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A maxi single or maxi-single (sometimes abbreviated to MCD or CDM) is a music single release with more than the usual two tracks of an A-side song and a B-side song. [1]
| | This article needs additional citations for verification .(September 2015) |
A maxi single or maxi-single (sometimes abbreviated to MCD or CDM) is a music single release with more than the usual two tracks of an A-side song and a B-side song. [1]
Mungo Jerry's first single, "In the Summertime" was the first maxi single in the world. [2] The term came into wide use in the 1970s, where it usually referred to 7-inch vinyl singles featuring one track on the A-side and two on the B-side. The 1975 reissue of David Bowie's "Space Oddity", where the featured song is coupled with "Changes" and "Velvet Goldmine", is a typical example. By the mid-1970s, it was used to refer to 12" vinyl singles with three or four tracks (or an extended or remixed version of the lead single/song) on the A-side, with an additional two or three tracks on the B-side; the B-side was initially used by DJs. Later, in the 1980s, a typical practice was to release a two-song single on 7" vinyl and cassette, and a maxi-single on 12" vinyl.
These first 12" maxi-singles were promotional and mostly sent to discotheques and radio stations. Examples of such promos—released at almost the same time in 1975—are Gary Toms Empire – "Drive My Car", Don Downing – "Dream World", Barrabas – "Mellow Blow", The Trammps – "Hooked for Life", Ace Spectrum – "Keep Holdin' On", South Shore Commission – "Train Called Freedom", The Chequers – "Undecided Love", Ernie Bush – "Breakaway", Ralph Carter – "When You're Young and in Love", Michael Zager & The Moon Band Feat. Peabo Bryson – "Do It with Feeling", Monday After – "Merry-Go-Round", The Ritchie Family – "I Want to Dance" and Frankie Valli – "Swearin' to God".
Salsoul Records made 12" maxi-singles commercially available for the first time in May 1976 with the release of "Ten Percent" by Double Exposure (SALSOUL 12D-2008). An earlier 12" catalog number from this label is "More" by Carol Williams (SALSOUL 12D-2006), but it was released later.
Occasionally, a cassette single was released in two cassette formats simultaneously: a traditional Cassette single with two tracks and a cassette maxi-single with four or more tracks, generally remixes. [1] This practice was experimented with in the 1980s.
Example: Debbie Gibson – Out Of The Blue (cassette maxi-single) released by Atlantic in 1987 in the US. Includes four mixes: 1. Club Mix, 2. Bonus Beats, 3. Drumapella, 4. Dub version. This was packaged in a 12" × 3" cassette maxi single longbox (with a regular cardboard slipcase/cassette inside), although most later maxi singles were just issued in regular style cassette cases.
When CDs began to appear as a popular single format in the early 1990s (see CD single), songs were occasionally released in two CD formats simultaneously, 3" and 5", predominantly as a marketing ploy but potentially as a logical extension of the 7" and 12" vinyl record formats to CD, with the 5" CD sometimes marketed as a "maxi-single", most commonly in the US, and European countries (outside of the UK). While the 5" CD version occasionally had additional or longer track mixes, the track listing was often identical.
By the mid 1990s CDs had clearly become the music format of choice. As the 1990s progressed, nearly every single release was available on CD, and vinyl and cassette single releases gradually became less common.
The UK became a thriving market for CD singles, but in 1998 the UK Chart Supervisory Committee reduced the maximal playing time of chart-eligible CD singles from 40 minutes to 20 minutes, [3] though 12" vinyl singles could still play for up to 40 minutes. While Maxi-CDs had been much loved among the dance community, as most if not all of the remixes that had been commissioned by the label could be released commercially, lobbying by artists in other genres who felt obliged to record extra and cover tracks to provide enough material for their single releases was responsible for the rule change. As a result, the U.K.'s singles from around mid-1998 often appeared as three separately-sold CDs with three tracks each, or more commonly, two CDs and an extra format (such as 7", 12" or DVD single). Very often, at least one track was common to all formats. Single releases in the US and elsewhere still included many tracks (primarily remixes) and called themselves maxi-singles to differentiate from the three-track UK versions.
Example: Saint Etienne – "Who Do You Think You Are?" (US CD single) Released by Warner Music in 1993 in the US. Includes eight different tracks, six of which are versions of the title song. Digipak packaging. Labeled "compact disc maxi-single" on the front cover.
Another extensive example is the collection of singles released for the award-winning Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness by The Smashing Pumpkins. Each of the five singles ("Bullet with Butterfly Wings", "1979", "Zero", "Tonight, Tonight", "Thirty-Three") had two or more additional songs; most of them had six or seven. All of the maxi singles were released together, with additional tracks on some, as The Aeroplane Flies High box set, for a total of thirty-three tracks across the five singles. [4] Adding that to the total number of other unique tracks on the main CD and vinyl releases of the album itself brings the grand total track count of Mellon Collie to fifty-eight.
