Question

[Music Head]

for Jerome I think, but anyone can answer of course

trying to keep this simple, but don't know if I can

How does the singles market work in the digital age?

What I mean by that is, back in the days of vinyl, a track was released as a single on a 45 rpm record, fed to radio stations (never payola) in hopes of getting airplay, leading to sales.
These days with all songs being digital, can't radio stations play any track they want?
Are singles still released in any format that you can purchase?
Just confused about how the whole singles market thing now works.

[Jerome]

for Jerome I think, but anyone can answer of course

trying to keep this simple, but don't know if I can

How does the singles market work in the digital age?

What I mean by that is, back in the days of vinyl, a track was released as a single on a 45 rpm record, fed to radio stations (never payola) in hopes of getting airplay, leading to sales.
These days with all songs being digital, can't radio stations play any track they want?
Are singles still released in any format that you can purchase?
Just confused about how the whole singles market thing now works.

I am just as confused as you are. You can purchase individual tracks online (normally around 99cents/track). I think the radio stations basically have the equivalent of a stacked mp3 player with zillions of tracks on them, but I could be wrong here. One thing I do know is that a lot of the music recorded in the last decade or so has been heavily compressed ( as a result of the loudness wars ). The record companies though that if their track was mastered louder if would be more noticeable on the radio. Unfortunately radio stations compress the material even futher. That's why music from twenty years ago sounds better on the radio than new releases. Also less fatiguing on the ears. I know this does nothing to answer your question but I thought I would mention it as I am busy looking into this side of things at the moment.

Some articles here - http://tubemastering.com/

[Music Head]

thank you sir

maybe this will lead to some discussion by others
we can only hope

[Jerome]

thank you sir

maybe this will lead to some discussion by others
we can only hope

Wasn't there someone on the forum that was running a college radio station? Maybe he/she can enlighten us old farts!

[SteveO]

Interesting topic Mr. Music Head!...I have often wondered how the "single" fits in today?..I bought quite a few of them way back when along with albums of course.

I wonder if the radio stations just do a massive digital download?

[Jerome]

I was thinking about this thread today and something just occured to me. In days of old when playing my favourite bit of plastic I would have constantly adjusted the bass or the treble or whatever to try and optimise (or so I thought) the overall effect of the final output from the speakers. I find that these days if you try this you end up with distortion (the unpleasant kind). Either my hearing is shot or the material is so compressed that the dynamic range has been completely killed off. Am I imagining this or have I just had one glass too many? Does anyone adjust any settings other than the volume control these days? Remember those multi-channel graphic equalisers!

[CRAZY-HORSE]

ok...as far as singles go....

Corey says most entries in the singles chart these days are generally itunes purchases which is why when say Eminem releases an album that several tracks make the lower reaches of the charts...

cd-singles are still available though, as are 7"/12" singles by some artists, but generally only those who have a large enough fanbase and have been around for a long time....

cd singles usually contain three or four extra tracks unlike the old 7" singles which had a track on the "a" and "b" sides,with the 12" versions containing up to four or five tracks...
the problem i have with cd singles is that they tend to contain different mixes of the main track instead of so-called bonus tracks...

Paul Weller still releases his albums and singles in all formats as he still believes music sounds better on vinyl than on cd...his cd singles do contain three or four tracks,sometimes releasing two different versions of a cd single,each containing the main 'single' but different tracks on both cd's....which makes it bloody expensive when you are a purist like i am so when he releases an album i need to get the vinyl,cd, singles on whatever vinyl format(7 or 12"), plus whatever cd singles he releases, the problem with this is that it inflates his sales figures three or four fold...


and Jerome....
i believe you are correct that the full dynamic range has been destroyed with the advent of digital music...and most systems i have seen over the last decade or so only have a "treble", "bass" and "mid range" equaliser instead of the old ones with numerous equalising adjusters...!!!!

[CRAZY-HORSE]

....so i guess there are official singles released by record companies but i think they are intended moreso as a promotional tool to sell the albums nowadays,whereas in the old days singles were IMO as invaluable as the albums, if not more valuable...

[Jerome]

Hold onto those old vinyls my friends - they are going to be worth something one day.

[CRAZY-HORSE]

i do believe that there is a push here at the moment to reintroduce cassette tapes back onto the market...not sure how they'll go as i found them awkward back in the day and only bought them if i couldnt find an album on vinyl as a last resort....