Your Take: Why Haven’t Greatest Hits Albums Become Obsolete?

I can understand why the record companies keep putting out the greatest hits, but who’s still buying them, that’s a good question. I know I used to buy greatest hits of artists I like, but don’t want buy whole cids; just wanted the favorites. Now I download them to my ipod. I think there will always be people who just want those greatest hits, and won’t buy all the albums an artist releases for those deeper cuts.

I still love vinyl, for the liner notes, the album art, having to get up and flip the album over to hear the other side, the whole thing, but that’s me. I wonder if record stores really will be driven out of business by digital music? I love wandering into a record store, picking up the cds, sampling different songs. I hope the stores don’t disappear too soon.

And there are still some folks who don’t have an i-pod or burn cds (yet). When I got mine a couple years ago I couldn’t figure it out and had to go and had to go to the Apple store complaining that it wasn’t working right, because I couldn’t “click” to the next song. So the 12-year-old guy working there kindly told me I had to move the dial “around”, no clicking involved.) I’m hooked on my ipod now. Even Willie has released a couple songs only available on i-tunes.

Of course, I will continue to buy every album Willie puts out, including the greatest hits. :)

Linda - Brady just recently got a record player, so I haven’t ever been big on buying vinyl’s, but I got two of them last month at Waterloo just because they were extremely cheap and because I liked the artists :P

Matt - You bring up a point I didn’t think about, the people who dabble in one genre and don’t know very much about an artist in another, but know they like a few of the songs. I guess there really is a point to Greatest Hits, albeit a small one. I’m sure there’s all sorts of studies and such on the benefits, or else they wouldn’t keep putting them out.

So basically Greatest Hits albums aren’t focused on pleasing the fans, but on helping convert occasional to non-listeners into fans. I can buy that. You guys have put a perspective on it that I wasn’t seeing before.

Greatest Hit Albums DO work when the artist/label does one or all of the following:

1 - Compelling packaging with a big booklet retrospective, lots of older concert photos, etc

2 - Re-mastered or re-recorded audio

3 - Companion DVD or bonus product

John Mellencamp recently released his Words & Music hits compilation with all re-mastered tracks. The difference in sound quality from the previous albums was tremendous and no digital store sold those songs in that quality furthering the need to get the actual disc.

Unfortunately the majority of hits packages released don’t adhere to any of the above, thus rendering them a pretty pointless product.

There are artists who have recorded some songs that I like but who aren’t such stellar performers that I usually purchase their albums (or fill their albums with a lot of lesser fodder). For such artists I wait for the Greatest Hits collections before making a purchase

For me this would include artists such as Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, Kenny Chesney, Olivia Newton John, Roy Drusky, Johnny Lee, Brooks & Dunn, Reba McEntire, Ernie Ashworth and many others.

On the other hand I race out to purchase every George Jones, Tracy Lawrence or Merle Haggard album; consequently, I usually don’t purchase hit collections for these artists unless I find them used or in cut-out bins

When I look at the video Country Music Greatest Hits on youtube.com - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxB7Eq4CVcs

I can instantly recognize hundreds of greatest hits that I can hum. That is what greatest hits outstanding.