Editing Extended play (section)

==Background==
{{multiple issues|section=yes|
{{more citations needed|section|date=March 2019}}
{{original research|section|date=March 2019}}
}}

===History===
EPs were released in various sizes in different eras. The earliest multi-track records, issued around 1919 by [[Grey Gull Records]], were [[Vertical cut recording|vertically cut]] 78 [[Revolutions per minute|rpm]] discs known as "2-in-1" records. These had finer grooves than usual, like [[Edison Disc Records]]. By 1949, when the 45 rpm [[Single (music)|single]] and 33{{frac|1|3}} rpm [[LP record|LP]] were competing formats, 7-inch 45 rpm singles had a maximum playing time of only about four minutes per side.

Partly as an attempt to compete with the LP introduced in 1948 by rival [[Columbia Records|Columbia]], [[RCA Records|RCA Victor]] introduced "Extended Play" [[Gramophone record|45s]] during [[1952 in music|1952]]. Their narrower grooves, achieved by lowering the cutting levels and sound compression optionally, enabled them to hold up to 7.5 minutes per side—but still be played by a standard 45 rpm [[phonograph]]. In the early era, record companies released the entire content of LPs as 45 rpm EPs.<ref name="Osborne">{{cite book |first=Richard |last=Osborne |title=Vinyl: A History of the Analogue Record |publisher=Routledge |date=2016 |page=106}}</ref> These were usually 10-inch (25-cm) LPs (released until the mid-1950s) split onto two 7-inch EPs or 12-inch (30-cm) LPs split onto three 7-inch EPs, either sold separately or together in gatefold covers. This practice became much less common with the advent of triple-speed-available phonographs.{{citation needed|date=August 2020}}

[[File:140405 Wega-Dual-300-01.jpg|thumb|EP ''Pat Boone Sings the Hits'', compiling four songs by [[Pat Boone]]]]
Introduced by [[RCA]] in the US in 1952, [[EMI]] issued the first EPs in Britain in April 1954.<ref name="Osborne" /> EPs were typically compilations of singles or album samplers and were played at 45 rpm on 7-inch (18-cm) discs, with two songs on each side.<ref name="Strong"/><ref name="key-concepts">{{cite book |title= Popular Music: The Key Concepts |last= Shuker |first= Roy |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=gtTMpYXhh7wC |year= 2005 |publisher = Routledge |isbn= 978-0-415-34770-9 |page= 246 |chapter= Singles; EPs |access-date= June 20, 2014}}</ref>
The manufacturing price of an EP was a little more than that of a single.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Il3aAAAAMAAJ&q=%2233+rpm+EP%22 | title=Bluegrass Unlimited | date=1981 }}</ref> Thus, they were a bargain for those who did not own the LPs from which the tracks were taken.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S1JLAAAAYAAJ&q=%22bargain+price+too%22+EPs |title=English Song and Dance |publisher=English Folk Dance and Song Society
 |date=1966 |page=42}}</ref>

RCA had success in the format with [[Elvis Presley]], issuing 28 EPs between [[1956 in music|1956]] and [[1967 in music|1967]], many of which topped the separate ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]'' EP chart during its brief existence.{{citation needed|date=August 2020}}  Other than those published by RCA, EPs were relatively uncommon in the United States and Canada, but they were widely sold in the United Kingdom, and in some other European countries, during the 1950s and 1960s. In Sweden, the EP was a popular record format, with as much as 85% of the market in the late 1950s consisting of EPs.<ref>{{cite book |first1=Leif |last1=Aulin  |first2=Pontus |last2=von Tell |title=British Beat in Sweden: The Original Vinyls 1957–1969 |date=2018 |publisher=Premium Publishing |isbn=978-91-89136-60-1}}</ref>

''Billboard'' introduced a weekly EP chart in October 1957, noting that "the teen-age market apparently dominates the EP business, with seven out of the top 10 best-selling EPs featuring artists with powerful teen-age appeal — four sets by Elvis Presley, two by [[Pat Boone]] and one by [[Little Richard]]".<ref>{{cite magazine |first=June |last=Bundy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3SgEAAAAMBAJ&dq=ep+charts&pg=PA30 |title=Billboard Adds to Pop Chart Score: New Service Cover Weekly Listing of EP Best-sellers; Album Box Score |magazine=Billboard |date=7 October 1957}}</ref> Other publications such as ''[[Record Retailer]]'', [[NME|''New Musical Express'' (''NME'')]], ''[[Melody Maker]]'', ''[[Disc and Music Echo]]'' and the ''[[Record Mirror]]'' also printed EP charts.{{citation needed|date=August 2020}} 

The popularity of EPs in the US had declined in the early 1960s in favor of LPs. In the UK, [[Cliff Richard]] and [[the Shadows]], both individually and collectively, and [[the Beatles]] were the most prolific artists issuing EPs in the 1960s, many of them highly successful releases. The Beatles' ''[[Twist and Shout (EP)|Twist and Shout]]'' outsold most singles for some weeks in 1963. The success of the EP in Britain lasted until around 1967, but it later had a strong revival with [[punk rock]] in the late 1970s and the adaptation of the format for 12-inch and [[Compact disc|CD]] singles.<ref>{{cite book |first=Dave |last=Thompson |chapter=EPs – Albums on Installment Plans |title=The Music Lover's Guide to Record Collecting |publisher=Hal Leonard Corporation |date=2002}}</ref> The British band [[Cocteau Twins]] made prolific use of the EP format, releasing ten EPs between 1982 and 1995.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://cocteautwins.com/eps/ |title=EPs |publisher=cocteautwins.com }}</ref> Typically used for the [[CD single]], some bands like [[The Locust]] made use of the 8cm/3" CD format to release EPs, including their 1997 self-titled EP.

