical formats. The
remaining seven bands of the sample did not have any B-sides, mostly credited to the use of digital
singles. When asked to an interviewee if they had any B-sides, as a member of a band which only
released digital singles, he pointed out to the change the digital era brought: ‘No, we choose not

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to. Because digital distribution doesn't really make sense to have B-sides. Of course with old
records you’ve got two sides but now it's just pointless’ (Alex).

Digital singles simply do not offer a physical B-side of a record. As there is no empty space
to be filled, bands seem to dismiss the long standing tradition of B-sides. The B-side embodies the
peripheries those under-appreciated artists, productions, genres, rituals artifacts and events that are
situated on the flip side slightly outside, buried beneath, turn over from the A-side plane (Plasketes,
2009, p.6). The results indicate that even though a B-side was not present in the digital singles they
released, musicians still gave meanings to the B-side:

I think B-sides are great because sometimes you have a song you just don’t think is
good enough to be on the album, but you just wanna release it anyway. Because
you have it and you still think it is quite good. So you can put it as a B-side. And
people have more things to listen to. Which I think is great. (Jasper)

Moreover, a band with a physically released single underlines the importance of the B-side,
when asked if they still would have a B-side in case they were not pressed on the cassette:

Because for us putting out only one song was not an option. We really wanted
ourselves to record two songs, because the two songs we put out at the moment was
the best way to what we had at that moment. So only one song gives a different
interpretation of what we are doing right now. (Tobias)

The interviewee is conscious of the meaning of the B-side, and states that even if they are released
digitally which has no B-sides, they would continue the practice. This might be credited to their
intellectual environment which sees the B-side as a tool to showcase another side of the band. It
might be premature to conclude that the B-side is alive. Yet, as the results show, the B-side is still
seen as an important aspect of the single. Albeit there are cases as given in the fragment, where

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artists claimed they still would put a B-side on a digital single, it can be argued that digital singles
are actually forming a base for the death of the B-side.

5. CONCLUSION / DISCUSSION

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Contrary to the claims made by determinists, the album is actually seen as the main output in the
Dutch alternative scene. Results of the research show that the death of the album is not present in
the small sample of Dutch alternative bands. SST suggest a set of social conditions as
environments, shape the design and use of technologies (Kranakis, 1997). Interviewees stated that
without an album it would be impossible for a band to grow; not only in terms of musical creativity,
but also economically. As bands are aware that their records will not sell enough, they compensate
their income by live shows. It is suggested that in the contemporary music industry, rather than a
separate record and tour management system, an integrated model of those two are more profitable
(Dewenter, 2012). However, live shows become a higher possibility for bands after the release of
a music album. This is due to the intellectual environment in the Dutch alternative scene; a band
is taken more into consideration by bookers, media and fellow musicians in case they release an
album. The Dutch alternative scene arranges its organizational environment according to the music
album. The album is one of the main tools for the promotion of bands. Moreover, it is not only the
fuel for live shows and vice versa, but also stands as the foremost important format in the hierarchal
structure of formats.

The relationship between formats, the single, EP and music album are shaped by culture
and technology. The Dutch alternative scene seems to be locked-in to the music album. Due to this
locked-in position of the album, the shorter EP and single formats serve for the promotion of the
album. Moreover, the EP serves showcase musically different sides of the bands, that bands could
experiment and use leftover songs. The deterministic view that the music album will no longer be
important and wiped off the music industry does not apply to the researched group of musicians.
The music album is the building block of a bands career in the Netherlands. The first research
question thus might be answered in the context of the Dutch alternative scene: the music album is
very much alive.

