Future Digital Releases?

[anthontherun]

If he does repeat IL, I hope they're spaced out a little more cleanly...the first came out two years after SOL. Then, eight months later, there were four in the span of two months; then nothing for nearly two years.

My preference would still be for no 'leaks,' or just one before the lead single, but maybe the detractors would be a little less opposed if it were done on a more consistent basis. If they'd been released, say, 6-8 months apart each time instead of 80% of them coming in a two-month period, perhaps it would be more successful as a way of tiding us over between albums.

But I really, really like the album every 3-5 years with an exclusive EP in between idea.

[Marko_The_Odd]

I don't mind the idea of him releasing some of the orignals in advanced since they are usually recorded fairly early in the process. I just think it would be better if he released them further apart and maybe avoid releasing any parodies early. Then again we don't know for sure if "Whatever You Like" would still exist had he not decided to release it in 2008.

Also, had ting gone orginally as planned, we proabably wouldn't have heard the lead single so far in advance and many of us heard the polka fairly early via concerts or bootlegs.

[CharlesNelson]

Replying to my own topic the next day xD

After reading all these great replies, from both sides of the argument, I thought of another thing he could possibly do: Another IL type thing, but with just three songs, like one parody (not the lead one, though) so he could get it out while the original is still relevant, and then two originals, neither very prominently featured on the album. That way we still get the anticipation part, but it isn't half the album either. Thoughts? Comments? Threats?

[weirdojace]

Since Al considered the Whatever You Like experiment a success, I think we'll see him releasing more parodies that way in the future. It's a good way to keep topical.

[Way_Moby]

Since Al considered the Whatever You Like experiment a success, I think we'll see him releasing more parodies that way in the future. It's a good way to keep topical.

I really like the idea, and I would be totally receptive, but I want him to include new parodies on his next album.

[Quab]

I WOULD have liked the IL leaks experience if it had gone how it was originally planned. I was under the impression that the point of IL was to release parodies of songs while they were still popular and topical. Instead we got half of the next album, and 80 percent originals. Maybe one or two songs just leak..maybe.
I like hearing the entire album for the first time. In fact, the more that I think about it, I never want IL leaks to happen again.
Also less animated videos.
Or maybe this situation- he releases a parody and to originals as a pack, but they don't go on the next album. Maybe 15 songs is too much, but over the course of five years dosen't sound too bad...

[Yankomaniac]

I like waiting till the album just comes out. Leaking songs is dumb with the exception of one awesome song to promote the album with. The Internet Leaks songs are the best ones, I dont think the other songs on the album even compare, they are all good, just not as awesome.

[Killingsworth]

Al did say on the "Sound of Young America" podcast that the cycles between albums have gotten so long now that it's gotten to a point where Al can't really parody certain songs that he thought could've had potential since they tend to get too dated to use and Al finds himself having to move on to another song. He also implied that the polkas tend to be dumping grounds for these types of songs. He also said that he might be open to trying new experiments with digital releases in the future and I personally wouldn't be totally against that. I would be fine with Al just releasing another "Internet Leaks" collection of parodies he wanted to do and then maybe scrapping those and coming up with new ones for the next full album release (although I understand if that might be more trouble or pressure than Al finds it to be worth).

[Bruce the Duck]

A better solution - don't wait 5 stinkin years between albums.

[NMRodo]

If Al experiments more with digital releases, I think he should keep it exclusive to parodies. Granted, this wouldn't give his original songs much attention (and they're pretty overlooked already), but seeing that those are almost always style parodies, they tend to remain relevant for much longer than parodies.