Do We Really Need Deluxe Albums in 2020? Hip-Hop’s Latest Trend
Intro:
Dreamville, Lil Uzi Vert, G Herbo, Pierre Bourne, A Boogie, etc. These are a small few of many artists that have released deluxe versions of their latest albums this year. In the past, it made sense to release deluxe editions of a new album on the same day of release. Real fans will buy the version with bonus songs/content.
However once streaming replaced Itunes & CDs as the largest form of music consumption around 2014-16, deluxe albums seemingly vanish from the market; due to lack of exclusivity. Now, there seems to be a resurgence and labels are finding creative, unorthodox and annoying methods of releasing them. Here are some recent examples:
Revenge of the Dreamers 3 is the album everyone loved last year; even getting a Grammy Nomination. It wasn’t surprising that they released a deluxe edition of the compilation album. This method of deluxe albums is the industry standard: Add a bunch of bonus songs to the end that didn’t make the original album. It’s a pretty simple, generic and straight forward format
However, this is a deluxe album that I actually enjoyed & felt was VERY necessary. The difference here is that fan’s already knew (and heard snippets) of songs from the mysteriously legendary Dreamville sessions & documentary. Labeling the deluxe version as a “Director’s Cut” works well as clever marketing & as a gift to the fans that didn’t hear their fav collab on the original.
So, this method of deluxe album formatting is the same as the previous, EXCEPT the bonus songs appear at the start of the album ahead of the original tracklist. I used A Boogie’s “Artist 2.0” album as an example, but this method is interestingly becoming more popular than having the bonus songs at the end.
This method works well for sales since people will be streaming the Deluxe version for the new songs anyways. The risk with this is that deluxe songs are usually filler & throwaways that didn’t make the original tracklist. This applies with Artist 2.0 as the bonus tracks are subpar compared to the actual album (which isn’t saying much).
Of the methods covered so far, this is by far the most creative & successful I’ve seen in the streaming age. Uzi decided the deluxe version of his album “Eternal Atake” would be an entirely second project titled “LUV vs. The World 2”. It has a mostly distinct sound from EA sonically and appears before the OG tracklist, like A Boogie’s.
Artist’s in the past have used free mixtapes as deluxe songs (Ex. J Cole with “Born Sinner”), but this is different because it’s a brand new album (the album fans really wanted) only week after Eternal Atake dropped. It also is genius marketing for the labels because they don’t have to promote it as a new album (which saves them money).
Last, but not least, we have the only unique method I’ve seen so far. Not really a fan of Moneybagg or his album “Time Served”, but I give his team props for mixing the new deluxe songs in with the original tracklist. The deluxe albums we covered so far either have the bonus songs at the start or end of the record.
I don’t think it’d be great for all artists, but this method increases the guarantee that new listeners will listen to the entirety of both the old and new songs. It definitely would confuses returning listeners that are accustomed to certain track numbers matching certain songs, but outside of that it’s a refreshing way to handle a deluxe album.
Overall:
Deluxe albums in the streaming era definitely are unnecessary at least 95% of the time. Although if artists and labels can create new ideas and marketing strategies, these releases will easily become less annoying to me and other music fans. Ultimately, the age of albums re-releasing with exclusive bonus songs is pretty much over. We are now left with 2020 deluxe album renaissance. Thank you all for reading and enjoy your favorite deluxe album of the year.
