Thematic Photographic - Single

Every week Carmi at Written, Inc. poses a theme for photographic inspiration. This week's theme is SINGLE.

Early mass-produced music recordings were made of shellac, which was brittle and heavy. They were played at a speed of 78 revolutions per minute. Each 10" disc could only hold 3 or 4 minutes of music. Although inventors fiddled around with the technology, by 1925, the 78 rpm disc became the standard in the United States. Professional musicians and composers soon adapted, limiting their songs to fit a single disc so that they would sell easily.

A new innovation in 1948 was the twelve-inch LP, or "long playing" disc, made of more durable vinyl, revolving at a speed of 33 1/3 revolutions per minute.

This worked well for symphonies and the soundtracks of Broadway musicals. But for popular music, people were used to hearing and dancing to songs that were 3 to 4 minutes long. What had started out as a technological limitation had turned into custom. Even now, most popular music cuts are 3 to 4 minutes long - people just felt that was the right length. After all, it had been that way for thirty years.

In 1949, RCA Victor Corporation developed a smaller vinyl record that could hold just one song. It was seven inches in diameter, and revolved at a speed of 45 rpm. You could just buy the song you liked, instead of a whole album of songs. You could buy a "single."

Another technological innovation allowed you to play your songs in any order you liked. A detachable spindle allowed you to stack several records. A spring mechanism held the stack above the turntable, dropping each record down to be played after the first was done. Because the spindle was wide, to accommodate the mechanism, 45s were bored with a wide central hole.

In England, 45s were pressed with a smaller hole to accommodate the traditional spindle, but you could punch out the central insert to play them with the stacking spindle.

45 rpm discs were also inexpensive, compared to albums, so they were affordable. And because people could buy only the songs they liked, and play them in any order, it was kind of like the first customizable play-list.

Selling music by the song also made it possible for record companies to track the most popular songs, and the best sellers came to be called Hit Singles.

I have to thank someone for this idea, and another someone for the subject of the picture. The author of this book, which talks about American popular music, its culture and the business of music, happens to be [The Man I Love]. And my son provided the records for me to photograph.