How many tracks should an EP be?

hustlin_moe20

A.K.A. DRILL
What is it? Aye I'm tryin to write some songs really for the first time and want to make my own EP. I don't have enough bars for an album since I'm not even a rapper so I can't spit bars like that. My question is how many tracks should an EP be not including the remixes and crap like that? I'm going to press it up and everything, go official wit it.:bat:
 
wat does the abbr. EP and LP stand for.... i never did ask
 
Well the EP LP discussion has been going on for years. EP is Extended Play, which is for a project that is longer than a single but not a complete album. Thus, the term 'extended'.

LP means Long Play which is a complete album. Now this is the issue...
There is no official time or track number before it becomes an LP. It's suggested that an LP should be at least 12 tracks but if it's less it should be an EP. BUT, people have some singles out with 3-4 tracks. Like they'll have a Radio, street, remix, and/or feature version of the song with someone else.
So my question is, for all you people that HAVE created an EP/LP and have some input, how many tracks do you suggest an EP project should contain?:cry:
 
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I haven't created one myself, but making an album is about making a cohesive form of art.Thus i wouldn't put so much emphasis on the number but on the product. Illmatic only had 10, Be had 11, but they are considered great albums...but in the end its all about making pieces to a puzzle.
Just my two cents...
 
ep is usually short i would say maybe 5-8 tracks but like flonominal said just make a cohesive form of art worry about the amount of tracks later
 
Just do what you can and feel good about, put a label on it later. I got my album set out now after writing a bunch of songs and scrapping some of them. Once youre satisfied, classify it then and put it up. Personally though, if i have more than 10 tracks i call it an LP.
 
It depends on where are you going to release it. In US there's a "rule", in UK there's another. But normally, an EP is accepted as at least 3 songs, and no more than 20-25 minutes long. More than that is a LP, few than that is a maxi-single.
 
can you say necro thread (original post was 2009-08-14, last post prior to today was 2009-08-17: dead for 5 years 4 months more or less)
 
can you say necro thread (original post was 2009-08-14, last post prior to today was 2009-08-17: dead for 5 years 4 months more or less)
Haha, didn't noticed that. I guess sometimes things return to life to crawl under our beds.
 
I've seen albums which have 9 or 10 tracks, Aeromsith 'Rocks' and Billy Idols 'Rebel Yell' have 9 tracks on them, Oasis '(What's the Story) Morning Glory? and 'Standing On the Shoulder Of Giants' have 10 tracks, and most singles (well before download) used to be 2-4 tracks. Oasis used to always release singles with 4 tracks on'em before the British charts said that singles couldn't have more than 3 tracks on'em, and couldn't be longer that 20minutes total running time, that was say about 10yrs ago that happened. Radioheads 'My Iron Lung' EP is 8 tracks, so I'd say, 2 or 3 tracks is a single, 4-8 tracks is an EP. 9 or more and it's an album.
 
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if you use vinyl pressings as the standard, then

2 tracks for a single (7"),
4-6 tracks for an ep (10"),
8-20 tracks for an lp (12")

for the upper end of the last one, think about how we used to get the hottest songs on the charts before cds: as compilation albums of the singles,

i.e. the medium dictates the amount of content you can have as much as anything else
 
I feel though that although an ep is 3 or so songs artists should put out more than usual such as 8 or 9 songs, TDE rapper Isaiah Rashad did 12 or so songs on his EP Cilvia Demo, in the end that is up to the artists work ethic though but as a fan i'd apperciate an ep with more songs than usual rather to its 3 or 4 songs
 
haha great thread that i found, because i also want to come out with a mixtape this summer. I will call it a mixtape because the beats i am using are all from youtube therefore i will not be selling. I have no time for lawsuits and blablabla...
Or are there still somethings I need to be carefull with?
 
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