The first sub question was posed in relation to what elements constituted a music album.
Results indicate that the specifications of a music album were rather hard to describe. Yet,
musicians referred to a feeling, which indicated that the recording could be considered as a music
album. Narrative stood out to be the most important aspect of the album feel. Musicians stated that
an album, though not all songs required to be connected, should be coherent and have some tension
build-up. Interviewees also stated that musical recordings with an equal running length could also

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be considered as EP’s, in case it fails to give this feeling. This indicates that the music album
should be taken into account with an ontological stance, as it was no more confined to a specific
time interval or number of songs. The music album is a product that has a long path of adoption
starting from late 19th century, shaped through the 40’s with the invention of the long format LP,
and mastered by innovative artists of the 60’s. The affordances of the LP format are still traceable
in the contemporary music album; as the given intervals of the running length of an album mostly
fall parallel that of an LP. However, today the music album can be listened through lots of different
formats different from the LP, hence the music album is no more a synonym for an LP. The music
album is shaped by culture and technology: as far as technological specifications are a criterion to
assess what constitutes a music album, the introduction of narrative into the recording also defines
an album intellectually. It might be concluded that in the digital era, the feelings evoked is the
decisive force to consider a recording as a music album. Trade-offs between the economic,
intellectual and organizational environments have an active role in how the music album is
conceptualized and used according to the samples own needs.

The second sub question was asked to reveal how musicians gave meaning to physical
formats and digital music in the contemporary music industry. Vinyl, as it has regained its
popularity again, is seen as the most important physical format for a band to be released in the
Dutch alternative scene. Being pressed on vinyl is respected in the intellectual environment, as it
is seen as the format for the best music listening experience, and also requires effort to get pressed
in the current vinyl boom. Moreover, the tactile qualities of vinyl are highly praised; the large
space it offers for artworks was an important perk of the format. Physical formats such as vinyl
and cassette are favored among the Dutch alternative scene. Some bands without the financial
strength to get pressed on vinyl, use cassettes just to be released in a physical format. Even though
the CD has a physical manifestation, it is not seen as authentic as the mentioned formats. The CD
due to the fact that it is digital, so the exact copies could be found over the internet, is losing its
popularity and started to be seen as obsolete in the digital era. On the other hand, digital music is
being embraced; musicians praised the reach and access online music retailers and MSS offered
with a single click. In the Dutch alternative scene, MSS and online music retailers are being used
as platforms to publish music globally ranging from Australia to Poland. Moreover, musicians
stated that digital music was actually a positive force in physical copy sales. Physical copies are
more likely to be purchased after listening to the album online, as an act of support for the artist.

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The deterministic notion that digital music will be a negative force for musicians’ income is on the
contrary to our findings interviewed musicians were talking of an exposure effect created by digital
music. Thus, rather than turning their backs to streaming and legal downloading, musicians
conjointly use physical formats and digital music to generate income and promote their music. The
affordances of physical and digital copies form the base of how musicians utilize them; in
accordance to the economic environment where vinyl is expensive and hard to access and digital
music is basically free.

The sub question about the status of the B-side was an addition to the research, since B-
sides have both cultural and technological dimensions to it. The B-side is a result of using a disc
format, exerted by the very object that has two sides. However, the importance of the B-side is not
technical but culturally significant as well, since it has been used for a long time as a space for
artists to experiment. Digital music in the form of a CD or just simply data, does not offer any
sides as a vinyl disc or a cassette. The results indicated that a B-side was only present in three of
the interviewed bands’ discography, where bands released a physical copy of the single in a 7-inch
or cassette. The rest of the sample who released the single digitally did not have a B-side, more
specifically a second song in their single. The shaping of technology is evident; even though B-
sides are culturally and historically significant, the fact that digital music doesn’t offer any sides
that need to be filled, musicians do not feel the urge to stick to past conventions. It might be
premature and equally deterministic to assume that B-sides will only exist on physical copies.
However, all seven bands who have released a digital single without a B-side illustrate, that the B-
side is not a necessity if the format does not have sides.

Generalizing these results to the global music industry is not reasonable, given the sample
of the size and the scene in question. However, the data proved to be useful assessing the
relationship between technology and society. It is evident that certain social groups make
understanding of technologies in different ways. The death of the album debate suggests that the
music album will no longer hold importance, yet the results of this indicate that in the Dutch
alternative scene it is still at the center of interest. It is highly unlikely that every genre or scene
uses formats in the same way, let alone in different countries. The sample size of the research
prevents us from generalizing, but it might be valuable to conceptualize how musicians adopt
technologies and make use of them according to their own, special needs. These needs are

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contingent on their intellectual, economic and organizational environment and the trade-offs
between these three, in our case those of the Dutch alternative music scene. Different results should
be expected if the research was conducted in different regions of the world, but also if the research
was conducted among musicians of a different genre such as pop, rap or electronic music.
Therefore, it would be interesting for future research to conduct a similar study in a different region
of the world or among musicians of a different genre, such as Grindcore or a branch of electronic
music.

