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Mellowtron View Drop Down
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Points: 26 		Direct Link To This Post Topic: EP/LP for this album length?
    Posted: July 16 2016 at 14:27
Hello again!

As stated in a previous post about band naming, my band is heading in to record some music. We have five songs at varying lengths at 2, 9, 4, 5.5, and 8 minutes. Altogether the length comes around to 28.5 minutes. So what does that record length make for this album- an EP or LP?

Thanks for reading!
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Points: 6777 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 16 2016 at 15:06
Although I do know a couple of records from the 70's that are shorter than that and classified as "albums", by today's standards 28.5 minutes would be an EP.
when i was a kid a doller was worth ten dollers - now a doller couldnt even buy you fifty cents
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DDPascalDD View Drop Down
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Points: 856 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 16 2016 at 15:42
About where is the line between those two?
New album! "A Moment of Thought"
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Points: 6777 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 16 2016 at 16:29
Originally posted by DDPascalDD DDPascalDD wrote:

About where is the line between those two?

It's sort of an arbitrary thing that'll depend on who you ask. By my own metric, I'd say that a modern digital release is definitely an EP at under 25 minutes and definitely an album at over 35 minutes. 

If it falls in between 25 and 35 minutes, then I'd consider the marketing and structure of it: if it has an internally consistent concept or a logical flow, I'd be more likely to call it an album. Whereas one would probably consider it an EP if it's a sort of odds-and-ends collection of ideas that gives an idea of "what we've been working on" for the artist without delving in too deep, or if it's been put together for promotional purposes. Not that an EP wouldn't necessarily have any depth or feel to it, it's just that it more or less serves a different purpose. An EP should act like a teaser whereas an album offers the full experience. 

Hopefully that makes sense?
when i was a kid a doller was worth ten dollers - now a doller couldnt even buy you fifty cents
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Mellowtron View Drop Down
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Points: 26 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 16 2016 at 19:43
For this release, there is a short story, something akin to the story in the liner notes for the Who's Quadrophenia or Genesis's the Lamb Lies Down on Broadway. The song length varies and are a bit different in sound and structure, but there is an overarching theme connecting all the songs together.

Thanks for your input!
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Pastmaster View Drop Down
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Points: 1774 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 16 2016 at 20:52
It's hard to define what's an EP and what's an album, as both can vary in length and both can have a connected concept. It all depends on what you want to call it really. I know of many hardcore punk and grindcore albums that are under 30 minutes.
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