Two Much?

Back in the day, bands like the Beatles and the Rolling Stones often released two, even three albums a year; now, it's more like one every two or three years. Recently, a number of rappers -- Nas, DMX, Ice Cube -- have gone old school, putting out two records within 365 days.

And the trend is spreading to rock: In 1999, Ani DiFranco unleashed three separate CDs, and in 2000, Everclear will drop two new discs. ''The label [Capitol] was totally into it,'' says Everclear singer-guitarist Art Alexakis. ''It's a long shot, but if it works from a financial point of view, everyone's happy.''

Uh, are two albums a year really twice as nice from a label perspective? ''There are artists whose fans are so dedicated, they'll buy almost anything by them,'' says Tom Corson, marketing VP at Arista. ''But I don't think many labels would want to support it across the board.'' How come? ''Because the average fan wants GOOD music.''