7" Vynal: Worth It Or Not?

[FreakAnimalFinland]

I think the extract thing is pretty typical for.. lets say the "american noise". I mean, when I think of it, majority of releases sound like cut of longer piece. It's similar situation for harsh noise as well as more "free noise". And I think most recently there is Turgid Animal italy division of Torturing Love 7" + tape, where tape consist the long mixes of same tracks as 7" + additional material. One has to question why the 7" is there in first place? But the fact that one band has track called "cock pig" and therefore tape has "cock pig (long version)" I could appreciate it on conceptual level.

I think 7" suits more the noise / industrial that is "composed", as opposite of some random wall of noise or blasting something. Having beginning and end. And actual "composition".

[ARKHE]

That's a nice theory, but do you really think thats how it happens?

I guess not, and I guess that is why I rarely buy 7".

[bogskaggmannen]

From another angle I often listen to LPs and think something like "two tracks from this six track LP would have made a splendid 7"!"...

I agree with Mikko that the 7" format suits groups with a more "traditional sense" song structure. If I should ask a group to record a 7" for us it should probably be taken as some form of critizism that I think their tracks most often are too long, ha ha!

[Bloated Slutbag]

A 7" exists because it does. It is as worthwhile and worthless as any other format. As a listener, the only thing worthy of consideration is whether the shit is worth listening to. If one's basis for that is the damn format, what can I say, people do things for inscrutable reasons... but so do chimps.

I respect and admire the reasons an artist or label may offer for whatever they deem fit, but when it comes down to it, I really couldn't care less.

From the label viewpoint, it seems apparent that market-based arguments tend to fall in the minority, and listener preferences, though good and well, are not all that influential. A 7" exists because it does.