When buying music, do you buy a song only or purchase the whole album? With so many online music stores that let you purchase just one song I guess that most people never buy the whole album. It's been years since I bought music, my last purchase was a CD so I don't know the trends, this is why I'm asking These days I'm only listening on Youtube the songs I want.
I buy full albums. I like hearing the whole thing as an experience. It reminds me of being younger and waiting to buy albums in store. I'd buy it and then go sit in my car and listen to the album and look at the art. Even if I've heard previous songs, it is different hearing it in the context of an album. The only time I buy individual songs is if it's an artist I don't normally listen to...like a random top 40 hit stuck in my head or something.
I mostly only buy songs because I'm more of a random song person. However, if it's an artist I'd definitely want to support then I'll buy the album. The only problem is if it's an artist I want to support I'll be impatient for the music so I'll end up buying a song anyway because I don't want to wait for the album to come out.
I have a kind of 3 songs rule, where if I like at least 3 songs on an album, I will buy the whole album. If it's less, I'll just buy the singles I do like. It's a pretty good rule for me. In any case, it's even better if I end up liking the whole album.
I haven't bought an entire album in a really long time just because there's no albums I really like, so I'll just end up getting one or two songs vs. buying the entire thing.. I don't see a point in it if I'm just gonna skip the songs anyway.
I think it is always better to buy the entire album rather than just a song because obviously when you like the song you will definitely like the other songs as well . Economically it can be always costly to buy the entire album but if you really have some money to spend then it is always advisable to buy the entire album rather than just a song which you would finish listening in a few seconds.
I never buy full albums. In an album, you could find that there are maybe two or three great songs worth listening to. For someone like me who loves to listen only to the "BEST" I wouldn't pay for the whole album and listen to only one or two songs. Could be a waste of money, right? That's why if I hear one good song, I'd prefer buying that particular song rather than buy the whole album because I may not like the other songs.
We have done both: buy the full album and/or the single by itself. Looking back I would have to say that we have bought more single songs that we like than we have the full album. We also get a lot of free songs from Starbucks (you can go in and take a free download card for iTunes each week). Since we play our iTunes on 'shuffle' anyways, it doesn't really matter if we have the entire album or not. I get annoyed when I hear the same sounds over and over again. I must have ADD hearing or something. Rarely can I sit through an entire album. I try, but almost always end up turning it, fast forwarding it, or changing it.
There are so few whole albums that I want nowadays, that I'm almost forced to buy just singles. If I can get about three or four songs, then it would make sense to just buy the album, but I know of very few artists that even put out back to back singles that make an album purchase worth it.
It really depends on the album... But generally, if I'm buying the whole album, I'm buying the physical thing. If I want a couple of songs, I might buy the digital version, but only if I really want to support the artist. Usually I just download... It really comes down to how much I want to support the artist.
I usually buy singles. I don't have the money to buy whole albums, even though I know that's best for the artist. I wish I could afford it, but I would rather save that money right now and only buy specific songs that are particularly meaningful to me. I do not buy much music as I listen to the radio almost constantly at home. The radio provides me with more variety than I could ever afford to buy anyway.
It really depends on the artist and how much I like them. If I know it's an artist whose albums tend to have more songs that I like than songs I dislike I will definitely get the whole album. More often than not I tend to like one or two songs from albums, so I see it as a waste to buy a complete one. There are a few exceptions though, like The Script, Imagine Dragons and Jason Mraz.
I think it's better to buy the song only since I can't really guarantee whether the whole album is worth the purchase if I haven't heard of it before. Also, unless I personally like or a really huge fan of the artist in question then it would be fitting to just buy the whole album and listen to it the whole day through.
I just buy individual songs now too because it's cheaper and more practical. Back then you had to buy whole albums to listen to the extra tracks but nowadays you could just listen to samples online and buy the ones you actually like. The great thing about this is that I don't have to be stuck with having to go through the other tracks I don't like anymore and rather just have individual tracks from many artists to form my own album or playlist.
Not all albums are recorded with the intent of forming one cohesive collection of songs. It varies by group/artist. Some newer lesser known acts for example, might get access to a big shot producer and or writer for a song or two because that's all their budget allows for, so the rest of the songs on their album may not be of the same quality. On the other hand, a group such as Radiohead pretty much always makes a more concerted effort to create a cohesive interconnected album of songs that are related to each other and play off of each other. I don't buy songs period, I just view their official channels on Youtube, or listen to them on Spotify. If I were actually buying albums or tracks directly, it would be a mixed bag for me, some times I would only buy single tracks for certain artists.
I rarely buy a full album. I can't even remember the last time I did. I just buy a song that I really like, because more often than not, there's only a song or two that I would like in an album. I would also ask around or do a bit of surfing to find out if the full album is worth buying or not.
There aren't many albums that I buy anymore, usually only if some band I love releases something very interesting. 90% of the time I end up buying single songs or even 2-3 songs from each album. That's when I buy music though, I often just listen to it on Youtube or Spotify.
With technology these days, you can just stream songs from youtube and spotify by creating a playlist. Usually I like using pandora while I am on the go to end up listening to songs I have not heard in a while when they come on that I forgot about. I only have a set prelist when I workout.
I don't see a point in buying a single song. When I buy music, it's always the whole album. I don't like the song, I like the artist, so.. yeah. Unless it's a split 7'' or something, I never buy individual songs.
I usually buy single songs. If I find an album on special, or I like most of the songs, then I will purchase the full album. Though with streaming music sites like Spotify, I barely purchase anymore. When I'm on my computer at home I usually listen to playlists on Youtube or Spotify at this point. It doesn't cost me anything and I can listen to whatever I want. I remember when I had to buy CDs and I ended up skipping over the majority of the songs. There were always exceptions, but purchasing music has gotten much easier in the past ten years.
