a little update about the way in which albums are released… when i say that the release date for my next album will, hopefully, be may of 2002, it is worth noting that the record will, hopefully again, be completed in november of this year (2001).
why the delay between finishing the record and releasing it? well, here’s a little insight into the way in which a record goes from being finished to being released. assuming that i finish the album in november (which is what i’m hoping for, but who knows, i’m not the speediest guy in the world) i have until december to figure out the order of the songs and the title of the songs and the title of the album. then in december i send the recordings to the record companies who then listen to the songs over the christmas holidays.
in january when everyone’s back we then begin the process of taking photos for the album, putting the artwork together, and doing promotion for the album. the promotion for the next album involves me travelling to approximately 25 countries to do interviews, etc. and that takes time. i will probably be travelling from january up until the release of the record, and during that time the artwork will be finished, videos will be made, etc. so, this is probably a very dull update, but i just wanted to draw attention to the fact that when an album is finished and when it’s actually released are two very different things.
sometimes there can be gaps of a year or more from when a record is finished until it’s actually release date. this is oftentimes due to record companies with a backlog of releases. so the unreleased records sort of get in line to wait for their day in the sun. and as i said, i hope to release the next record in may of 2002, but i can’t make any promises.
i’ve got a long few months to try to do the finished mixes for the next record, and the mixing period is where i really beat myself up. and one reason that it takes me a long time to make a record is that i choose to do everything by myself. normally when a record is made there’s a division of labor: the drummer drums, the singer sings, the producer produces, etc, and everyone can be working on different things at the same time. in my case i do everything by myself (which doesn’t mean that i do everything well, i just do it by myself), and so finishing a record can take a while.
or it can happen very quickly. some songs were written and recorded in an afternoon. some songs can be worked on for years.
ok, this is a long update, and i apologize if it’s tedious as well.
moby