While listening to the posthumous greatest hits album by 2Pac titled Greatest Hits, I thought about the pros and cons of listening to a greatest hits compilation album when one is absolutely unfamiliar with an artist's work.
On the one hand, listening to the greatest hits album might ensure a greater probability of enjoyment. It is, after all, a collection of greatest hits. In particular, despite being unfamiliar with an artist, there's a greater chance that the unfamiliar listener will have heard some of the tracks on the compilation - due to their popularity.
On the other hand, if the greatest hits album is two or more discs, the amount of new music may be a lot to digest. Regardless of length, a greatest hit album often lacks a cohesive theme found in a particular album. The listener may then feel as if he/she is listening to a series of singles as opposed to listening to an album.
At the end of the day, the dedicated listener may best use a greatest hits album as a sample and gateway towards listening to an artist's individual albums. In particular, the listener may figure out which song or songs he/she likes best and see if there's a common album among them. Perhaps the listener most enjoys songs from a particular time period and style.
As a remark, the artist is able to create a good first impression by promoting his/her album by releasing singles. If I've been passively listening on Spotify and happen to have heard some of the album's singles, then I'm more likely to have a good first impression of the album. Of course, I'm less likely to have heard a song or single if I started out unfamiliar with an artist.
Related to the previous remark, the probability to hear a song or single of an unfamiliar artist goes up if the artist is closely related to music I already listen to. For example, I frequently listen to pop albums and after the album plays, Spotify will begin playing other similar songs. Then I will more likely have good first impressions of other pop albums than I will with say other hip-hop albums (assuming I listen to hip-hop albums less frequently than pop albums).
20260606 Comment: Reading this six years later, I think I was still trying to figure out how greatest hits albums fit into an album-focused listening project. I still generally agree that they work well as gateways into an artist's catalog, though I've since found that some artists are poorly represented by their hits while others are almost perfectly represented by them. I also think streaming playlists and top tracks (e.g., an artist's top 10 most popular track list on Spotify) have largely displaced greatest hits compilations as the modern discovery mechanism.
On the one hand, listening to the greatest hits album might ensure a greater probability of enjoyment. It is, after all, a collection of greatest hits. In particular, despite being unfamiliar with an artist, there's a greater chance that the unfamiliar listener will have heard some of the tracks on the compilation - due to their popularity.
On the other hand, if the greatest hits album is two or more discs, the amount of new music may be a lot to digest. Regardless of length, a greatest hit album often lacks a cohesive theme found in a particular album. The listener may then feel as if he/she is listening to a series of singles as opposed to listening to an album.
At the end of the day, the dedicated listener may best use a greatest hits album as a sample and gateway towards listening to an artist's individual albums. In particular, the listener may figure out which song or songs he/she likes best and see if there's a common album among them. Perhaps the listener most enjoys songs from a particular time period and style.
As a remark, the artist is able to create a good first impression by promoting his/her album by releasing singles. If I've been passively listening on Spotify and happen to have heard some of the album's singles, then I'm more likely to have a good first impression of the album. Of course, I'm less likely to have heard a song or single if I started out unfamiliar with an artist.
Related to the previous remark, the probability to hear a song or single of an unfamiliar artist goes up if the artist is closely related to music I already listen to. For example, I frequently listen to pop albums and after the album plays, Spotify will begin playing other similar songs. Then I will more likely have good first impressions of other pop albums than I will with say other hip-hop albums (assuming I listen to hip-hop albums less frequently than pop albums).
20260606 Comment: Reading this six years later, I think I was still trying to figure out how greatest hits albums fit into an album-focused listening project. I still generally agree that they work well as gateways into an artist's catalog, though I've since found that some artists are poorly represented by their hits while others are almost perfectly represented by them. I also think streaming playlists and top tracks (e.g., an artist's top 10 most popular track list on Spotify) have largely displaced greatest hits compilations as the modern discovery mechanism.
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