Buying music singles make a lot of sense, financially. Singles are vinyl records, cassettes, or CDs that feature at least two of an artist's songs (the "A side" and the "B side"). The A side track is the current release, and the B side is usually a track that won't be released, a live performance, or otherwise previously unreleased material. So why buy a music single instead of the entire CD? They are cheaper, for one. If you hear a song you love on the radio but aren't too keen on the artist's other songs, you can at least add the song you like to your collection without wasting $10 or $15. This helps the artist chart the popularity of a particular song, and it helps you explore new musical genres. Singles are often great places to find remixes. Dance, trance, and techno artists will often release up to ten remixes of a particular song with the single release. If you're a collector who just has to have all the remixes of Sarah Brightman's A Question of Honour, for example, purchasing the single saves you the time and trouble of tracking those remixes down individually. Oftentimes, these remixes will only be available on the single, and unavailable even on the album from which the song was taken. There's a large re-sale market for music singles, too. Valuable singles like those released by Elvis or The Beach Boys can fetch tidy sums these days, but even modern singles are often re-sold as owners either tire of the song or end up purchasing the complete album later on. If you don't have a CD burner or a portable MP3 player, purchasing singles is a great way to acquire the songs you love. |
