Editing Extended play (section)

===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>