newcritics

2007 was a dark year for people who once made a living selling recorded music.

A couple of data points to put it in perspective:

The average weekly sales of #1 albums this year was 284,000–a 45% decline from the average weekly sales of #1 albums in 2000

While digital sales grew year over year–46% growth for digital singles sales, 54% for digital albums, according to Soundscan—the pace of digital music sales growth is slowing and remains insufficient to offset declining hard copy sales. Soundscan’s kludgey composite metric, albums plus “track equivalent albums” (downloads of 10 songs), fell 9 percent year over year.

While the year witnessed the launch of new digital services (like Amazon music downloads) and the beginning of the end of DRM, it also witnessed the demise of big ticket digital enterprises like Amp’d, which filed for bankruptcy despite triple-digit millions in backing from Universal Music and MTV, and Shawn Fanning’s MySpace-backed Snocap which laid off 60% of its workforce and is seeking a buyer.

Labels and artists reacted variously. At two extremes, Radiohead released its album digitally, payment optional, while the Eagles cut a deal with Walmart which guaranteed to buy 3 million copies of the band’s first studio album in 30 years in return for the exclusive right to sell it. Meanwhile, with tours still generating long dollars (more than $212 million gross for the Police, $129 million for Genesis, $127 million for Justin Timberlake), companies looked to cut “360 degree deals” with artists–paying up front for a piece not only of music sales but also of live gate and merch sales. The reference standard for such deals to date was the $120 million, 10-year deal Madonna cut with up-start Live Nation.

The easiest records to sell seem to be those that tie into TV: The top selling albums of the year include two from American Idol contestants (Daughtry and Carrie Underwood), two Hannah Montana soundtracks, and the High School Musical 2 cast album.

But the overarching theme of the year in pop music is the great splintering. With the boomer cohort moving out of its record buying years, and a smaller generation of consumers living in a media universe of nearly infinite choice, the music industry has become a shrinking assemblage of niches. To reflect the new reality, Billboard divided its year end package into nearly 400 separate lists charting everything from Hot Regional Mexican Songs Artists (Conjunto Primavera) to Hot RingMasters (Buy U a Drank).

For the CHR crowd it was the year of Akon, Kanye, Justin Timberlake, T-Pain, and Fergie. For the Starbucks crowd it was the year of Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen, John Fogherty, and Joni Mitchell. For other parts it was the year of Josh Groban or Arcade Fire or Feist or Linkin Park or Maroon 5 or, inevitably, Jay-Z (whose American Gangster album was, in my view, one of the more disappointing records of the year).

While there were CHR singles that even a fogey like me found hard to resist (Rihanna’s Umbrella, Avril Lavigne’s Girlfriend in the remix version w/ rhymes from Lil Mama, Mims’ This is Why I’m Hot, Pink’s U + UR Hand and Who Knew–that girl’s got a great rock voice, Alicia Keys’ No One), looking back on the year I find little music that we all shared.

Indisputably, the music maker who had the biggest year was Timbaland, who followed up a huge year in 2006 (producing Nellie Furtado and JT) with his own hit collection Timbaland Presents: Shock Value, and production jobs for Bjork, Rihanna, Diddy, Fabolous, M.I.A., Nicole Scherzinger, 50 Cent, Chingy, Mary J. Blige, and Madonna! But Timbaland’s records made no impression on me. I think I’ve aged out of the dance music demographic.

I lost the thread on hip hop back in the 1990s when the music left New York and moved out West. I’m no closer to hip hop now that its center of gravity is Atlanta although its hard to deny the charming combination of nonsense lyrics and novelty dancing that is Crank That by Soulja Boy Tell’em.

The music maker most beloved by the ravening Brit rock press was Amy Winehouse whose trainwreck life makes songs like Rehab and I’m No Good easy to listen to but hard to enjoy.

And my beloved jazz has become such an industrial backwater so dominated by MOR chanteuse-type singers that only two new jazz albums made it to heavy rotation at Chez Chervokas this year (Joe Lovano & Hank Jones’ Kids and David Murray’s Sacred Ground).

In the end, I didn’t hear ten new albums this year which I think I will be listening to a year from now. I did however hear hear five:

1. Bright Eyes - Cassadaga

Easily my favorite album of the year, and the only one that dropped my jaw. A step up to the big leagues for a talented indie rocker. The music of music. The music of words. To these ears, a stone classic.

2. Brad Paisley - 5th Gear

If I could be one pop musician, it would be Brad Paisley–he’s good looking, he can sing, he can write, and he can play rings around just about any other guitar player that I’ve ever heard. His best record, heavier on guitar playing and up tempo novelties than previous efforts.

3. Bruce Springsteen - Magic

Out of nowhere, Springsteen produces an inspired, fresh-sounding album of pure pop rock. A breath of fresh air.

4. Joe Lovano & Hank Jones - Kids: Live at Dizzy’s Coca-Cola Club

Tenor man Lovano has been finding any excuse to record with 89-year-old pianist Hank Jones in recent years. This is their best together yet–a live collection of duos and a master class in jazz piano from Jones.

5. Mavis Staples - We’ll Never Turn Back

Her voice, always husky but raspy now too, is a national treasure, and this album, produced by Ry Cooder who also cut fine solo records on Pops Staples, is by far the best of her solo career, an audio memoir of the civil rights movement and a rocking slab of guitar driven soul.

Honorable mention: Ryan Adams -Easy Tiger. Not an Adams classic, for that try Jacksonville City Lights or Gold–but strong and, for Adams, well-balanced between country, rock and emo. The opening track, Goodnight Rose, was among my most played of the year.

Feel Good Record of the Year: Carbon/Silicon - The News. Unassuming, self-consciously naive, overwhelmingly upbeat, there ain’t much to this record from ex-Clash member Mick Jones until now internet only band, but it’s irresistable nevertheless.

Biggest Disappointment: Patti Smith - Twelve. I’ve seen the PSG perform some of the most amazing covers from thundering straight ahead rockers (Paint It Black) to revelatory reinventions (George Michael’s Father Figure). But this collection of a dozen covers missed almost entirely. Only Are You Experienced? brought the fire and surprise I anticipated.

Best Archival Release: Sun Ra - Disco 3000 Concert, Milan 1978. I’m a big Sun Ra fan, but was never enamored of the original Saturn LP culled from material recorded at this concert. But like the best archival issues, this record was a revelation. Ra in a small group context, experimenting with the electronic beats of the title track, yes, but also delivering some surprisingly lyrical and bluesy performances. The year’s happiest surprise.