As a result of the 1998 UK Chart Supervisory Committee ruling on chart eligible singles containing no more than 20 minutes of material, many of the U.K.'s dance music singles contained edited / faded mixes. This increased demand for imported European & American CD maxi singles in the UK, especially amongst DJs who required full-length tracks.
A digital maxi single is a series of digital downloads mostly containing remixes. Unlike a normal maxi single, tracks can be bought and sold based on preference. Even if a single had a maxi single and a digital maxi single released with exactly the same content, they were still counted differently on charts. For instance, the maxi single was counted as two points, while the digital maxi single (if all songs were downloaded and if the single were to contain the standard five tracks) was counted as ten points.
Maxi singles are the common format of singles by the Japanese idol girl group AKB48, the best-selling music artist by number of singles sold in Japan and the artist with the best-selling single of the year in the country for 9 years, in what is the world's largest physical music market. [5]
With music stores in the US devoting significantly less shelf space to singles, the format's future in the US remains in doubt. In the UK, having watched sales of CDs drop since the previous rule change, and amid allegations that the consumer no longer felt that UK-issued singles were good value for money, the Chart Supervisory Committee once again changed the rules governing the formats of singles released in the UK. From early 2003, a format described as a "Maxi-CD" was reintroduced, alongside a new two-track CD single with a lower retail price. The current rules in the U.K. allow for up to 40 minutes of audio tracks on a Maxi-CD, as long as all tracks are remixes of the title track. In practice, however, many of the U.K.'s Maxi-CDs still contain only three mixes and come nowhere near the maximal allowable playing time. However, releases on dance labels (such as EMI's Positiva) are nearly always Maxi-CDs in the true sense, with more than three mixes. Madonna and Lady Gaga are the rare examples of popular American artists who still released maxi-singles on physical formats into the 2010s.
Another example is Erasure's single "Breathe", released by Mute in 2005 in the US. It includes eight different tracks, six of which are versions of the title song, plus a CD-ROM section with the video of the title song, in a standard jewel case packaging.
In music, a single is a type of release, typically a song recording of fewer tracks than an LP record or an album. One can be released for sale to the public in a variety of formats. In most cases, a single is a song that is released separately from an album, although it usually also appears on an album. In other cases a recording released as a single may not appear on an album.
An extended play (EP) is a musical recording that contains more tracks than a single but fewer than an album or LP record. Contemporary EPs generally contain four to five tracks, and are considered "less expensive and time-consuming" for an artist to produce than an album. An EP originally referred to specific types of records other than 78 rpm standard play (SP) and LP, but it is now applied to mid-length CDs and downloads as well. In K-pop they are usually referred to as mini albums. Ricardo Baca of The Denver Post said, "EPs—originally extended-play 'single' releases that are shorter than traditional albums—have long been popular with punk and indie bands." In the United Kingdom, the Official Chart Company defines a boundary between EP and album classification at 25 minutes of maximum length and no more than four tracks.
Worldwide, the British rock band the Beatles released 12 studio albums, 5 live albums, 51 compilation albums, 36 extended plays (EPs), 63 singles, 17 box sets, 22 video albums and 53 music videos. In their native United Kingdom, during their active existence as a band, they released 12 studio albums, 1 compilation album, 13 EPs, and 22 singles. The early albums and singles released from 1962 to March 1968 were originally on Parlophone, and their albums and singles from August 1968 to 1970 were on their subsidiary label Apple. Their output also includes vault items, remixed mash-ups and anniversary box-sets.
The twelve-inch single is a type of vinyl gramophone record that has wider groove spacing and shorter playing time with a "single" or a few related sound tracks on each surface, compared to LPs which have several songs on each side. It is named for its 12-inch (300 mm) diameter. This allows for louder levels to be cut on the disc by the mastering engineer, which in turn gives a wider dynamic range, and thus better sound quality. This record type is commonly used in disco and dance music genres, where DJs use them to play in clubs. They are played at either 33+1⁄3 or 45 rpm. The conventional 7-inch single usually holds three or four minutes of music at full volume. The 12-inch LP sacrifices volume for extended playing time.
Substance is a compilation album by English alternative dance band New Order. It was released in August 1987 by Factory Records. The album compiles all of the band's singles at that point in their 12-inch versions, along with their respective B-side tracks. The then-newly released non-album single "True Faith" is also featured, along with its B-side "1963" and new versions of "Temptation" and "Confusion".
