How often should artists release music?

In a recent interview, Spotify founder and CEO, Daniel Ek, made some comments that were quite the slap in the face for music artists and many music fans alike, the key quote from him being:

“…you can’t record music once every three to four years and think that’s going to be enough.”

He goes on to discuss the evolving nature of the music industry, claiming that successful artists today are the ones who create a “continuous engagement with their fans”.

Firstly, the timing of these comments from Mr Ek was not ideal – poking at artists for not churning out enough material during a pandemic, in which thousands of artists and other proponents of the industry are struggling, isn’t the best look.

I understand that the soaring popularity of streaming services has had a direct effect on the way music is created, the nature of the music itself, and the distribution process (as I mentioned in my blog post last month!). However, Daniel Ek’s blanket statements completely undermines the value of music as more than just a product, or a commodity. It’s in their name – music artists make art. You’d think that Spotify would want to present themselves as a platform that celebrates music as art, and supports both the artist as well as respects the listeners. Despite this, Ek’s comments belittle the listeners, like they are toddlers who will lose interest if not continuously fed with new music.

There are plenty of hugely successful artists who spread out their releases over multiples years. Ed Sheeran had 3 year gaps between his album releases. Frank Ocean’s 4 year gap between Channel Orange and Blonde seemed to add extra excitement, attention and adoration to the latter release.

Of course, these examples come from very big, well-established artists, who started their careers before streaming really dominated music consumption. Having said that, Billie Eilish waited nearly a whole year after her debut album (the biggest album of 2019 boasting over 2 billion streams), before she released any new music.

Ultimately, Daniel’s statements ignore the diversity of valid routes available to an artist for advancing their career. For a lot of artists, regular online engagement, and frequent releases is definitely the way to go. However, monthly releases may work for some, but not for all. Even in a Spotify-heavy landscape, I still believe that a lot of music fans, me included, would rather get one incredible album every three years, rather than more frequent mediocre projects.

Speaking of… it has been 4 YEARS since Frank Ocean’s Blonde?!?!