Why do artists not release albums as frequently anymore?
 

Back in the 1960s it was pretty common for artists to release an album every few months. By the 80s once a year seemed pretty typical. Move to the 90s and every two years seemed more typical, but nowadays it's typically a 3-4 year wait. Why don't most release them as frequently now as they used to?

Recording albums costs money.

Hype.

In my opinion everything feels more polished and overproduced now. Is this actually the sort of music that most people value, though?

It's not about value, it's about whether the listener enjoys it. The Weeknd's most recent album is one of my faves, and so what if its overproduced.

True. I need to get around to listening to more of him.

Go and listen to all those albums all those guys released 2 and 3 a year in the 60s. I'll bet you discover there's a handful of decent tracks surrounded by filler cause they only released the album around a few singles.

You've listened to everything?

I'm giving a generalisation.

You should listen to more things because your generalization is wrong.