Extended play

Extended-play vinyl record of Michael Nesmith's "I Fall to Pieces" with four tracks

An extended play (EP) is a musical recording that contains more tracks than a single but fewer than an album or LP record.[1] Contemporary EPs generally contain up to eight tracks and have a playing time of 15 to 30 minutes.[2] An "EP" is usually less cohesive than an album and more "non-committal".[3]

An extended play (EP) originally referred to a specific type of 45 rpm phonograph record other than 78 rpm standard play (SP) and 33 rpm long play (LP),[4] but as of 2023 applied to mid-length CDs and downloads as well.[5] EPs are considered "less expensive and time-consuming" for an artist to produce than an album, and have long been popular with punk and indie bands.[1][6] In K-pop they are usually referred to as mini albums.[1]

  1. ^ a b c Fuhr, Michael (2015). Globalization and Popular Music in South Korea: Sounding Out K-Pop. Routledge. ISBN 9781317556909. Retrieved March 21, 2017. Mini-albums and EPs are shorter than full-length albums and usually contain four or five songs [...] They are less expensive and time-consuming in production than albums, and they help to popularize new groups who otherwise lack the number of songs required for a full-length album.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Definition - Billboard, etc. was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ "Was Ist Eine EP, Single Oder Ein Album?" (in German). iMusician. An EP stands for "Extended Play" and refers to a music recording that is longer than a single but contains fewer tracks than an album or LP. Nowadays, EPs contain around 4–5 songs and are considered a more cost-effective ... way of producing and releasing music compared to an album. Additionally, an EP tends to be less cohesive and more non-committal...
  4. ^ Maes, Jan; Vercammen, Marc (2001). Digital Audio Technology: A Guide to CD, MiniDisc, SACD, DVD(A), MP3 and DAT (4th ed.). Focal Press. p. 2. ISBN 9780240516547. Retrieved June 20, 2014.
  5. ^ Malcolm Tatum (12 May 2023). "What Is an Extended Play?". wisegeek.
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference Chattanooga Times Free Press 2010-01-04 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).