Not quite. As labels seek to reverse a recession that saw global music sales plummet nearly 11 percent in the first half of 2003, they’re increasingly looking to the past for inspiration, pinning their hopes on albums by a new generation of dazzling young singers. Norah Jones’s low-key, jazzy “Come Away With Me,” the surprise hit of 2002, revealed a deep demand for beautifully crafted songs. Last month Jamie Cullum’s “Twentysomething,” featuring funky takes on old favorites like “Old Devil Moon,” became the first album by a British jazz singer to go platinum. Canadian crooner Michael Buble, whose slick style has been compared to Sinatra’s, also saw his eponymous debut hit platinum. And the 16-year-old Brit Joss Stone is winning rave reviews for “Soul Sessions,” her sultry take on classics like Aretha Franklin’s “All the King’s Horses.”
These talented new stars are helping boost sales and revitalize an industry cheapened by years of cookie-cutter pop and crippled by piracy. Captivating performers, says Max Hole, senior vice president of A&R and marketing at Universal Music, translate into album sales, which were up 7.6 percent in Britain last quarter. “If [fans] are interested in the artist, they won’t just download a track, they’ll want to buy the album,” he says. That’s quite a turnaround from recent years, when big record companies inadvertently encouraged singles downloading by hyping flash-in-the-pan songsters–many generated by reality-TV shows. Last year almost half of American 12- to 22-year-olds chose to download just their favorite tunes instead of buying albums. “People were more interested in tracks than acts,” says Hole.
That’s changing, thanks largely to baby boomers, who are lapping up these vibrant echoes of their old turntables. “Baby boomers lived through the seminal years of pop-music culture and they’ll always spend on enhancing their CD collections,” says Sanctuary Records chief operating officer Roger Semon. Cash-rich and time-poor, older fans are also less inclined to download. Cullum’s album, says Hole, “went bang when he played [on the BBC talk show “Parkinson,” which] appeals to that older demographic.”
Now labels are seeking out artists who are developing acts akin to the singer-songwriters of the 1970s. “We’re seeing a lot more bands rising to the top who’ve learned their craft by playing to live audiences,” says Hole. Singer-songwriter Amy Winehouse adds a contemporary edge to her music with hip-hop beats and lyrics about “F— Me Pumps,” but her raw, smoky songs recall Billie Holiday. She titled her debut album “Frank” in homage to the Rat Packer. “Old music inspired me most because people just aren’t pushing boundaries today like they did back then,” she says. Wooing a tough audience in a London dive last month, she started nervously, then unleashed a languorous, seductive voice, blowing the crowd away.
The next generation of albums won’t much resemble your old Joni Mitchells. “We’ll see a revision of the idea of what constitutes an album,” says Berklee College of Music professor Peter Alhadeff. “You might get a song with links to a video clip or photos, or some special material.” Bernoff says companies will try “anything that will add value,” including packaging concert DVDs along with the album. David Crosby of Crosby, Stills & Nash believes that as downloading longer files gets faster and easier, even younger listeners will clamor for full, quality albums. “[iTunes] will force [musicians] to treat albums as a serious project,” he says. “You can’t just go in with a hit single, stuff nine other songs and expect people to buy it… The best music made over the last 20 years has always been on the album.” More and more, record-industry executives are inclined to agree.
