Marketing of singles?

[LIDL 692]

The Western concept doesn't make a lot of sense to me. Why would I buy a CD with only 1 or 2 tracks on it when I already have the album with the song I care about on it. I have a bit more to say about it, but I am going to be late for school.

There is an interesting quotes from Ozzy Osbournes about singles,

that i have read once and now quoted from a book entitled

Ozzy Talking: Ozzy Osbourne In His Own Words by Harry Shaw, copyrighted in 2002

The quotes goes like this:

"For me, listening to "She Loves You" (by The Beatles) is the key of everything.

For people my age (teenager) that coming from my place (Aston, Birmingham)

and my social class (his Parents was labors and growing up with no previlege), not an album that changed your life, but a single!

Because that is the only thing you can afford.

"She Loves You" is the first ever record that i bought.

I was only 13 years old who were strolling down Witton Road in Aston.

That changes everything."

Maybe this can at least answer how the Western concept works.

That i am sure the same reason why Japan applying singles method to their music business too.

Singles is more directed for low to middle class people the most, besides to preview new songs.

Because to some countries or families, an Album CD is still considered as luxury.

They can use $12 or $15 for deluxe edition for something else.

For people that came from this family, $15 is not small money.

Seriously, you can get some bread with that or 3 Venti size cup of frappucinnos for example.

[Champ213 1858]

Why would I buy a CD with only 1 or 2 tracks on it when I already have the album with the song I care about on it.

You wouldn't, unless you're a very dedicated fan that wants all releases. But I don't think that's the whole point. I think it's mostly done for these reasons:

a) Radio/TV play. It's usually singles that get air time, so a few more singles are released to get more air time, and promote the album a bit more (not everyone buys an album directly when it comes out). Which is also why bands that aren't getting much air time to begin with often don't bother to release (m)any singles at all.

Casual fans. I'm talking about people that don't care enough for an artist to buy an album. They just want that one song they heard on the radio or party, and don't want to buy a whole album for that.

But I think it's mostly a). Promoting an already released album via air time. I don't think that people who already bought the album are the main focus group of these singles, but those that haven't.

[Pandabear 414]

The Western concept doesn't make a lot of sense to me. Why would I buy a CD with only 1 or 2 tracks on it when I already have the album with the song I care about on it. I have a bit more to say about it, but I am going to be late for school.

Your statement doesn't make sense to me. I agree with the whole why buy a single when I already have the album with the song I like statement, but what exactly doesn't make sense with the western concept? Because the Japanese way releases a hell of a lot more singles than the western one. And having re-recorded singles on the official album is nice and so are b-side releases. But that doesn't really matter to me since I don't really buy singles, only albums and some bands usually put out an album with all their b-sides released on singles along with maybe other unreleased material. So I'd rather just save my money on buying all the singles and just get the album with all the b-sides.

In fact most people I know download singles instead of buying them and just end up purchasing the album. I think maybe the concept of saving money by buying singles instead of albums would have worked more in a time before the internet became so accessible and pirates came

into existence.

[Peace Heavy mk II 7200]

The Western concept doesn't make a lot of sense to me. Why would I buy a CD with only 1 or 2 tracks on it when I already have the album with the song I care about on it. I have a bit more to say about it, but I am going to be late for school.

Your statement doesn't make sense to me. I agree with the whole why buy a single when I already have the album with the song I like statement, but what exactly doesn't make sense with the western concept? Because the Japanese way releases a hell of a lot more singles than the western one. And having re-recorded singles on the official album is nice and so are b-side releases. But that doesn't really matter to me since I don't really buy singles, only albums and some bands usually put out an album with all their b-sides released on singles along with maybe other unreleased material. So I'd rather just save my money on buying all the singles and just get the album with all the b-sides.

In fact most people I know download singles instead of buying them and just end up purchasing the album. I think maybe the concept of saving money by buying singles instead of albums would have worked more in a time before the internet became so accessible and pirates came

into existence.

Releasing the singles after and before an album comes out is what doesn't make sense to me, especially if the band in question doesn't even stand a chance of getting any sort of radio time. The biggest example I could think of that really confused me was Deluhi's "Revolver Blast" single. Sure, it had b-sides, but they were absolute garbage just thrown on there to make the CD more appealing to those who didn't already buy their mini-album and to those who need to own everything ever by them.

I understand why bands do it, just as Champ explained, but that doesn't mean I find it to be practical from a listener's standpoint. Do many Western artists even sell physical CD singles? I was under the impression that they only did that digitally on iTunes , thus further making the whole concept feel even more redundant.

[Pandabear 414]

^ Okay I get what you're saying now. Yeah most western bands only release singles as a promotional tool rather than as a physical release after they have released an album. And most are well established enough so that they do get radio time in addition to making music videos.

But if you're not one of those bands their system of releasing singles changes. It varies from band to band, they might release singles physically before an album to create promotion and get known and not after. Or they might not release any physical release at all and just do it digitally or scrap the whole single thing and just release an album.