To fill the gaps in the current field of literature, it would be interesting to also conduct more
research on the social shaping of sound recording and reproduction technologies in the digital era.
Research also is not extensive, especially when the artist point of view is in consideration. This
research tried to fill this gap by asking musicians themselves how they made use of technologies.
More research needs to be done especially on the status of cassettes and CD’s in relation to vinyl,
how meanings are given to these formats in different genres and geographical regions. Moreover,
the relationship between physical formats and digital music needs to be more researched, as it can
be seen that certain conventions of the former still can be traced back in the latter as paths of
adoption. Thus, digital music is not developed in a vacuum, insulated from physical formats; they
are adopted and interpreted according to the conventions of these pre-existing formats that reigned
the industry for a long time. Moreover, the conjoint use of physical formats and digital music needs
to be researched further, as our results indicate that the expected substitution effect is not present
but the opposite, exposure effect.

The death of the album debate still needs more time to mature, as it would be equally
deterministic to make inferences based on this particular sample, in these early years of the
digitally driven music industry. However, it looks like musicians are still locked in the conventions
of the past, where music albums are considered the apex of artistic expression.

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APPENDIXES

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1. Overview of the interviewee’s

1) The Afterveins (31.03.2016): Rotterdam band. The ınterview was given by the bands
guitar player, who also worked as an event booker. Prior to the interview the band had
released two albums, the most recent one was pressed on vinyl. The band is signed by a
small independent label

2) Friends of the Family (05.04.2016): Den Haag/Rotterdam band. The interview was
given by the bands guitar/banjo player. Prior to the interview the band had released two
albums, none pressed on vinyl. The band was not signed to a label

3) Rats on Rafts (08.04.2016): Rotterdam band. The interview was given by the drummer
and the guitar player.. Prior to the interview the band had released two albums, both on
vinyl. This band is strictly analogue, all of their releases including singles have been
made on vinyl as well as digital. The band is not signed to a label. The drummer also had
a part-time job in a bakery.

4) Goodnight Moonlight (10.04.2016): Rotterdam band. The interview was given by the
bands vocal and guitar player who was also a high-school student. Prior to the interview
the band had released an album digitally and on cassette. The band was not signed to a
label.

5) The Sweet Release of Death (13.04.2016) Rotterdam band. The interview was given by
the bands guitar player who also worked as an instrument repairer. The band had released
one album prior to the interview, which was pressed on vinyl. The band was not signed to
a label.

6) Canshaker Pi (23.04.2016) Amsterdam band. The interview was given by the drummer
and bass player of the band. Both interviewee’s were high school students. The band had
an album recorded and were waiting it to be pressed on vinyl. The band had an EP and a

80
 single prior to the interview, where the single was pressed as a 7-inch disk. The band was
not signed to a label.

7) The Lumes (30.04.2016) Rotterdam band. The interview was given by the drummer,
who also worked as a booking agent. The band only had an EP released prior to the
interview, released digitally. The band was not signed to a label.

8) 45 Acidbabies (10.05.2016) Utrecht band. The interview was given by the singer of the
band, who was a high school student. The band only had singles released prior to the
interview, all digital. The band was not signed to a label.

9) The Maureens (14.05.2016) Utrecht band. The interview was given by the guitar player
of the band. The band had an album released prior to the interview, pressed on vinyl. The
band was not signed to a label.

10) Iguana Death Cult (17.05.2016) Rotterdam band. The interview was given by the guitar,
bass and vocals. The band had an album waiting to be pressed and had a single released
on cassette prior to the LP. The band was signed to a small label.

81