Day 1: The Issue With Releasing Too Many Songs Before the Album Actually Releases

Recently, bands have started giving fans previews of their upcoming albums by streaming songs on YouTube, Spotify, and other streaming sites weeks and sometimes even months before the albums are officially released. While this can be cool for fans, many bands do this too much, showing off more songs than they should, and lessening the excitement for their new releases.

The most apparent example I can think of is Death Cab For Cutie’s “Kintsugi”. The album was incredibly hyped and extremely long anticipated. They released “Black Sun” and everyone lost their minds. Then they released another song. And Another. And another. And by the time the album was released, over a third of the album had already been playing regularly and people weren’t nearly as excited for the official release. Dance Gavin Dance did the same thing with “Instant Gratification”, and it looks like Twenty One Pilots is doing the same thing with “Blurryface”.

Releasing songs early isn’t always a bad thing. Streaming one or two is actually an excellent advertisement for the band, and it shows fans what to expect from the new album, helping them decide if it’s going to be a good purchase or not. August Burns Red is doing it right. They came out with a teaser trailer and are streaming one single at the moment. Everybody is raving about it and the album is getting an insane amount of hype. The Devil Wears Prada did even less than that (they only released a teaser trailer) and people have already lost their minds over their upcoming EP.

I get that bands want to hype up their albums and tease fans by showing them a lot of their new music, but releasing too many songs is the fastest way to both lose money from initial album sales and also to get the album leaked. I want to hear the album as much as everyone else, but I want to be excited for it and I want the artist to get the money that they deserve.