Regarding the short length.... I think the days of trying to cram as much onto one CD as possible are gone.
What I personally think is kind of cool is that, to me, this makes sense from both a business angle and an artistic angle. Even back when CDs were first coming out and people were trying to fill them up completely with 80 minutes worth of music, it really was too much to digest all in one sitting. By doing it this way you’re doing two things. You’re selling more CDs obviously. But you’re also putting out something that can be fully digested in one sitting. Then saving the rest for later.
I get that some people might feel like it was a “cash grab” to release them separately.....but honesty....how many units are a band like BTBAM moving, and how much extra do they really stand to gain from that. Everyone knows that the money nowadays is from touring....not from album sales. It might be slightly driven by money (the more costs you can recoup from recording expenses the better)...but with CD sales being as low as they are, I don’t think they are exactly getting rich off of this move. But again, on an artistic level, I think it makes sense. If you have 70 minutes worth of music that is supposed to tie in as a singular concept....that’s a lot to digest in a single release. Putting out half of it on one album, and then releasing the other half a few months later (I think) is a smart move. I’m all about throwing my money at the starving artist anyway, so I don’t mind if they are trying to milk it into a couple of releases. If the product is good, then they deserve it.