The EP is becoming popular again. For instance, Luke Bryan released an EP last month which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard albums chart.

“Invented around 1950, the EP was long considered the misfit format of the recording industry: Shorter than an album and longer than a single, EPs generally run about 30 minutes and top out at a half-dozen songs. They’ve proven especially easy to digest as digital downloads or streams, because they can give listeners a hearty sample of an unfamiliar act without asking them to commit to a full-length (and full-price) album. As a result, they’ve become crucial to the way many new acts introduce themselves.”

When Republic Records signed the Icelandic folk-rock band Of Monsters and Men last year, its jubilant song “Little Talks” was just starting to get radio airplay. The group had already recorded an album in Iceland, so its new label quickly “polished” four of the songs and released them as an EP. The goal was to give curious fans a bigger sample of the music, and get a head start on sales. Priced at $4.29, the digital EP “Into the Woods” probably qualified as an impulse buy for some shoppers. It sold 55,000 copies. “Psychologically, it’s not as intimidating as buying an album with 12 songs from a group I’ve never heard of,” says Avery Lipman, president and co-founder of Republic Records, which is owned by Universal. Read more