In the [[Philippines]], seven-inch EPs marketed as "[[mini-LP]]s" (but distinctly different from the mini-LPs of the 1980s) were introduced in 1970, with tracks selected from an album and packaging resembling the album they were taken from.<ref name="Salazar">{{cite magazine |last=Salazar |first=Oskar |title=Philippines Gets First Mini-LP |magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]] |date=June 13, 1970 |pages=80–81}}</ref> This mini-LP format also became popular in America in the early 1970s for promotional releases, and also for use in [[jukebox]]es.<ref name="BB1972">{{cite magazine |title=7-in. LP Growing Concept |magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]] |date=March 25, 1972 |page=39}}</ref>

In 2010, [[Warner Bros. Records]] revived the format with their "Six-Pak" offering of six songs on a compact disc.<ref name="sixpak">{{Cite magazine|url=http://www.billboard.com/biz/articles/country/1211856/another-body-blow-for-albums-warner-to-launch-new-six-pak-format |title=Another Body Blow For Albums: Warner To Launch New Six-Pak Format |first=Deborah Evans |last=Price |magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]] |date=February 3, 2010 |access-date=February 3, 2010}}</ref>

===EPs in the digital and streaming era===
Due to the increased popularity of [[music download]]s and [[music streaming]] beginning in the late 2000s, EPs have become a common marketing strategy for [[Pop music|pop]] musicians wishing to remain relevant and deliver music in more consistent timeframes leading to or following full studio albums. In the late 2000s to early 2010s, [[reissue]]s of studio albums with expanded track listings were common, with the new music often being released as stand-alone EPs. In October 2010, a ''[[Vanity Fair (magazine)|Vanity Fair]]'' article regarding the trend noted post-album EPs as "the next step in extending albums' shelf lives, following the "deluxe" editions that populated stores during the past few holiday seasons—add a few tracks to the back end of an album and release one of them to radio, slap on a new coat of paint, and—voila!—a stocking stuffer is born."<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2010/10/kesha-lady-gaga-taylor-swift-new-companion-albums |first1=Maura |last1=Johnston |author-link=Maura Johnston |title=With Ke$ha, Gaga, and Taylor Swift, It's All About the Art of the Tease|magazine=Vanity Fair|date=20 October 2010|access-date=28 September 2019}}</ref> Examples of such releases include [[Lady Gaga]]'s ''[[The Fame Monster]]'' (2009) following her debut album ''[[The Fame]]'' (2008), and [[Kesha]]'s ''[[Cannibal (EP)|Cannibal]]'' (2010) following her debut album ''[[Animal (Kesha album)|Animal]]'' (2010).

A 2019 article in ''[[Forbes]]'' discussing [[Miley Cyrus]]' plan to release her then-upcoming seventh studio album as a trilogy of EPs, beginning with ''[[She Is Coming]]'', stated: "By delivering a trio of EPs throughout a period of several months, Miley is giving her fans more of what they want, only in smaller doses. When an artist drops an album, they run the risk of it being forgotten in a few weeks, at which point they need to start work on the follow-up, while still promoting and touring their recent effort. Miley is doing her best to game the system by recording an album and delivering it to fans in pieces."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/hughmcintyre/2019/06/13/three-reasons-why-miley-cyrus-new-album-rollout-plan-is-brilliant/ |first1=Hugh |last1=McIntyre |url-access=subscription |title=3 Reasons Miley Cyrus' New Album Rollout Plan Is Brilliant|website=Forbes|date=13 June 2019|access-date=28 September 2019}}</ref> However, this release strategy was later scrapped in favor of the conventional album release of ''[[Plastic Hearts]]''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.officialcharts.com/chart-news/miley-cyrus-isnt-planning-to-release-an-album-any-time-soon-it-doesnt-make-sense-for-me__30761/|title=Miley Cyrus isn't planning to release an album any time soon: "It doesn't make sense for me"|last=Copsey|first=Rob|publisher=Official Charts Company|date=August 14, 2020|access-date=August 14, 2020|archive-date=September 18, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200918163101/https://www.officialcharts.com/chart-news/miley-cyrus-isnt-planning-to-release-an-album-any-time-soon-it-doesnt-make-sense-for-me__30761/|url-status=live}}</ref> Major-label pop musicians who had previously employed such release strategies include [[Colbie Caillat]] with her fifth album ''[[Gypsy Heart (Colbie Caillat album)|Gypsy Heart]]'' (2014) being released following an EP of the album's first five tracks known as ''Gypsy Heart: Side A'' three months prior to the full album; and [[Jessie J]]'s fourth studio album ''[[R.O.S.E. (Jessie J album)|R.O.S.E.]]'' (2018) which was released as four EPs in as many days entitled ''R (Realisations)'', ''O (Obsessions)'', ''S (Sex)'' and ''E (Empowerment)''.