Extended Play

The EP is a format that in this day and age seems to be both essential and irrelevant to audiences. The EP, shorthand for extended play, used to be just that - regarding singles that is. EPs would usually be pressed at 7'', offering about 4 or 5 songs total as opposed to the usual 2. It was often seen as gift to the fan, giving them more songs for the same amount of money (or at least less money than they would spend on a full length 33 & 1/3). As we progressed into the CD era, the single became what the EP used to be, often sporting 2-5 songs, while EPs would become more like mini-albums, ranging between 5-8 songs. More times than not, the EP has become the intro to a band's career rather than the stopgap it used to be. Over the past ten years, there has scarcely been a new artist that hasn't debuted with an EP before dropping the first album. It seems like a good idea, not wanting to overwhelm the listener with too much too soon. The thing is who is actually listening to these EPs?

As an avid listener, I don't think I've ever bought an EP by an artist when it was the only release to their name, and I don't think I'm the only one. Because they're not priced as high as full length albums, the promotional push is much less, making the EP harder to find as it won;t be as readily available in stores. Being that this is a band's first release, one would think they would put their best tracks on it to make a good first impression. But why do this when they are just going to be discarded after your debut album. It's clear some bands are noticing that many fans aren't going back to these springboard EPs, proven by re recordings featured on later releases. For instance, Arcade Fire originally released "No Cars Go" on their first EP which would later go on to be redone and released as a single off of Neon Bible (2007). MGMT released the Time To Pretend EP way back in 2005 which featured both it's title track and "Kids" - two tracks that became huge hits when rerecorded for their first full length Oracular Spectacular (2008). The lesson? Debut EPs might be short, but they may have the most important material of a band's career.