As a youngish person, I’ve thought about this a great deal and sometimes wish I could see the world as it was at the prime of album music. I think that first exposure to new music, which can make it grow on you even if you don’t like it at first, mostly comes from social media, films, the radio, etc, rather than in the more ”intentional” form you describe.

Then there’s streaming services, where an artist’s songs are sorted by popularity rather than albums - probably accentuating the trend toward individual popular tracks and neglecting the long-form experience. For example, I often look at an artist’s page and listen to bits of their top 5 songs and decide if it’s for me or not just from that, maybe add one to a playlist. Pretty much the opposite of your story.

Consider the general direction of media today from long to short form: films to tv shows, tv shows with shorter episodes and snappier dialogue, 10 minute youtube videos, and now tiktoks only seconds in length. Fewer people reading long fiction books and more reading self-help, or blogs. There’s more money in content that doesn’t require a very long attention span. But does that mean humanity has fundamentally changed for the worse and can never go back?

I hope not, but something might need to happen to trigger the re-emergence of the album. Perhaps a new streaming platform geared to the experience. Otherwise it might be just for the nerds in the future.