STRYPER's Michael Sweet has lamented the fact that people don't take the time to check out full-length albums anymore, explaining that "it's really a bummer" that so many music fans "just download or listen to the single and don't even hear the other songs." Full-length albums seem to be a dying art these days, with streaming services like Spotify altering the way people consume music. Even though digital downloads had a short run as the top-selling format in the music industry, they were overtaken by music streaming services just a few years later. As a result, an increasing number of artists no longer release full-length albums, but continue to issue singles in a time where iTunes, Spotify and YouTube are the primary access points for music. "It's interesting times we live in as bands are trying to figure out how to thrive and make it work," Sweet told Myglobalmind in a new interview. "CDs are becoming obsolete, and in a few years, they will be. Best Buy won't carry them anymore, and that will trickle down across the board. It's all about streaming and to some degree about downloading, but not much. "The scary part about streaming is the artist doesn't get paid very much," he continued. "It's sad when you spend three months of your life making an album and investing so much into it only for people to stream or download one song. It's really a bummer. The art of holding something in your hand is a thing of the past. There was something really special about buying vinyl and CDs to look at the artwork and read the lyrics or liner notes. You would then listen to every song, even the song that you didn't like at first would become your favorite six months later because you kept listening to the entire album. Now people just download or listen to the single and don't even hear the other songs. "I wish there was a way to for people to download the entire album, but you can't do that because people would be up in arms," Michael added. "I wish people would just give every song a chance." STRYPER's new album, "God Damn Evil", will be released on April 20 via Frontiers Music Srl. The follow-up to 2015's "Fallen" marks the band's first effort since the addition of former FIREHOUSE bassist Perry Richardson. Perry joined the group as the replacement for STRYPER's longtime bassist Tim Gaines, who was fired from the band last year. Perry did not play bass on STRYPER's new album due to scheduling constraints. The bass tracks on "God Damn Evil" were laid down by John O'Boyle, who played bass on Sweet's last two solo albums.
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