Emphasis on the upbeat

There has been so much talk in this age of digital downloads about music fans wanting only individual songs, not full albums, that even a proven best-seller like the Red Hot Chili Peppers thought twice about the wisdom of releasing a double album.

But Tom Whalley, who has helped revitalize Warner Bros. Records since becoming chairman and chief executive officer in 2001, had no hesitancy when the group asked for his opinion last year, and his optimism was justified. The Peppers' "Stadium Arcadium" CD has sold nearly $100 million worldwide and contributed to the veteran quartet's six Grammy nominations, including one for album of the year.

That means Warner Bros.' bands have been nominated in the most prestigious Grammy category for two of the last three years. Though Green Day didn't win in 2005 for "American Idiot," the nomination -- and a win last year for record of the year with "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" -- clearly pushed the post-punk outfit to a new level of respect.

Is Grammy acknowledgment good for the spirit and reputation of a record company as well as the artist involved?

Sure, we have 31 nominations as a company this year, which makes you feel great. But we don't start the beginning of the year by saying, "How many Grammy nominations are we going to win this year?" When it happens, however, it's something to be very proud of.

What is the most important thing about a Grammy for an artist? Is it sales or prestige?

If there is any additional sales, I'm happy to have it; and simply performing on the Grammy TV show can encourage people to buy your album. But, personally, I don't look at nominations or wins as, "Wow, how is this going to affect sales?" I look at it much more in terms of career achievement and as a recognition of great art.

What about the double-album question with the Chili Peppers?

The day-to-day opinion in the industry is that you should avoid a double album because the marketplace can't handle it these days. But when you have great music, you can do anything, really. The band wanted a double album and the music was so strong that I wanted to support them.

Why do you think so many young people seem to care more about getting individual songs rather than whole albums?

There are two types of fans today. There is still the hard-core fan that believes in buying the body of work, and if you give them 10 or 12 memorable songs on an album, they will buy it. But you also have the casual person who may have heard a song on the radio or who may have heard from a friend that the Chili Peppers or someone else has a great song they should buy. They'll buy just that track. If you go back to the '50s, '60s and even part of the '70s, that's the way the music business was. There was a singles audience and an album audience. It was after that that the album became dominant.

Why did the album lose some of its hold?

To me, the art form of making albums was lost for a while. There wasn't an underlying intention in the industry of saying, "Let's put one good song or two good songs on an album and then shove them out the front door." There just weren't that many artists capable of making albums that inspired people, song after song. But I think that is starting to change and the Peppers album is an example.

In an industry that is often described as failing, you seem to be awfully upbeat. Why is that?

I'm incredibly upbeat for two reasons. First, the amount of people who want music in their lives is greater than ever. For years, as an industry, we looked at, say, 15- to 25-year-olds as the target of what we do. Now the audience for music has dropped down, for various reasons including the Disney Radio, to where you have 5-year-olds who love popular music. At the same time, people in their 60s are still passionate about music. When you have that breadth of people, it's a very exciting time to me. Then, there's the artistry, which I feel is going through a period of remarkable creativity today.

Why do you think that is?

One thing was when certain parts of the marketplace were finding that it was easy to get music for free, whether it was taking it off the Internet or taking files from your friends. I thought one way to combat that was to encourage artists to make better music so that people would be more willing to pay for the music. That included making albums that were great, not just two or three or four songs, and I think a lot of artists have understood the importance of that.