How can something (streaming) be considered the “equivalent” of something else (an album sale) when, by your own measure, the former now completely dominates the latter?
In 2018, “streaming-equivalent albums” seems like daft phrasing. It is e-mail-equivalent faxes. It is car-equivalent steeds. It is Netflix-equivalent Betamax.
We all know that the album is dying. But the album is a fairly recent construct. As Doug and I discussed in the very first episode of The Next Track podcast, we move from the single as the main element of music sales to the album, and we’re just moving back to the single again. The music industry will adapt.
Source: The Album is in Trouble, and the Music Business Probably Can’t Save it — Rolling Stone