Benefits of releasing an EP over singles?

[Snarfie]

Looking for quality insight and discussion, I know how 80% of DSF loves to troll

Edit:

When I say EP I mean 6+ track complilation.
Also this thread directly pertains to my situation right now... Regardless of EP/single all the music will be released free.

Discussion?

[LA_Boxers]

An EP is just generally a single these days. People love to throw the word EP around for anything these days.

[Snarfie]

Let me clarify. When I say EP, I mean a 6+ track compilation of tunes.

[LA_Boxers]

IMO the isnt any real benefit of doing one over the other.

Although people may like one track on the EP an not another, but still purchase the whole EP, whereas if the tracks they disliked were released as singles then they wouldnt purchase these. Also the tracks might all compliment each other, and not work so well if they were released seperately.

[__________]

Depends what you're trying to say with your music IMO...the message you're trying to put across. You can't say some things in two tracks. Some music is built for singles though. A-side/B-side format works well. Digital downloads have partly negated the purpose (annoyance?) of EP's and LP's - a lot of people just download the tracks they want and leave the ones they don't. It all depends on what you want to achieve - there are no benefits for EP vs. single and vice-versa.

[nameless133]

Everything depends on the length: 1-15 mins: single, 15-30 mins: EP, 30+ mins: album.

[blinx]

I have done both singles and an EP effort (5 tracks at once).

My next EP effort will be all singles releases 2-4 weeks from each other. Than once all tracks are online, i will offer a EP download. When i released my last EP all at once each track only got played <40 times each and the d/l was less than <100 times.

Before this when i release singles and let them be my only NEW material for a few weeks, i can get 500-1000 plays releatively quickly which seems like better exposure to me, per song.

Just my 2cents.

[Genevieve]

There's some good points in this thread, but my personal take is that the benefits depend on your artistic vision. Do you feel like your vision has been expressed by releasing 1 song? 2? 5? Where does it feel complete and where do you feel you've showed enough at a particular moment?

To me it's that easy.

[eyeatus]

i'm doing 4 extended plays on cd. 7 or 8 songs on each. just gonna slang them by hand! 5 bucks a cd and you get a link sheet to new releases for free forever

[Snarfie]

There's some good points in this thread, but my personal take is that the benefits depend on your artistic vision. Do you feel like your vision has been expressed by releasing 1 song? 2? 5? Where does it feel complete and where do you feel you've showed enough at a particular moment?

To me it's that easy.

Quality response, I just needed to be reminded

[Genevieve]

Thanks

[fragments]

I'd say if you are doing strictly dance tunes...stuff people probably wouldn't listen outside the context of a DJ mix...singles or A/B side releases are the way to go. Club music has always been really, really disposable in that even something that is madly popular can have a really short shelf life if it gets rinsed to over and over. And the tendency is that if one track on an EP gets rinsed the whole EP goes by the wayside. Example, the summer Blood Sugar by Pendulum came out. Fucking A...every, every, everyone was playing that and remixing it for a month then it just disappeared (along with whatever else was released with it...don't even remember now!). At more than one festival that summer you could walk to multiple stages and DJs playing at the same time/different stage would both be playing that fucking tune.

There are more benefits to releasing EPs and LPs for concept stuff and listening music where you are taking the listener on a journey or have a message or sonic landscape you are trying to transmit to the listener.

[InternetSlaveMaster]

Assuming that your EP (6+ tracks) consists of 6 solid tracks that you would otherwise give away as singles, I'd say go EP. This way, you've only got to get everyone's attention once (rather than keep pushing different stuff from month to month), and if by chance one of the tracks gets popular, it will promote the other tracks as well.

I mean you're giving it away for free so it really doesn't matter how you do it, but again, an EP would be easier to promote, and has a bit more artistic merit, assuming you care about that sorta thing.

[Kit Fysto]

I like to think an EP or even LP is a chance to show your listening audience your ability to cover a large spectrum of musical feel and take them on some kind of journey with your music in a sense. You could release a bunch of different kinds of singles back to back, but I think it's more beneficial to keep someone listening once you have their attention. Odds are if they hear a single off an EP with 5 other tracks on it, they will check out all 5 of those other tracks. That's my take on it anyway.

[skylerrivera17]

I like to think an EP or even LP is a chance to show your listening audience your ability to cover a large spectrum of musical feel and take them on some kind of journey with your music in a sense. You could release a bunch of different kinds of singles back to back, but I think it's more beneficial to keep someone listening once you have their attention. Odds are if they hear a single off an EP with 5 other tracks on it, they will check out all 5 of those other tracks. That's my take on it anyway.

I agree with this.

I recently released an EP to my pretty small audience but I released the single off of it about a month in advance as a teaser and to build some hype. It was received well but, it didn't build the hype like I expected it would. However, when I released the EP I wasn't getting loads of listens on one track but clumps of listens on each of them.

Releasing an EP should be done to, like mentioned above, portray a soundscape or explore genres and expose your style. Releasing an EP also, to me, seperates the dedicated from the hobbyists in a sense. Making an EP of 4-8 songs takes time, months in my experience. Its a major commitment to your musical ideas.

My two cents