Whenever a song from Tidal or When The Pawn… comes up in my playlist I wonder What the heck ever happened to Fiona Apple?. Now the blogosphere tells me that her third album, Extraordinary Machine, was shelved over two years ago. Sony didn’t “hear a single.” And sadly, they are correct. The big recording labels are all about promoting singles because that’s how they steal all the money from the artists — promotional expenses.
I’ve been listening to nothing but Fiona since Wednesday, and Extraordinary Machine is just as soulful and jazzy and instrumental as her previous albums. I’d buy it in a hearbeat, and I’ve barely added any new music to my collection since 2001.
I’m left wondering how artists get their albums to market without singles. I see four Tom Waits albums in my collection. I’m sure there isn’t a radio single among them, yet somehow Waits gets his albums into stores and collects Grammy awards.
Let’s hope that some more clueful label picks up on the buzz and buys out Fiona’s contract. It would be sad for this third unreleased album to be her last…
[via Techdirt]
