What's with bands releasing albums with only 10-15 songs ?

Question

Am I remember correctly. or did bands used to do 20-25 songs per album. I just feel like Im being ripped off only getting 10-15 songs per album now.

Answer 1

Bands typically release about 10-12 songs. Once this was defined by the time available on a 33-1/3 album which was about 45 minutes. A CD holds about 80 minutes of music. So it becomes a maximum of time rather than number of songs.

Punk bands with short songs will release many more songs than something like Pink Floyd which may have only 4-5 songs but still about 45-80 minutes of music.

The rest is business related. Cost, potentail albums sales in the future etc.

Answer 2

With everyone able to purchase songs one song at a time, not to mention all the songs illegally sold, it's just not worth it financially to produce an album with 20 songs anymore.