It is no longer a trend, it is a fundamental phenomenon. The mini-album, the EP, short for Extended Player dear to the English and the 1960s, is making an astonishing comeback. It is the calling card of almost all new artists. And it is a format that is attracting more and more “installed” musicians, from the French pop singer Hollysiz, who will not release a third album at the end of August but a five-track EP, to American rockers Counting Crows, from Christine & The Queens to English soul diva Jorja Smith. Even Beatles drummer Ringo Starr got it on! What does this phenomenon mean? And does it sign the death of the good old album? Investigation.
Streaming changed everything. The SNEP, which records album sales in France, does not have figures on the number of EPs released, but its director, Alexandre Lasch, notes “a significant increase, in particular for career start-ups”. “It’s linked to how streaming works around the single song that we listen to,” he continues. But at the same time, we see an increase in the number of albums produced, as the market is picking up again, and a growing number of artists on the platforms. 60,000 new titles a day is enormous. While we were talking about 6,000 titles a year ten years ago. “
“With streaming, there are no longer any format constraints,” recalls Antoine Monnin, the boss of Spotify France. And that’s great for artists, it’s freedom. They can release two albums a year, like Jul, one song a month. A boy like Oscar Anton, who is not signed on a label, releases his titles according to the seasons. The dominant use is playlists, with more than four million users. People then make their compilations with their favorite titles. But on Friday, the day of the album releases, they listen to them in full. This is where they make their choices. “
“As you can release music when you want and how you want, you can feed your audience all year round,” continues Mehdi Maïzi, hip-hop specialist at Apple Music. And he is very keen on new things! This is evident in rap, the most streamed music. The young people are very impatient: you put in a title and it asks three days later when the next one arrives. You have to be a very confirmed artist to allow yourself to leave five years between two albums, like Rihanna. But she is criticized for her long absence ”.
A business card for young artists. Son Cara, Clara Ysé, Cléa Vincent… Many artists that Mélissa Phulpin takes care of are releasing EPs. “For young people, it’s an almost automatic process,” admits this manager and press officer specializing in developing musicians. I encourage them to start with an EP. It’s less pressure, more spontaneous, financially more affordable, because some people sometimes record it at home. I have the impression that people, including journalists, listen to an EP more easily. But conversely, it is less easy to talk about them in the press and to disseminate them in the media. Singer Fishbach, for example, is reluctant to release a second album or multiple EPs. “
“An EP makes it possible to install the universe of an artist and also to impose it in a playlist more easily than a single single, estimates Pascal Nègre, former boss of Universal who is today at the head of the #NP management company and the 6 & 7 label. In the case of Lubiana, a young artist who sings and plays the kora, her EP has allowed her to show her different facets, world, pop and ballad. But this format is also starting to interest some more experienced artists, because it is lighter. The EP is also a more digital format, while the album is more physical. “
Emmanuel de Buretel, boss of the Because Music label, also encourages his new artists to release EPs. “Because streaming consumption is linked to the quality of the songs,” he said. When you have good ones, but not enough to make an album, you might as well release them quickly. Like Jorja Smith who wanted to experiment before tackling her second album. Before, artists tended to make two tubes and filling on one record. “
The album is not dead, it is mutating. The record companies remain very attached to the albums. “The album remains the rendezvous, the justice of the peace, estimates Stéphane Espinosa, boss of Polydor, one of the flagship labels of Universal, which is currently releasing the albums of newcomers Taur and Matthieu des Longchamps. The EP is complementary. A business card that allows you to approach the media, to have some articles and especially to find the dates of concerts. The EP comes from independent culture, with a strong connection to the stage. It is also important for us to define the personality and the universe of the artist and a single is not enough. It sometimes allows us to adjust the situation in terms of production. It is part of the construction process. With the finality of the album. “
Streaming platforms don’t shy away from the album either. The boss of Apple Music for the world, Olivier Schusser, recently told Music Business Worldwide, bet a lot on this long format. “While most platforms focus the majority of their efforts on playlists, Apple Music still emphasizes albums because we understand their value as a storytelling tool for artists to create context around. of their music. “Mehdi Maïzi, in charge of rap at Apple Music, confirms:” The album is being reinvented. It can be very short, very long, we add a title like Kanye West on “Pablo”. Gims made extended records, Damso released his record the day before Friday and in two parts. He wouldn’t have done it fifteen years ago. “
“An album is no longer frozen, abounds Alexandre Lash, director of Snep. The artists make their album live longer. It is a new practice which is set to develop, like Angèle, who comes out “Brol” in an extended version. The exploitation period of an album increases. We have adapted to it and changed our rules. The ranking of novelties has been reduced from 24 months to 36 months. “
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