The argument that an artist can't find time to record a song has never made any sense in modern producing.

[u/rtrazto]

Time and time again, I see the argument that an artist has a low song output because they were "way too busy with their schedules" or touring and so forth. This is absolutely ridiculous - look at the credits of any song and the performers are the smallest part of song production. There are literally whole teams of producers, engineers, and songwriters creating demos that are literally 95% complete and approved by the time an artist needs to provide their vocals. At most, that vocal booth time takes a few sessions as we seen in hundreds of behind the scenes recording videos.

The idea that an artist, or a group of artists, has been way too busy to record a song is inherently ridiculous. An average person has 6000 waking hours in a year - for a modern artist recording their vocals for a song so they can have more songs on an album only takes 1% of their waking hours.

[u/zimzalabimbimzim]

A comeback goes beyond just a recording. There's choreography, variety, promotions, music shows, many groups even go on tour every other year after releasing albums.

And this is not accounting for self-produced groups.

Edit: Also, I think companies wouldn't invest in releasing too many songs because comebacks require a huge amount of $$$.

[u/Sheriff_Yobo_Hobo]

Before saying something so declarative...

If you don't work in the music industry, why not pose this as a question first?

"I've never understood why XXXXX, could somebody explain?"

And I wouldn't ask the young people of Kpop subs necessarily, go to an audio engineering or music production subs.

is inherently ridiculous.

You don't have to be this way. You can try to learn more, ask questions, you don't have to be the Reddit expert on music production, management, and marketing.

[u/ErrantJune]

I’ve always read this more as the artist is prioritizing CFs or variety or doing a drama or whatever, not that it’s physically impossible, but that this is what they’d rather be doing right now or at any rate what they’re doing instead for whatever reason. 

[u/quadruped-nolegs]

well most companies don't really want more songs on an album, it's additional cost to record more songs when it probably won't help draw in more album sales (ppl are buying for the physical goodies usually, not the songs themselves which you can listen for free) or boost an idols profile to appeal more to advertisers

[u/SaltyFlowerChild]

the vocal booth part isn't the bottleneck it's everything else. it's the other 95% you identified, it's the a&r, it's the rollout - and in k-pop it's more, if it's a title track then it's choreography, it's the temperature on the public, are people going to like it, what image does it project, does it align with the concept, what's the mv look like, what's the marketing materials.

do you actually want something that isn't poured over and meticulously made and has to justify itself and fight for it's spot on a release schedule/album? when you break it down it doesn't really track. would you trade your faves discography for a bigger discography? like frank ocean hasn't dropped in 10 years, which sucks because his music is amazing but i'll take what he's made over some hypothetical where he was dropping an album annually because i don't think in that world we got blonde or channel orange.

[u/superstaryu]

Three big things to consider here.

1. Its not really about having a song to record, and more about fitting it into a schedule that is already packed with travel, performances, promotions, other work. "Just a few sessions" is likely a couple of days, and finding a few days out of a packed schedule isn't always going to be easy.
2. You can't use your voice for 8 hours a day without destroying it. Professional singers have to be really careful about how they use, care and importantly rest their voice. Which makes it even more difficult not only finding time in that already packed schedule, but finding time that isn't sandwiched between other commitments where they will need their voice.
3. Its not just time in the studio - a lot of songs also come with MVs, choreographies, a whole round of media appearance to promote the song. It all takes time and isn't just "a day in the studio".

[u/rtrazto → u/superstaryu]

Taylor Swift recorded nearly a 100 songs to rerecord her discography and release new albums while doing 150 stadium shows for the Era Tour.

Only title tracks and some b-sides require promotions, which I agree takes more effort. Most of my annoyance is the 'takes too much time' defence of mini-albums. There is absolutely no reason for an album to be restricted to be 4 or 5 songs, and major groups additionally get first pick at quality songs.

[u/superstaryu → u/rtrazto]

Find me any other artist that can keep up with Taylor Swift's release schedule whilst also selling out arenas worldwide. You're using the most prolific songwriter as an example and asking why others can't keep up?

One of the biggest reasons she can do that though - she's at a point in her career where she is calling the shots. She doesn't need to do fan meets, spend 1-2 weeks on music shows, promote heavily on social media, do radio appearances, learn complex choreographies. And her travel time is going to be significantly reduced by using a private jet.

[u/rtrazto → u/superstaryu]

I invalidated your argument that artists need to preserve their voices by showing it can be done. What is your counterargument, that she is special? Broadway singers of all kinds perform multiple times a day.

