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Ep Or Not Ep; that is the question
Topic Started: Oct 11 2014, 11:53 PM (751 Views)
socorro
Level 5
[ *  *  *  *  * ]
Hi all,

It occurred to me today, and not for the first time, that the EP format seemed to be embraced or disfavored in different markets, with no obvious pattern to it.

For example, in France, EPs were the sole 7" format -- to the exclusion of singles -- for many years. Right across the border in Italy, EPs were virtually non-existent.

Below is my first attempt to sort this out. Note that this applies only to the formats used for Beatles records, since that is where my knowledge ends.


EP Dominant

In these countries, the EP format was extremely popular, and largely displaced LPs and/or singles.

Portugal (no LPs until the 1970s)
Belgium (no LPs until the 1970s)
France (no commercial singles until late 1960s, although earlier singles were made for jukeboxes)
Iran (far more common than singles or LPs)
Thailand (far more common than singles or LPs)

A special case is USSR, where the only Beatles music available on a record until the mid-1970s was a single track on a 10" VA compilation. From the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s, numerous Beatles EPs were issued in quantity, until the first USSR LPs were issued in 1986 (A Taste Of Honey and AHDN).

EP Embraced

In these countries, the EP format was popular in terms of variety (number of releases) and sales (non-scarcity of multiple EPs relative to LPs and singles from that country). However, the format did not displace the LP or the single.

Mexico
Bolivia (the EPs are scarce, but no more so than the singles and less so than the LPs)
Brazil
Argentina (although distinctly less common than LPs and singles)
Uruguay (although distinctly less common than LPs and singles)
South Africa & Southern Rhodesia
Nigeria (all of the UK EPs were issued, but they are just as scarce as the LPs)
Israel
Germany (although distinctly less common than LPs or singles)
Sweden
Denmark
India
New Zealand
Australia
Japan
Spain
UK

EP Disfavored

EPs were issued in this country but, based on their relative scarcity, apparently sold poorly compared to LPs and/or singles.

Canada (it appears that only the first Capitol US EP was issued here)
US (the VeeJay EP in the "Souvenir" sleeve sold reasonably well, unlike the two Capitol EPs)
Nicaragua (only the MMT double EP was issued here)
Costa Rica (these EPs are even scarcer than the Costa Rica LPs)
Venezuela (several EPs were issued, all are hard to find)
Colombia (10 EPs were issued here, but all sold poorly -- only one single was issued)
Chile (only Nowhere Man and MMT issued here)
Lebanon (only MMT issued here, along with numerous singles but no LPs)
Pakistan (only the Twist & Shout EP issued her, along with numerous singles and no LPs)
Norway (only MMT issued here)
Finland (only MMT issued here)
Singapore/Malaysia/Hong Kong (many EPs issued, but far less common than the LPs)
Philippines (several early UK EPs, plus MMT)
Greece (Nowhere Man and MMT)
Bulgaria

EP Absent

Beatles LPs and/or singles were issued in these countries while the group was together, but no EPs have surfaced.

Jamaica
Barbados
Ecuador
Peru
Egypt (in fairness, only Abbey Road and the LIB single were issued here, in tiny numbers)
Turkey
Yugoslavia
Czechoslovakia
Austria (only three singles issued here)
Taiwan (tons of bootleg LPs, no EPs or singles have surfaced)
Korea (tons of bootleg LPs, no EPs or singles have surfaced)
Mozambique (two singles, and later some post-breakup LPs)
Angola (only Oh Darling single)

No Beatles records are known to have been made in these countries until the 1970s or later, and no EPs have surfaced.

Dominican Republic (only LPs)
Guatemala
Panama
Romania (only two bootleg LPs from the 1980s)
Hungary (three LPs from the 1980s)


This post turned out a lot longer than I expected.

What did I get wrong or overlook?


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Jae
Level 3
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EMI worldwide sales data from 1966...

Posted Image

I'll do the same for 1969 shortly.
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Jae
Level 3
[ *  *  * ]
1969 figures for comparison...

Posted Image


You can compare and form your own opinion based on actual sales/manufactured data. :)

NB: I've just quickly pulled these together from extant EMI documentation I have readily accessible at hand.
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namralos
Member Avatar
Level 5
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The first Capitol EP (EAP-2121) actually sold quite well. By the time the second one came around, Capitol was already eliminating the format. In fact, there is a suggestion in Billboard that the only reason they retained the EP format at all was because Four by the Beatles had sold so well.

http://books.google.com/books?id=EEUEAAAAM...epage&q&f=false
The "4 by" series was supposed to present EP's at a reduced price ... to see if there was still any interest. "4 by the Beach Boys" (R-5237) was issued in a standard paper sleeve. Apparently Capitol believed that the tactic caused people not to want to pay more than single prices, so they released the others in the series in cardboard sleeves.
"4 by Buck Owens" (R-5446) seems to have been the last gasp.
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pinio65
Level 4
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https://www.facebook.com/pinio65/photos/a.4...?type=3&theater

1964
EP: All I've Got To Do / All My Loving b/w Don't Bother Me / Little Child
Odeon EPO-2 [Mono] Costa Rica
The Beatles

Nota: yellow label with black print



https://www.facebook.com/pinio65/photos/a.4...?type=3&theater

1964
EP: Till There Was You / Hold Me Tight b/w I Wanna Be Your Man / Not A Second Time
Odeon EPO-3 [Mono] Costa Rica
The Beatles

