Waveformless mentions an article from the Denver Post about how as albums fade out EPs may be on the rise again.
“It has been talked about a lot, and I think it is, to some extent at least, true that the advent and subsequent domination of digital sales — and specifically the iTunes sales platform and the way they promote releases there — has put the focus back on singles in a way that was never the case during the CD era,” said Heliotis.
“I think driving sales around the release of a single or an EP is possible again because of these new realities — if iTunes gets behind an EP, it can take off in a way that would be extremely hard to replicate in the physical-sale market. And matching that sort of promo in an indie or chain retail is very expensive — definitely not cost-feasible for an EP with an $8 price tag.”
This is intriguing to me as an artist (granted, who has yet to release a full collection of tunes). Valve brought this to games with the Half-Life 2 Episodes, and everyone I know who’s played them is dying for the next installment.
I also think the idea of music with a narrative is an interesting one, and the EP may be a good way to explore it. Imagine if recording artist releases were as anticipated as the next season of Lost.