An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), vinyl (record), audio tape, or digital. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records collected in a bound book resembling a photo album; this format evolved after 1948 into single vinyl long-playing (LP) records played at 33+1⁄3 rpm.
A cassette single (CS), also known by the trademark cassingle, or capitalised as the trademark Cassette Single, is a music single supplied in the form of a Compact Cassette. The cassette single was introduced in 1980.
A CD single is a music single in the form of a compact disc. The standard in the Red Book for the term CD single is an 8 cm (3-inch) CD. It now refers to any single recorded onto a CD of any size, particularly the CD5, or 5-inch CD single. The format was introduced in the mid-1980s but did not gain its place in the market until the early 1990s. With the rise in digital downloads in the early 2010s, sales of CD singles have decreased.
"Tour de France" is a song by German electronic band Kraftwerk. It was first issued in early August 1983, peaking at number 22 in the United Kingdom singles chart on 6 August.
"Breath of Life" is a song by English synth-pop duo Erasure, released as the fourth and final single from their fifth studio album, Chorus (1991), in March 1992. It was written by Erasure members Vince Clarke and Andy Bell with additional input from Pat O'Brien. An uptempo synth-pop song, its dance music elements were strongly accentuated for the club remixes. For the single release, it was remixed slightly, including a shortened intro. In the United States, it was the third single released from the album.
"You Don't Fool Me" is a song by Queen, from the 1995 album Made in Heaven. It was released as a single in 1996, containing various remixes of the song. The song is one of the few which were actually written and recorded after the Innuendo sessions, and was written and composed by the band, under David Richards' supervision. It proved to be the band's final European hit.
"Get the Message" is a song by Electronic, the English band formed by Bernard Sumner of New Order and ex-Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr. "Get the Message" was the second single from their 1991 debut album, Electronic, and was a commercial success around the world. It is an example of Marr and Sumner's original concept of mixing the synthesizers of New Order with the Smiths' guitar sound.
"Feel Every Beat" was the third single by the English band Electronic. It was released in the UK on 9 September 1991 by Factory Records and was a modest commercial success.
"Taste It" is a song by Australian rock band INXS, released as the fourth single from their eighth album, Welcome to Wherever You Are (1992), in November 1992. The song was written by Andrew Farriss and Michael Hutchence. It peaked at No. 36 on the ARIA Singles Chart and also charted in New Zealand, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
"God" is a song by American singer-songwriter and musician Tori Amos, released as a single from her second studio album, Under the Pink (1994). It was issued as the album's lead single in the United States on February 3, 1994, as the second single in Australia on May 2, and as the fourth single in the United Kingdom on October 3. The song reached number 44 on the UK Singles Chart as well as number one on the US Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart. It became Amos's first single to chart on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number 72.
"Second Nature" is a song by Electronic, released as the group's seventh single. It has an autobiographical lyric by Sumner which concerns his youth and growing up, while the music has a groovy shuffle which contrasts with the stricter dance tracks on its parent album Raise the Pressure. "Second Nature" reached #35 on the UK Singles Chart.
Diana Extended: The Remixes is a remix album released by American soul singer Diana Ross in 1994. The album includes six tracks that were reworked by some of the biggest names in the industry at the time, covering Ross' career as a solo artist and as a member of The Supremes, with Frankie Knuckles updating "Someday We'll Be Together" from 1969. The album also contains a remix of "Chain Reaction", originally released during Ross' time at RCA. The seventh track is "You're Gonna Love It", a track from the album The Force Behind the Power. The version on Diana Extended: The Remixes is a short remix available previously on a 12" single.
"Shake Your Head" is a song by American pop rock group Was. It was originally released in 1983 on the album Born to Laugh at Tornadoes. In 1992, it was re-recorded and remixed by house music producer Steve "Silk" Hurley, and features actress Kim Basinger alongside a re-recorded Ozzy Osbourne on vocals. It appears on the group's compilation album, Hello Dad... I'm in Jail.
"The Power of One" is a song composed by Mervyn Warren and Mark Chait. It was performed by Donna Summer and is the theme song for the movie Pokémon: The Movie 2000. Pokémon: The Movie 2000, subtitled The Power of One, premiered in mid-1999 in Japan and was the second feature-length film based on the Japanese Pokémon video game series. It was also heard in the trailers for all three of the Kids' WB-released films.
"Love Rendezvous" is a song by British band M People, released in 1995 as the fourth single from their third album, Bizarre Fruit/Bizarre Fruit II (1994). Written by Mike Pickering, Paul Heard and Heather Small, and produced by M People, the song was released on 14 October after the band's world tour. It peaked at number thirty two on the UK Singles Chart.
