The viability of the album has become a topic of debate with the continued decline of album sales and increased presence of streaming services, and some artists are looking to approach releasing music in new ways. Speaking to radio station ALT 105.1, Fozzy singer Chris Jericho said that he isn’t sure the album is the way to go for the band anymore, based on their latest release, 2022’s Boombox.
“It was a huge success. We released three singles that all went Top 10. Then three more of the songs we play live, and then the rest of the songs kind of end up in the Fozzy ‘dead-song graveyard.’ So I’m wondering in the future if releasing a full record is the way to go.
“I think [what] we’re gonna try to do [going forward] is just release a single every three or four months and keep the product always there and not waste the songs. ‘Cause that’s what you’re doing when you put out a great record. You spend so much time on every one of these songs, meticulously creating them and they’re your children, and then they just never really… unless you buy the record and listen to the record. There’s only so many songs you can play live from a new album when you have as many albums as we do. So that might be something we will look [to do] in the future — just doing one song at a time… And then every song you can release as a single and give it its chance to go where it’s gonna go.”
The 52-year-old singer and professional wrestler would also like to remind you that he is, in fact, old, so he personally appreciates the art of the album. It’s just bad for business.
“I’m from the generation where you would go… When the new Iron Maiden is coming out, you’d go down and take the bus every Saturday: ‘Is it out yet? No.’ And then finally you walk through and you hear the music and you see the wall of Maiden records. That was such a great moment in a kid’s life. But things have changed. No kid knows what a record store is now. You just go on Spotify and listen to the songs you wanna hear. So you’ve gotta roll with the times. Obviously, putting out a new record is a piece of art, but I think song by song you can do the same. Plus you get a different cover for every one. So I think it just adds to more of a marketing plan. I think it’s just better for the music itself as well.”
While it can be disheartening to see music become increasingly focused around promotional tactics and streaming numbers, it’s heartening to see artists trying to make money in an industry that makes it increasingly hard to do so.
If you just clicked this article because of Chris Jericho’s name, we’d love for you to check out our AEW coverage.