Over the past few decades, technology has advanced by leaps and bounds. These technological achievements have affected essentially every facet of how we go about our business, from shopping, to communicating, to consuming entertainment.
While the film industry has evolved around the advancement of CGI, the music industry has likewise passed through doors opened by the development of new editing and recording software. These advancements are invaluable in making refinements to a piece of work with the goal of obtaining a particular sound. But in consideration of the art itself, is the expression diluted beyond a certain threshold of electronic interference? Furthermore, can an artistic statement maintain credibility if it has been altered after the fact?
In the times before streaming, the re-release of an album was a hefty undertaking. New copies had to be manufactured – be they CDs, cassettes, or vinyl records – and distributed, and they then had to sell enough units to justify the re-release itself. Album re-releases, as per what has become standard procedure for big-name records, generally entail technical changes such as remastering or remixing, as well as the addition of leftover songs from the album sessions which are tacked on the end of a record and designated as bonus tracks.
Substantial organization had to go into these processes for decades, but procedures such as these are just another casualty of the advent of streaming. That isn’t necessarily to say that such advancements are a bad thing. Substantial time, money, and energy can be spared with just a few clicks of a button. However, technological advancements have made things so simple in this regard, the folks in charge of the music itself now have a previously unheard of level of control over the art, even after it has gone out to the public.
Producer and rapper Kanye West has brought attention to this issue in recent years through his management of his own releases. His 2016 album ‘The Life of Pablo’ was released on February 14th, though the rapper continued to work on the album after its release. On April 1st, 2016, West released an “updated” version of ‘The Life of Pablo’ which featured substantial alterations to the original collection. The re-released version, intended to be recognized as the official album, was praised by critics for its updated mix, among other things. However, one would be remiss not to ponder the implications of the tampering of a project of this magnitude (in the first ten days of availability The Life of Pablo garnered 250 million streams).
A similar instance of post-release patching occurred when rapper Young Thug released his debut album ‘So Much Fun’ in 2019. Track 3 of the album, the originally featureless “Ecstacy”, was altered post-release to include a feature from Machine Gun Kelly. Rapper/producer Travis Scott released his third album ‘Astroworld’ in 2018. The track “Yosemite” featuring Gunna and Nav received attention for the nearly inaudible quality of Nav’s contribution toward the end of the song. As you can likely guess, this error was altered after the album’s release.
Perhaps the most substantial example of album patching, however, is Kanye West’s most recent studio album ‘Donda’. The rapper previewed the album a number of times in a live setting, making changes between sets. This could be considered fair game, as the project had yet to see an official release. ‘Donda’ finally saw release on August 29th, 2021. On September 28th, 2021, the album was released once more as an updated version apart from the original album, removing and replacing various features, and altering mixes. The originally released version of the album was eventually removed from streaming services, leaving only the most recent update to stand as the official album. Then, on November 14, 2021, a “deluxe” version of the album was released. As opposed to the standard idea of a deluxe album as the original album featuring a handful of bonus tracks, the “deluxe” version of ‘Donda’ not only alters a number of existing tracks on the album, but adds others, not just at the end, but throughout the track list, altering the album’s sequencing considerably.
One could chalk such changes up to artist choice, but what type of precedent does this set? Should listeners even consume brand new music if the opinions they form upon first hearing the project are to be rendered null in days, weeks, months, or years? Could Paul McCartney rightly decide to go back and completely alter ‘Abbey Road’ on a whim?
These post-release changes have the feel of a bait-and-switch, as the album you’re supporting and speaking fondly of may not even be the same album tomorrow. Then what if the implications of those prior opinions? Aside from Kanye West, few artists seem to be truly digging into the possibilities of album patching. This technology is in its infancy, however, and in the grand scheme of things, we are only scratching the surface of the effects streaming will have on the music industry as a whole. Ultimately, it is up to artists and listeners to decide whether these tactics point to trouble, or offer yet another avenue for self-expression. What we can be sure of is that immense changes will be occurring within the music industry in the coming years. What we have seen and what we are currently seeing is only the beginning.