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Most artists go and record an album because they thing it’s “the thing to do.” While I don’t disagree that it’s a thing to do in your pursuit of a career as an original artist, but it’s a good idea to pause for a moment and ask yourself “why.”

There are many good reasons why you should record an album, but off the top of my head, I can think of three big ones:

1. You want to sell it to make a profit.
2. You want to use it as a promotional tool to get as many people as possible to know your act or come to your gig.
3. You want to showcase your talent/songs.

Now, they are not exactly mutually exclusive, let’s just say that it’s extremely hard to do all of them extremely well at the same time.

Consider for a moment.  If your goal is to make a maximum profit, you may want to reserve some money to promote the album instead of spending it all on production.  In fact, you may want to spend as little as possible on the production as you can get away with, so that it’ll increase your profitability.

On the other hand, if your goal is #2, you may want to forget about profits — and give away your recordings for free.  That way it’ll make the maximum impact on your promotions, and your visibility may help you move forward.

Or if you want to make an album as a showcase, then you’ll want to put everything you got into your production, and never mind what happens afterward.  Having a great showcase of your talents can be your greatest asset — it may woo and impress the important people, if not that many of them, that you’ll want to attract.

I’m sure for most of us, our goals are varying mixes of three.  When I made my first album, my goal was to see if I can do it by myself.  I did everything on my own, and I never let anyone else listen to my work in progress until the very final stages of mixing.  My experiment was to see if I made a record that appealed to nothing but my own taste, if people would like it.   Judging by the responses I got from my listeners, I think my experiment was a success.

But beyond that, I didn’t have very clear idea how I was going to use my album to further my career.  I spent about 9 months on a diligent MySpace campaign, then got burned out doing that, and took a break from my own music.  As I am pondering resuming and thinking about my next album, I realize how my lack of vision/strategy really made me spend my time and resources in an inefficient way.  Lesson learned, I hope to make a bigger impact when I release my next one.

What about you?  What are you setting out to accomplish with your album?  Ponder for a moment and write them down — it’ll help you make decisions throughout your recording, releasing and promoting process.

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Perhaps it doesn’t have quite the significance it had once, but musicians still like to put out an album — a collection of songs — rather than just releasing singles.  And when you have a collection, the order in which the songs appear obviously makes a difference to how the overall collection is perceived and received.

It’s just like the days of making mix tapes — you carefully choose your songs, order them so that they flow well from one to the next.  This is definitely more of an art than sceience, but that being said, there are certain thought schemes that going into sequencing an album.

Let’s say, we’re putting together a 12-song rock album.  The following will be my chains of thoughts in putting it together.

1. The opener, obviously is very important — definitely one of the stronger songs, if not the strongest.  This song should be a good representative of what the rest of the album sounds like.  However, some albums choose to open with little nuggets or prelude, something unexpected and catches audience off-guard by being the complete opposite of what the rest of the album is.  That can work, too, as long as it’s short enough.  I personally like albums where the first song isn’t the most obvious single — because then the rest of the album feels like a let down.  (And many albums are!)
2. The #2 spot, after the warm-up of the opener, may perhaps be the greatest spot for the biggest single.  Assuming you didn’t put in a little prelude in the #1 spot, the #2 is a place where you’ll want to reinforce what you delivered with #1 — not a place for a change of pace, experiment or contrast.
3. In a rock album, the first two songs should be the one-two punch of uptempo songs to get listeners grooving.  The #3 spot, then, is a good place for a mid-tempo anthem.  Something a little different from the first two, perhaps slower and steadier — but just as strong.
4. After setting the tone with the first three songs, #4 spot is a great place for a change of pace.  Perhaps something a bit more experimental, or if the first three were up-tempo, this may be a good place for a hit ballad.
5. If #4 was a ballad, here’s a place for experiments.  If #4 was more of an experimental song, then #5 is a good place for a ballad.
6. Maybe because I grew up listening to cassettes, I’d like this spot to be something that feels like a closer to the 1st half, before hitting hard again with the next song.
7. The first song of the second half should really pick things back up and hit hard again.  If this is a 14-song album, then the same would be said about the song #8.  So, whichever ends up falling as the first song of the second half.
8. And here’s a follow-up to song #7, recreating the one-two punch of the beginning.
9. #8 or #9 is a great spot for another single.  Usually most albums line up singles between 1-4 and then run out of steam — if an album has a single in the #8 or #9 spot, that gives the impression of an album having a great depth — and very worthy of buying the whole thing.
10. If #7 and #8 were up tempo, here’s another good place to slow down a bit.
11. #10 and #11 are probably places for experiments or not single-worthy songs.  Ideally, no song on your album will be weak, but these are spots for ones that are less “obvious.”
12. Albums seldom have enough good songs to really finish strong, so that’s what I’d like to see in an album.  Closers should aim to leave a great “aftertaste” from listening to the whole thing.  Many rock acts finish with a ballad, which is a move I’m not a fan of, though it makes sense.  While “save the best for last” doesn’t make a lot of sense from a marketing point of view, I’d say pick the last song carefully — let it be a song you don’t mind people remembering you by.  Because the last thing they hear is what’ll stay in their head.

Obviously, sequencing a very subjective thing.  What may feel like a smooth flow may feel jarring to another listener.  That being said, it’s definitely possible to screw up the overall impression of the album as a lager work when you are careless with sequencing.  Every element of putting an album together makes a difference — thus, every piece is worth considering carefully.

Just for kicks, here is a quintessential 12-song rock album that sold gazillion copies.  And they did sequence them well.

Guns n Roses: Appetite for Destruction

1. Welcome to the Jungle
2. It’s So Easy
3. Nightrain
4. Out ta Get Me
5. Mr. Brownstone
6. Paradise City
7. My Michelle
8. Think About You
9. Sweet Child O’Mine
10. You’re Crazy
11. Anything Goes
12. Rocket Queen

The biggest single is sitting at #9 there, but I don’t think the millions of people who bought it minded listening through all the 8 songs getting to the most known songs.  A collection of great songs, sequenced to perfection, is a pleasure to listen to.

Definitely something to aspire to.