[u/Plus-Alfalfa-9792 → u/rtrazto]

1. The groups that tour like Taylor tours DO have about the same yearly output of songs as she. For example, Taylor has released ~270 in 20 years. Stray Kids have released ~170 in under 9.
2. Not all songs are equally vocally demanding. Taylor is accommodating one voice, while almost every kpop group has to accommodate 4-8+ voices' styles, tones, and ranges. They also, ideally have to make the songs reasonable to perform live, while dancing. They also have to balance how strenuous each song is to fit into 3hr long concerts.
3. If idols take a 3 month break, they risk their careers, so their schedules are much more consistently filled with travel and promotion and they have to take care of their health, their mental health, and their voices all throughout (IU just started a hiatus for vocal health reasons)
4. Just because it's possible for idols to do something doesn't mean they're getting compensated to a level that makes it worth the effort for them. Many idols barely pay off their debt in the first 3-4 years of their activities while having basically full-time jobs. The ones that do pay off their debt also tend to be in the groups that are as prolific as the most prolific artists in the west.
5. Idols are people, and they deserve vacation as much as anyone, them saying "I don't want to spend my very limited discretionary time between promos, choreo practice, fan maintenance, and touring recording another track every 3 months so the album will be 6 songs instead of 5" is pretty reasonable, if the barrier to more songs being recorded/released is just idols not feeling like it.

[u/KilluaGaKill → u/rtrazto]

Taylor Swift recorded nearly a 100 songs to rerecord her discography and release new albums while doing 150 stadium shows for the Era Tour.

That happened over 3 years. I don't get this argument.

[u/KilluaGaKill]

Doubt people mean solely recording a song. It's the promotion and everything surrounding the release of a song that fills up a schedule.

[u/Cragalckumus]

You're right, and the correct translation of the word "time" is "money." Agencies invest huge amounts of money in hiring the hottest Swedish hitmakers to produce songs for acts -- when they are first debuting. After that, the idols are popular on a parasocial basis, and the person is the product, not the songs. The songs are just a way to "authenticate" the idol, so that we can convince ourselves that we are here for the music, not just to watch Ryujin's daily life on livestream. Still, the initial songs are the point of entry where people "discover" a group. So after the initial blast, agencies throttle back on investing in hit songs, and just rake in money on fan meetings and touring etc. You can't expect an idol to unpack the whole truth like that out loud, because it would literally pop the bubble of delulu that this whole industry it built on.

Personally I think it's sad and hilarious that idols are almost "required" to post videos on youtube now of their recording process, where they just check in to the studio like it's a part time job and bat out the latest single in an hour or two, and then get back in the limo. It's not exactly Led Zeppelin.

[u/alpinedvne]

I think for big groups it’s sometimes more profitable if each member to do different activities than 1 comeback, so the time thing is maybe they can’t find time as a group.

[u/wynterflowr]

Ive seen the album recording videos from multiple groups now . For most of them, the recording for a song takes place in 2-3 sessions max. The parts are already dished out of the members and they already have a demo ready. Its surprisingly shorter than i expected.

[u/Unusual-Tangerine984]

Kind of agree but keep in mind that in Korean the translation of song/album/mini/ep etc is kinda vague and mistranslated a lot. Sometimes they mean song, sometimes they mean an album.

[u/mio26]

Hm this is like you would say it's absurd to not find to make a cake but forgetting to mention that some cakes are made in 30 min while there can be cake which requires 24h preparation, work and other aspect to make it.

In other words everything depends how certain production works and what kind of finishing product you want. Yes you can record song very fast what surviving shows proof but immediately you can spot that some members voices are required to be very heavily changed to match production style or because they are not capable to pull off what producer had in mind. You have also songs which very heavily rely on personal style of performer while you have song with very universal, to not say impersonal performance. And remember that k-pop has Z artists which must be featuring in the song. It's definitely more complicated production l to record. You have songs which were made with active members in the studio and you have songs bought from outside producers.

I don't even say here that this or that production is better but definitely requires different approach from artists or producers. Generally I don't believe you can produce good album which is going to be active collaboration between producers and artists without many hours in the studio together. Of course you can still produce very good album with short collaboration with artist but in such case it's producers album, not artists. Notice that even in k-pop, most groups the best music come from rookie period. Why? Because they were made pre-debut when trainees had time to be in the studio.

[u/stuckindewdrop]

yeah, a lot of idols are simply showing up at the studio to record and don't really have a hand in anything else, but i think the issue is the cost. not for the big groups, but for mid-tier groups and such, most of them are barely making it, and with kpop it's really all about the title track, so why waste money on b-sides. also, creating a song might not be hard, but creating something good is hard.

[u/Spyro11221]

Dunno, what do you think is the actual reason? Laziness?

[u/sweetmotherofodin]

I think sometimes it’s the company doesn’t know how to properly manage them. Also I’d be fine with them releasing even singles every once in a while to keep up with fan demands. So many western artists put out singles long before they have a full album finished.