From Rolling Stone magazine, March 26, 1987.

Cassette singles emerge as 45s fade

By Michael Walker

The seven-inch 45 – a format of steadily decreasing popularity among record buyers – could be headed for extinction, possibly to be replaced by the cassette single.

According to Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) statistics, shipments of singles declined from 228 million unites in 1973 to approximately 121 million in 1985, and the RIAA reports that unit shipments for the first six months of 1986 were off by twenty-three percent. Meanwhile, certifications of gold (1 million copies sold) and platinum (2 million copies) singles have plummeted from ten platinum and sixty-one gold singles in 1978 to one platinum and fourteen gold in 1985. And in 1986, no singles went platinum, and only seven went gold.

Why have singles fallen out of the groove? The record executives point to several factors, among them the parallel decline of vinyl LPs in the wake of rising cassette and CD sales and changes in the buying habits of young record buyers – traditionally the primary customers of seven-inch singles. “We’re dealing with a generation that’s grown up on cassettes instead of records,” says David Steffen, vice-president of sales for A&M Records. “When I was growing up, I had a turntable. I think kids today are starting with cassette players.”

“Every vinyl configuration is in a dramatic decline,” says Rick Dobbis, executive vice-president of RCA Records, who cites the example of Bruce Hornsby and the Range’s recent hit, “The Way It Is,” which sold less than half a million copies. “Ten years ago a bona fide Number One like that would have been a gold single.”

Despite the sinking popularity of singles at retail, record companies say they can’t afford to abandon them altogether, since singles are still their most important tool for generating radio play and stimulating album sales. “The whole record business is fathered on the concept of a single song,” says Russ Solomon, president of the Tower Records chain. “Part of the problem is record companies haven’t done anything spectacular to make singles sell. They use them as a vehicle to sell albums, then sweep them under the carpet.”

Now, however, a few major labels are beginning to experiment with CD singles and cassette singles. Of the two formats, cassette singles – introduced in 1982 by I.R.S. Records, which holds a trademark on the Cassingle brand name – are favored because they can be manufactured less expensively than CDs and sold at or near the current $1.98 list price of vinyl singles. (Cassette equivalents of twelve-inch singles, with three to four cuts, are now on the market on a limited basis.)

“We’re totally committed to putting singles on cassette,” says Jim Cawley, vice-president of sales and distribution for Arista Records, which plans to issue cassette singles from upcoming LPs by Whitney Houston and other artists. Cawley adds that broad acceptance of the format depends in part on uniform packaging and the participation of other labels. “No retailer would have gone into the video business if the only title he was offered was Raiders of the Lost Ark. You need a whole menu of titles,” he says.

A&M’s Steffen says his company’s first cassette single, due out March 10th, will be “Heat of the Night,” from Bryan Adam’s next album. The single will be packaged in a specially designed “jewel box” to distinguish it from a full-length cassette. Initially, the label will issue cassette singles as companions to vinyl singles to test consumer interest. But, he adds, “it’s not inconceivable to me that by 1990 the bulk of the seven inch business will be cassettes.”

Nevertheless, the jury is still out on whether the new formats will completely replace vinyl singles.

“I don’t think vinyl singles are dead,” says Jim Fishel, vice-president and executive of the RIAA. “It’s still a viable configuration – some people like the tangible feel of black vinyl.”

“I’m not ready to see them dump it,” agrees Tower Records’ Solomon, who says singles account for two to three percent of the chain’s American sales.

“We’re going to go through a very dramatic and fitful experimentation period as we find out what’s good for everybody,” says RCA’s Dobbis, who adds that the label plans to release twelve-inch equivalent cassette singles in the near future. “Cassette singles may be the answer; further down the road it could be CD singles or some other technology. But consumers will always want to be able to purchase one song they like, as opposed to an album. It’s a logical way for people to buy music. We have to be alert to that.”

Those Bangles are gonna change the face of pop music, I'm tellin' ya now!

I hope I'm not the only one that reads pure comedy in these paragraphs.

paging vainandy...

I remember buying 45s at Tower Records...

ahh, memories! I still have some o' them thangs, ....





...

paligap said:

Me too. Usually stuff I would never want infiltrating my CD collection like Britney's "...Baby One More Time", Shania Twain's "You're Still The One", Robyn's "Show Me Love" etc. Those artists don't mix well with Sonic Youth and PJ Harvey.

i have a whole damn shoebox of prince cassingles. i have no idea what i'm gonna do with 'em...the 'if i was your girlfriend' one looks kinda cool, actually...

I am happy that I learned that cassette singles were introduced in 1982 by I.R.S. Records, which held a trademark on the Cassingle brand name.

Anxiety said:

That musta been one of the first Prince cassingles. I betcha Parade didn't have any cassingles.

My first music purchases were cassette singles. I still have well over 100.

Moonbeam said:

Could you please refer to them as Cassingles?

Spot the transvestite

PANDURITO said:

I didn't know you were a Bangle.

That's me, with a blond wig

PANDURITO said:

Why does time have to march on, damn it!

that article is HI-larious!

my, how quickly times change

fyi- I just trashed most of my cassingles, the only ones I saved were my Princey's and a random Charlatans

Do people collect cassette singles the way they do 45s? They were here and then gone so quickly.

grammar edit
[Edited 9/14/05 13:41pm]

CinisterCee said:

the first prince cassingle i'm aware of was for "sign 'o' the times". it didn't look like the vinyl single - it just had a plain peach cover with the SOTT logo plastered on it.

I found that cassingles had superior sound compared to full cassettes due to the fact that less tape was spooling.

damn...i thought cassingles were making a comeback. i still have a bunch of 'em back at my dad's house...i have one or two here with me in mpls in my tape drawer (yes, i've got an actual tape drawer, filled with blank tapes that have stuff i recorded off of the radio that i can't bear to part with).

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

eww, i hope tapes never make a comeback, except as antique memorabilia that i can sell on eBay for the big bucks (not likely, but hey).

i have a bag full of cassettes that i won't part with, either because i haven't replaced them with CDs yet or because the CD version just plain doesn't exist. i'm sure i have the capabilities to copy tapes to CD with all the doodads i have in my apartment, but i'm too much of an idjit to figure it out.

CinisterCee said:

My first music purchases were cassingles. I still have well over 100.

Anxiety said:

Iam slowly copying tapes to cd's.

As for cassingles? I might of had a few?

I still used a cassette walkman only 2 years ago.

Moonbeam said:

Never had a cassingle.
Still have some cassettes and quite a few 45s.


It's hell rebuilding.


Anyone willing to fess up to still having...



...8-Tracks?


tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...dID=182431

http://www.wtsmedia.com/p...rders_and_



[Edited 9/14/05 17:18pm]

I have a few Hammer cassingles that I just can't part with.

In the mid to late 80s i always bought vinyl(when i was a young teen) i hate cassettes although all my friends bought them. I thought they were a complete waste of money and they never lasted. I did actually buy a cassette single, Madonna's Who's That Girl as it was one of the first, also those things never had extended versions on them unlike their 12" rivals.