With the long anticipated release of the new Coldplay album Viva la Vida, I got to thinking about the sanctity of music. Unlike George Bush’s reference to the “sanctity of marriage” I believe my thoughts actually hold some logical water.

With the new age of music coming fast, there are many positives and negatives in the change. Mostly there are positives for consumers but here is something I consider to be a major loss. The power of the Album is dwindling. This saddens me because as I have developed my love for music and grown my collection, I have learned that a song alone rarely matches the power of the whole album.

I remember a couple summer back, after hearing the single Somebody Told Me, a friend and I picked up the album Hot Fuss by The Killers. When we popped it into his car stereo it changed our summer. The album made our experiences more thrilling. It became like a soundtrack for our lives at the time.

This has been my experience with many great albums since then. When a musical artist makes songs and they blend them together so perfectly in a twelve track LP it creates such a serene feeling for the listener; something that few songs on their own can do, especially for an entire hour straight.

Now it seems artists and fans have forgotten this magic. Since many fans want to just buy the song that they heard on the radio and can do so with a simple download, all the focus comes off the album and onto the single. But singles don’t make super-fans. They make one hit wonders. In my observations I think this is why Hip Hop Stars especially have very short lived careers in most cases. They make that one great song but then their album does not live up to fan’s expectations. What ever happened to Chingy? Or Chamillionaire? They may still be in the business but they are not the successes they could have been.

So here is a message to the industry, the labels, the artists, and the fans. Don’t forget about the album. Putting a focus on creating a great album ensures the longevity of the artist and ensures that fans won’t just listen to the music, they will have an experience that they will look back on for years to come like past and present generations have with The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, The Eagles, The Cure, and so on…

Viva la Album!