The 45 turn 60
“What I love about seven-inch singles is the sound quality and the warmth, and also that they’re physical, and I will keep them forever and I cherish them. They’re not throwaway. I always feel that if you download music, you rarely listen to it over and over again, whereas most of my singles have been played hundreds of times,” singer-songwriter Jack Penate recently told BBC in a story about the upcoming 60th anniversary of the 45 rpm 7″ single.
Have outlived many competing formats and constantly converting new generations of fans with it’s qualities and charm, the 45 rpm 7″ single will turn 60 in March. Despite repeated predictions of the vinyl format’s demise, it heads for another anniversary on the back of year that have seen it breaking new sales records. While the CD sales continues to plummet, 2008 saw more vinyl records purchased than in any other year in the history of Nielsen Soundscan, which began tracking vinyl sales in 1991.
More good news from Nielsen Soundscan; more than two out of three vinyl albums bought in 2008 were purchased at an independent music store. When then adding the independent stores not counted by Soundscan and the enormous secondhand market , it is no doubt that the vinyl format can head towards another anniversary with it’s head held high.
The first 45 rpm 7″ single ever released? On March 31, 1949 RCA released Eddy Arnold’s “Texarkana Baby” Enjoy!
Eddy Arnold - Texarkana Baby
Photo: theyuped
Tags: 45 rpm, 7inch single, Eddy Arnold, Jack Penate, Nielsen Soundscan, Vinyl
