so to anyone part of an older generation, this might sound silly because it used to be a commonplace thing in the music industry, but looking online, i see that in the case with a lot of albums, one or two singles will be released, then the album, but then sometimes more singles off the album will be released; why is that? surely it makes more sense to release all the singles before the album to generate buzz than to release singles after? why would someone buy a single when they already have the single on an album they bought just a couple months before? for example, oasis released “be here now” in august 1997, but the single “all around the world” was released in january of 1998 which just doesn’t really make sense to me. if anyone could answer this i’d greatly appreciate it.

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Expensive-Material-3 t1_ja7mqn0 wrote on February 27, 2023 at 1:22 PM

They wouldn’t release all the singles at once so they wouldn’t be competing against themselves on the charts. When one single started falling down the charts they’d release the next one. This kept them in the spotlight longer.

Notinyourbushes t1_ja7qtju wrote on February 27, 2023 at 1:56 PM

For the same reason you don't show all your cards in poker.

Sometimes the do (or did) release a single before hand to stir up some buzz, but you don't want the consumer to have a good idea what they're investing in.

Some people are going to buy the album the day it's released no matter what, just because of brand loyalty. If you release two singles before hand and the band has changed their sound or that album just sucks, you're going to lose sales from your main base.

Back in the day, albums and singles were aimed at two different audiences. People who bought albums almost never bought singles (except for b-sides) and vice versa. Singles people are always going to buy singles, seldom albums. If you tip your cards too early, you risk cutting into your album sales.

Same with the middle ground, you want them to buy the album because you make more. The promise is there's a whole album that sounds the same and if you release too many singles before hand, they know that's not the case (I'm looking at you Pablo Honey).

If a second single off Pablo Honey had been released after Creep and the music buying public realized that song was the exception and not the style of the album, the album sales wouldn't have been as strong as they were releasing the album first.

dogm34t_ t1_ja7l1yp wrote on February 27, 2023 at 1:06 PM

Sometimes when they released a single afterwards, it made that have a live track, various remixes, and b sides, etc.

gardenhead_ OP t1_ja7l5rz wrote on February 27, 2023 at 1:07 PM

that is true, a lot of my favourite artists have had brilliant b sides

Donnyboy_Soprano t1_ja7mdck wrote on February 27, 2023 at 1:18 PM

Nirvana made a bundle doing this. Even if it didn’t contain any unreleased material,demos or live versions, fans/collectors would still buy it. Some of them were only released in other countries so may have had something to do with a promotion or tour. There was no iTunes so this was a way for bands to cash in. Not to mention all the money made by record stores selling bootlegs. The music business was far more lucrative in the 90’s.

smaksandewand t1_ja7wlw7 wrote on February 27, 2023 at 2:41 PM

Up to a certain point there are "album" people and "single" people and as soon as an A&R department sees money, they would release singles after the album got out

WeWereSperm t1_ja8gufp wrote on February 27, 2023 at 4:59 PM

My guess was that the first couple of singles advertised the album initially, and then subsequent single releases were to keep advertising the album after the initial spike in sales - keep the buzz going.

When radio, TV, and charts were more important for promotion, it kept tracks from an album circulating publicly for at least a few months. This was always my interpretation anyway.

PricelessLogs t1_ja8t4nw wrote on February 27, 2023 at 6:16 PM

If they didn't do that, the album would cease its popularity spikes once its released. One big spike on release day, and then it slowly but consistently goes down. Release another single and you create another spike. I assume that's a better business model than releasing nearly half the album before it comes out, and that half is usually the only good stuff on the album anyways. Then after release day you watch those profits fall

[deleted] t1_ja96dil wrote on February 27, 2023 at 7:40 PM

It happens. When Blondie released their Heart of Glass single (Parallel Lines album 1978), Sunday Girl was on the B side. After the album was released, Sunday Girl got such a good response that it was then released as a single a year later in 1979 with I Know But I Don't Know on the B side.

The original Heart of Glass single was the first single to have a number 1 hit on both sides.