BODY OF WORK: HOW THE ALBUM OUTPLAYED THE ALGORITHM.
BODY OF WORK: HOW THE ALBUM OUTPLAYED THE ALGORITHM.
“As of 2026, the album feels, in many ways, stronger than ever and getting stronger. Vinyl is back. Eight to twelve tracks per album is back. Sleeve notes are back. Cover art is back. The concept album is back. The classic album may even be back. This is good for artists and good for fans. And good for the music business once it realises fully what has happened here”.
Book Launch 19th Feb, 2026, with The Rock & Roll Book Club and special guests, Flyte (four albums in, building their legend). TICKETS HERE
“Why does the album endure in the streaming age? Keith Jopling’s neat treatise on the album as an artistic format provides the answer, taking in the history of the album, the technological changes of the music industry, the artistic drive that the LP format fulfils and some personal reflections along the way. A clear headed summation of the album’s evergreen appeal” - Will Hodgkinson, Chief Rock & Pop Critic, The Times
“Keith Jopling, at once advocate and analyst, has written an affectionate and insightful account of the album’s survival in a hostile age of streaming and algorithms.” - Ludo Hunter-Tilney, Arts & Pop Critic, The Financial Times
"The internet can scale just about anything but it can't scale the intimacy of exploring an artist's body of work, and the album's resilience is captured in this remarkable book" — Will Page, author of Tarzan Economics
“Jopling explores why the album is the historical anomaly that battled through multiple format shifts to (mostly) endure artistically, culturally and economically. Body Of Work is part eulogy for the album's past glories and part electioneering for the album's future relevance” - Eamonn Forde, The Guardian
"This book made me fall in love with the art of the album again, and I'm sure it will do the same for you. A must read for any true music fan" - Shain Shapiro, author of This Must Be the Place
BODY OF WORK: AN ODE TO THE ALBUM IN THE AGE OF STREAMING AND A.I. READ ABOUT THE BOOK, PRE-ORDER, COME TO THE EVENTS!
BODY OF WORK: AN ODE TO THE ALBUM IN THE AGE OF STREAMING AND A.I. READ ABOUT THE BOOK, PRE-ORDER, COME TO THE EVENTS!
An alternative history of the album, focussing on the format’s turbulent life through the digital music era since 1999 through to today, Body of Work explores why we should still bother to listen to music in 40 minute chunks.
The album is a perfect vessel for the art of song. It is the format all artists aspire to, even after nearly three decades of being hammered by the onslaught of digital music. As of 2025, the album is still strong and getting stronger. Jack Antonoff, one of the music world’s most successful producers, collaborators and a substantial music artist in his own right (under the artist name Bleachers) knows this. He recently expressed, in no uncertain terms, that “the album is God.”
In Body of Work, Jopling tells music industry insider stories, concisely sums up cultural and commercial trends, retells the album’s history in a fresh and personal way and looks to its future. The book takes on the absurdity of measuring album sales in the subscription market dominated by Spotify (which doesn’t report albums sales). It draws on dozens of in-depth interviews with established music artists about why the album is still, indeed, God, and why it probably always will be.