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Greatest Hits Album: Difference between revisions
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To increase the possible appeal of the album, especially to people who already ''own'' the bulk of the artist's work (and thus likely to both be the biggest fans and already own all the hits), it is common to include remixes, alternate takes, live versions of popular songs, or completely new songs. Of course, this is likely to piss off the completists as they might be forced to pay full album price for a single song. The rise of digital music distribution has mollified this problem to a certain extent. Greatest Hits are good purchases for casual fans of artists that they otherwise have no urge to buy complete albums of.
The very concept of the "greatest hits album" is a double-edged sword, as while the album is likely to contain the most ''financially successful'' of the artist's songs, each individual fan has a greater love of certain B-Sides and [[Album Filler]] that won't appear on the disc (and greater bias against the [[Black Sheep Hit]] that ''will'' inevitably be included). In hoping to appeal to the greatest number of fans, the album will end up completely pleasing no one. Also, there's the simple fact that most bands and artists suffering from [[Sophomore Slump|Second Album Syndrome]] don't have enough hits in the can to truly justify an entire album thereof, and it may seem like they're scraping the bottom of the barrel as to what may qualify as a "hit".
Artists are of mixed feelings about these albums as well. Many artists resist releasing one for fear that once they do, their regular albums will begin to be ignored. Yet they are viewed as a necessary evil, as these provide an easy starting point for fans who are curious about a particular artist's work. Musicians and bands don't always get to decide when to release a greatest-hits album. If an artist is leaving the label and does not own his own back catalog, and if he is successful at all, the label ''will'' release a greatest-hits album - sometimes explicitly against the artist's wishes.
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