7" vinyl record
Seven inch singles
In 1949 the 7" 45 RPM [before that, there was the 7" 33rpm record] record (single) was introduced with a playing time of up to 8 minutes of playing time per side. The soul music 'lexis', the lexis being, according to Danish semiotician Louis Hjelmslev, a 'socialised unit of reading, of reception: in sculpture, the statue; in music the 'piece'', (Metz 1984) has always been the seven-inch single and occasionally when playing 1970's or 1980's (occasionally even more recent) works, the twelve-inch single. --Paul WynneSeven inch vinyl
Most expensive seven inch recording
Recently (1999) a copy of Frank Wilson's 'Do I Love You?' an extremely rare and coveted disc which was pressed (made) in the mid-1960's but never released to the public was bought by a Scottish collector for £15 000, the most ever paid for a seven-inch single anywhere in the world, even though because of it's dancefloor popularity (within British Soul culture at least) it has been reissued on a newer labels or CDs several times since its original (non)introduction. --Paul Wynne [...]100+ pre-disco floor-shaking 45s
THE BIRTH OF THE 45
Fifty three years ago this year - March 31, 1949, to be exact - the 45 rpm record was introduced to an unsuspecting world that didn't yet know it needed its second new record format in as many years
Basically, there's no really good reason why 45-rpm records exist in the first place. They were created out of a combination of rivalry and spite in the heady post-World War II era.
In June 1948, Columbia Records announced its new microgroove 33 1/3-rpm album, which it called by the trademark "LP." (It would later lose the trademark because the term had become generic.) As a courtesy, William Paley, chairman of CBS (owner of Columbia Records) demonstrated the new format to General Robert Sarnoff, president of NBC (which owned RCA Victor Records), several weeks before the public announcement. The hope was for RCA to join in with Columbia - they were the two major players in recorded music at that time - to ensure the success of the new format. --http://www.boo-ga-loo.demon.co.uk/boogoo52.htm
1949
Quoting the RCA Distributor's Record Bulletin from Nov. 14, 1949: "...From coast to coast - teen-agers are lining up for bargain player attachments. The whole thing's on key with their allowances - neat little records they can slip in their pockets, with a first-class band playing their favourite hit - for 49 cents. Times are like the '30s, the early-40s again, when the youngsters made up the big biz in the pop market. ...They go for the lowest priced at the new speed, they go for the little disc that fits on the shelf beside their paper-backed novels, is unbreakable, and has quality of tone that can't be matched."