I’ve seen recently a lot of these end of the year lists that are really early. It’s weird, because there are still some projects that still are going to be released in December and the last week of November, so that doesn’t make any sense to me. Any thoughts?
Q Magazine , Uncut and Mojo for example recive sample album weeks before release official
and it’s true that december don’t release best album year.
Q Magazine , Uncut and Mojo for example recive sample album weeks before release official
They do receive those albums earlier, but I can’t help but some of these lists just feel rushed. They should release these lists at the very end of December or even the start of the next year, so they can maybe make their minds more on some albums.
and it’s true that december don’t release best album year.
Albums like Beyoncé’s self-titled and D’Angelo’s Black Messiah prove that wrong. Not for me at least, as I don’t think that these are AOTY-worthy albums for the years that they have been released, but some critics and publications could consider them to be the AOTY, but since they published their lists early, they don’t put them in such high position. Black Messiah, for example, could be Pitchfork’s AOTY in 2014, for example. It did not end up on the list, however, and it ended up on their 2015 list and it ended up being behind a lot of other albums.
Seems like they come earlier and earlier every year, and there are more december albums added to next year’s list each year. Makes no sense to me.
I know that some, like Picadilly, post early so that people maybe buy the records on their site for the holiday season. Others, like NME and Rolling Stone, have a print issues coming out in December that will surely have their lists in them, and print takes a while to be publication ready, so they likely publish their list online once they’ve decided on it for their print releases. I’d bet sites like CoS and DiS want to get out ahead of the larger competition like Pitchfork and have their opinions heard before they’re drowned out. Similar to primary elections in the U.S., earlier contests get to set a tone or gain momentum for an album (or, in the metaphor, candidate), and so entitites that move earlier get to play a bigger role in influencing what consensus opinion develops.
Remember, most of these sites are looking to make $ by boosting their clicks and strengthening their influence, and the sanctity and accuracy of their lists comes 2nd to that goal. On the contrary, Pitchfork and Needle Drop are already the preeminent taste-makers with the largest influence, so you’ll see them be careful to wait on their lists and value some kind of objective accuracy with fewer asterisks caused by December releases in an effort to maintain their positions at the top of the mountain.
I’m not a music industry professional, this is just my educated guess on the topic.