Deleting One Song

Emily and I were discussing the new Wilco record, Sky Blue Sky, today. We got an advance copy and have been listening non-stop in our house the past couple days.

Emily said she loves it, but hates one song on the record called Shake It Off. She mentioned that she had the same problem with A Ghost Is Born and the song called Spiders (Kidsmoke).

I suggested she just hit the delete key and zap the song from the record in iTunes.

Now album purists like Jackson are going to cry foul. Skip the damn song if you don't like it, but don't maim the record, they'll likely say.

This is the dilemma with digital art. The consumer can modify it to suit their tastes and destroy what the artist was trying to accomplish. But on the other hand if deleting one song (microchunk) makes the listening experience notably better and leads to more listens, isn't that a positive?

What do you all think?

Comments

[John Zeratsky]

Brett, that reminds me of when I was first ripping discs to MP3 (back in the days when it used to take 30 minutes or an hour to rip a whole disc, and it was a two-step process!)...

To save time and space, I often left out my least-favorite tracks. I regretted that, and ended up re-ripping most of those albums.

[scott]

the call is to uncheck it in iTunes so it doesn't come up anymore in playlists, but not delete it.

[Eric Dawson]

I imagine a wave of very prolific artists will emerge. Where they simply throw out their ideas and iterate them and let their fan communities choose what they like.
(ie GBV et al)

And this means letting people create and share their own playlists, deleting songs from albums and promoting b tracks to high rotation.

Not to discount the purity of the album however. Some albums are indeed, "albums" rather than simply a collection of songs.

[iain]

* Good One! Spiders/Kidsmoke ...
* I really really hated that song until I saw them live! I was in state of shock when Wilco focussed on all the "difficult" songs during the "ghost is born" tour. I was into all the accessible songs only.
* Anyways ... there are "difficult" songs and "easily accessible" songs out there. the "difficult" songs usually have a longer shelf life ... but they take effort.
* I never delete songs .... but I do make lots of playlists to spare myself everynow and again.

[Tony]

Remember, When it comes to Art and Music the listener is not always right. Most people hated Miles Davis when he came out. Now look. There are many other examples. Songs grow on you. Things I hated years ago I love now. I hate to open myself up here, but I use to love Heavy Metal. Now I can't stand it. It is possible that we are becoming "naughty," listeners, taking the easy way out and quitting to early. I want to encourage artists to make more albums less singles. Without the "Albums" my musical life would be so bland.

[Hoag]

Delete away. I am sure the band could care less as long as someone is happy listening. I do think the album Wilco would prefer to sell to a fan today, is most likely a version of plastic and paper. Something complete that you hold on to while you listen.