Single (music)

In music, a single is a short (usually ten minutes or less) record, usually featuring one or two tracks as A-side, often accompanied by several "B-sides"—usually remixes or other songs. Most singles have only one A-side and are named after this song, but some may have a double A-side (a famous example being Strawberry Fields Forever/Penny Lane by the Beatles), where two tracks are given equal billing in the title of the single. Rarely, a single will not be identical in name to the featured track—such as the Nine Inch Nails single, Closer to God.

History

Singles have been issued on various formats, including 7-inch, 10 inch and 12 inch vinyl discs (usually playing at 45 rpm); 10 inch shellac discs (playing at 78 rpm); cassette, 3" and 5" CD singles and 7 inch plastic flexi discs. Other, less common, formats include singles on digital compact cassette, DVD, and LD, as well as many non-standard sizes of vinyl disc (5", 8", etc.)

Related Topics:
12 inch - Vinyl - 45 - Shellac - Flexi disc - Digital compact cassette - DVD - LD

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The sales of singles are recorded in charts in most countries in a Top 40 format. These charts are often published in magazines and numerous television shows and radio programs count down the list. In order to be eligible for inclusion in the charts the single must meet the requirements set by the charting company, usually governing the number of songs and the total playing time of the single.

Related Topics:
Top 40 - Television show - Radio

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In popular music, the relative commercial and artistic importance of the single (as compared to the EP or album) has varied over time, technological development, and according to the audience of particular artists and genres. Singles have generally been more important to artists who sell to the youngest purchasers of music (younger teenagers and pre-teens), who tend to have more limited financial resources and shorter attention spans. Perhaps the golden age of the single was on "45's" in the 1950s and early 1960s in the early years of rock music; albums became a greater focus as artists like The Beatles and others created albums of uniformly high quality and coherent themes (one of many examples being the concluding medley on Abbey Road), a trend which reached its apex in the development of the concept album. Over the 1980s and 1990s, the single has generally received less and less attention as albums, which on compact disc had virtually identical production and distribution costs but could be sold at a higher price, became most retailers' primary method of selling music. The single became almost exclusively a promotional tool for radio play and to appear on television via the video clip.

Related Topics:
Popular music - Rock music - The Beatles - Abbey Road - Concept album - Compact disc - Video clip

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Dance music, however, has followed a different commercial pattern, and the single, especially the 12-inch vinyl single, remains a major method by which dance music is distributed.

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As of 2005, the single seems to be undergoing somewhat of a revival. Commercial music download sites reportedly sell mostly single tracks rather than whole albums, and the increase in popularity seems to have rubbed off on physical formats http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/08/25/1093246622880.html?from=storylhs. Portable MP3 players, which make it extremely easy to load many songs from different artists and play them, are claimed to be a major factor behind this trend.

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A related development has been the popularity of mobile phone ringtones based on pop singles (on some modern phones, the actual single can be used as a ringtone). These are reportedly a very lucrative new business for the music industry.

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In a reversal of the this trend, recently a single has been released based on a ringtone itself. The Crazy Frog ringtone, which had become a cult hit in Europe in 2004, was released as a mashup with Axel F in June 2005 amid a massive publicity campaign and subsequently hit #1 on the UK charts.

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Video singles

In relation to music singles, the industry has released music videos as singles as well. Originally released on very short VHS cassettes (T-15), these eventually were released on LaserDisc as LD-singles (18-cm or 8" format, instead of the full 1'/12"/30-cm LD), and on cDVD as DVD-singles (8-cm or 3.5" format, instead of the full 12-cm/5.25" DVD).

Related Topics:
VHS - LaserDisc - CDVD

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