Nota: yellow label with black print



Side A: TILL THERE WAS YOU "Hasta que llegaste" / HOLD ME TIGHT "Abrazame fuerte"

Side B: I WANT TO BE YOUR MAN "Quiero ser tu hombre" / NOT A SECOND TIME "No otra vez"

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pinio65
Level 4
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1964
Money / You Can't Do That b/w Long Tall Sally / I Call Your Name
Odeon EPO-5 Costa Rica






1964
I'll Cry Instead / Things We Said Today b/w Anytime At All / When I Get Home
Odeon EPO-7 Costa Rica
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pinio65
Level 4
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1967
Magical Mystery Tour
Odeon 0-MMT-A-1/B-1 Nicaragua
 Black Odeon label with white logo and silver print

I never seen.
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pinio65
Level 4
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Venezuela

https://www.facebook.com/pinio65/photos/a.2...?type=3&theater

https://www.facebook.com/pinio65/photos/a.2...?type=3&theater

https://www.facebook.com/pinio65/photos/a.2...?type=3&theater

https://www.facebook.com/pinio65/photos/a.2...?type=3&theater

https://www.facebook.com/pinio65/photos/a.2...?type=3&theater

https://www.facebook.com/pinio65/photos/a.2...?type=3&theater

https://www.facebook.com/pinio65/photos/a.2...?type=3&theater

https://www.facebook.com/pinio65/photos/a.2...?type=3&theater
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pinio65
Level 4
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Chile

https://www.facebook.com/pinio65/photos/a.2...?type=3&theater

1964 ?

https://www.facebook.com/pinio65/photos/a.2...?type=3&theater

https://www.facebook.com/pinio65/photos/a.2...?type=3&theater

https://www.facebook.com/pinio65/photos/a.2...?type=3&theater

https://www.facebook.com/pinio65/photos/a.2...?type=3&theater

??? Exists ? BFS.

https://www.facebook.com/pinio65/photos/a.2...?type=3&theater

https://www.facebook.com/pinio65/photos/a.2...?type=3&theater

https://www.facebook.com/pinio65/photos/a.2...?type=3&theater

https://www.facebook.com/pinio65/photos/a.2...?type=3&theater

https://www.facebook.com/pinio65/photos/a.2...?type=3&theater

https://www.facebook.com/pinio65/photos/a.2...?type=3&theater

https://www.facebook.com/pinio65/photos/a.2...?type=3&theater

https://www.facebook.com/pinio65/photos/a.2...?type=3&theater

https://www.facebook.com/pinio65/photos/a.2...?type=3&theater



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pinio65
Level 4
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Bulgaria:

http://beatlesvinyl.com.ua/ru/special/BTM_6258M.html
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pinio65
Level 4
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Lebanon:

https://www.facebook.com/pinio65/photos/a.7...?type=3&theater

December 1967 or Early 68 ?
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pinio65
Level 4
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1963
EP: Twist And Shout
Parlophone GEP.8882 [Mono] Pakistan

Nota: sleeve imported from the UK
Black Parlophone label with silver print and push-out center hole

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pinio65
Level 4
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1967
2 EP's: Magical Mystery Tour:
Parlophone GMSP 123/4 [Mono] Greece
 Parlophone magenta label with push-out center hole and silver print
Sleeve and booklet from UK
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muffmasterh
Level 7
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in case this has not been said before EP's in the UK were mainly marketed to people who would not easily be able to afford LP's, this was a chance to offer choice LP tracks to them for at a price just over ten bob ( about 53 pence )

LP's up until the late 60's were extremely expensive in relation to average income, that is why most of the top selling LP's of all times come from the 70's when LP's - whose price changed little until the mid 70's and even then did not increase with anything like inflation let alone wage inflation.

This is why most LP's are actually LP highlights and very few ( such as Long Tall Sally ) are stand alone EP's and also why the format was almost dead by 1968 as it wasn't needed, EP's after 1966 were mostly specialised stand alone EP's, the Album highlights EP's were no longer needed by 1967 as the main reason d'etre for them was dying out.

What surprises me is that no Beatles EP's had stereo versions ( Cliff did , Helen Shapiro did Shadows did ), but maybe it doesn't. cost was again probably a factor, as few EP's after 1964 were is stereo, also it could be that the buyers of stereo records, the more affluent were more likely to be able to afford stereo LP's so for them it was earlier by the early 60's, so the reason d'etre for stereo EP's ceased to exist earlier than normal EP's which were marketed at the more average buyer....

And finally MMT is not imho not really an EP, its actually a couple of maxi singles in a book before the maxi single term was coined probably in the early 70's and thats probably why it has its own unique code and has standard single labels..
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socorro
Level 5
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Thanks, Jae.

You can certainly see the dominance of the EP format over the single format in France in 1966.

One really striking contrast which is not captured in these numbers at all is between the pirate disc capitals of Taiwan and Thailand.

In both countries, demand for western music was heavily driven by US soldiers. In Taiwan, a profusion of companies made countless pirate versions of the US and UK Beatles LPs, as well as their own compilations. I have never seen a Taiwan made EP or single.

In Thailand, you saw the same saturation level of Beatles EPs. There were probably close to 10 pirate LPs issued in Thailand, but in relatively small numbers. It is also striking that the Thailand LPs were usually non-US, non-UK compilations with sleeve art that was not used in either country.
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