In music, a single is a short recording of one or more separate tracks. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats.
The basic parameters of the music single were established in the late 1800s, when the gramophone record began to supersede phonograph cylinders in commercial music. Gramophone discs were manufactured with a range of playback speeds (from 16 rpm to 78 rpm) and in several sizes (including 12″/30-cm)....
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In music, a single is a short recording of one or more separate tracks. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats.
The basic parameters of the music single were established in the late 1800s, when the gramophone record began to supersede phonograph cylinders in commercial music. Gramophone discs were manufactured with a range of playback speeds (from 16 rpm to 78 rpm) and in several sizes (including 12″/30-cm). By around 1910, however, the 10-inch (25-cm) 78 rpm shellac disc had become the most commonly used format.
The inherent technical limitations of the gramophone disc defined the standard format for commercial recordings in the early 1900s. The relatively crude disc cutting techniques of the time and the thickness of the needles used on record players limited the number of grooves per inch that could be inscribed on the disc surface, and a high rotation speed was necessary to achieve acceptable recording and playback fidelity. 78 rpm was chosen...
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