what was the purpose of the "single" originally and how people made money from it?

prodeucer

New member
what was the purpose of the "single" originally and how people made money from it?

The singles that were released in the 90's often had a few songs sort of like an EP, they often sold for less than $5, I wonder how those companies made money off it. From what I understand the singles was to determine how a full length album would do.

Sometimes people only liked the single songs. I would think a music video could be a form of a "single" as well but then again people want the physical version they can play on their radio which is probably why a CD single was released to accommodate the video. I haven't really seen anyone release a single in a while it's probably because there's not many record stores that would have the section for it. I would think the full length made more sense because you get the single AND other songs all in 1 price. It was usually the pop and major labels that released singles, not much indie labels. I would think printing unnecessary copies of a thin cased disc would be a waste. Some artists sold more singles than the actual album which makes no sense because with the single it's so cheap how much money were companies really making off it? Could this be why it went obsolete?
 
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Usually hits would be put onto CDs or tapes by themselves because people really just wanted to hear the hit rather than listen to the whole entire album. This is still somewhat the case but it's all digital now. For example, everyone has heard Nicki Minaj's "Anaconda" but not nearly as many people have listened to her entire "The Pink Print" album...

Singles will always have a purpose in the music industry because some songs are just more desired by the audience than others.
 
Singles weren't just something the majors did. Many indie labels, especially punk, metal, and hiphop, in the '80's and '90's practically survived off singles. I have a basement of 12-inch vinyl hip hop singles from the late '90's to early '00's.
In fact, singles haven't really gone anywhere. We don't see them anymore in a physical sense, but they're still around. Usually, the single was the only way to get a much desired b-side remix. Sometimes, like in the case of early Rocafella and Epic singles, the b-sides were often a much bigger success than the A-side single you were originally buying it for.
 
To be honest with you, albums are (were) a new phenomenon in the music industry that came on the scene in the 50's 60's if I remember correctly.

Single songs were pressed up on records, until a new and more efficient means of putting more music on records came around called the EP (extended play) record.

Only after that came the LP (long play) record.

So all this talk about the loss of album sales dropping ruining the industry is just talk; the industry was always built on singles and albums were just a way to package songs together to charge more for the product.

What album was "Twist" on?

What album was "Blue Suede Shoes" on?

What album was "Strange Fruit" on?

Nobody cares.

It's always been singles driver the sale of other music products, except for a few possible exceptions.
 
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