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Single releases around the world
7 replies
KixGuy said on October 30, 2002 01:13:
In Brazil record companies don’t release singles at all. Only full albums. The only singles I’ve seen in Brazil are Elvis’ “Little Less Conversation” and “Burning Love”. I wonders why since I believe this would reduce piracy a bit. On the other hand this would also reduce full albums sells.
Does this happen in other countries either?
I would love to buy Roxette singles, but the one way to do that in Brazil is importing, wich is so expensive!
Mfan28179-Jason said on October 30, 2002 03:39:
It’s the same way with the U.S. market currently. Very few singles are being released. (I was shocked to see Warner Bros. issue a maxi-single for Madonna’s “Die Another Day.”) And when they are released, they are often on just maxi-single format, since they sell for more and give the record company greater profit. As a music fan, I really miss the singles market for the remixes, b-sides, etc. Instead, I’m left to download the songs for FREE from the Internet or buy expensive imports.
It’s interesting because record companies used to use singles as a marketing tool (at least here in the U.S.) until they became greedy and tried to force people to buy full-length albums for $15 for one hit song they liked! Then sites like Napster and Audiogalaxy came along and people just downloaded that “one hit song” they wanted for free instead of forking out $15 for each song they liked.
So many people say Internet piracy has hurt record sales - but I always say the record companies brought it upon themselves for not giving music lovers the opportunity to buy singles for the songs they liked. Now people no longer have incentive to go to the record stores because they can’t find their favorite song on CD single format anymore. So they leave the record store disappointed without buying anything. It’s amazing how many fewer times I visit the record store this year in comparison to past years. I’m disappointed every time.
Record companies killed the singles market themselves. Now people just get their music for free. It’s like we’ve been trained to just get it for free. Then they wonder why album sales have decreased so much. People are not getting what they want. And I’m afraid it may be too late. Piracy is here to stay. Talk about a plan that backfired.
Okay, I didn’t intend to rant that much - but that’s my take on the dead singles market in the U.S.
roxtexanet said on October 30, 2002 18:27:
The situation is exactly the same in Canada. A few major, major acts get single releases (Madonna, Alanis, Celine Dion and that’s about it!) but even these are usually hard to find. I agree with every single word Jason said. I used to love going to the record store as a kid and picking up a $3 cassette single... something about the feeling of owning a piece of history, I guess, because albums are around forever but if you miss your chance to get the single, you might never see it again (happened to me with “The Look” and never again!! (: ). It’s so different now... I collect everything on Roxette so I’m obviously buying their singles from overseas, but other bands I really like - like Garbage, the Cranberries, etc. - I just download the b-sides. The singles market here died altogether in 1994 with a few (rather lame) attempts to revive it... really a shame, because the record companies thought they could force us to buy whole albums for one good song thanks to the extreme difficulty of duplicating CDs and the fact that EVERYONE wanted their favourite music on indestructible CDs... really, really backfired!
roxtexanet said on October 30, 2002 22:12:
@Stillfar: Kitchener, Ontario (unfortunately... I hate it here!)
Mfan28179-Jason said on October 31, 2002 05:05:
Roxtexanet, it really is a shame it’s the same way in Canada. Singles are special to me because they often contain b-sides, instrumentals, a cappellas, and other rare material. Record companies make it so hard for music fans to get this “rare” material if they don’t put out these singles. Some material is hard to find on the Internet as well - and often one has to settle for low quality versions of this material. The least they could do is issue maxi-singles of this material. It’s not like they would be losing money. The music industry is in a sad state right now. :/
kiwijazza said on October 30, 2002 01:40:
I think that’s very strange. Here in New Zealand, we do get singles, but it’s pretty much what’s been released in the past 5 or so years (if not, less than 5 years). A lot of the old stuff we don’t see often anymore...unless they’re 2nd hand, of course.