Do people still buy these?

I've never bought one, not even PJ
but I'd say they still do, yeah

They do if you order them by Halo

hahahahah

Truth be told, I don't really buy singles, either. Looking at my CD rack confirms this

Aside from Pearl Jam, I haven't bought a single in years. A lot of record stores around here don't even carry them anymore.

i download them

yeh il download b-sides

To me there really isn't a point. You are only buying them if you are really into the band... so if you are, in a year or 2 that band will release a bside collection or EP with extra stuff that will force you to buy it anyway, so why waste the money.

Maybe I'm wrong about this, and I'm admittedly basing it on almost nothing, but I think the music industry isn't as single-oriented as it used to be. I'm travelling back like 40 years, but during the 60s, it seemed like producers and execs were more focused on just making sure a hit was out there rather than taking the time to formulate a good album. Many great singles weren't even used on albums.

Now with the internet, a single is completely meaningless unless you're a collector.

I used to buy heaps.

I remember when my mom took me to Waxy Maxy's and got me the November Rain single. I think that might have been the only one I ever bought. Seems idiotic to buy a single when you can usually get the whole damn album for 5 bucks more.

I used to always buy them. Now it's all 1 track radio promo discs. I have all of PJ's, all of the Pumpkins from 'Gish' onwards, all of Soundgarden's.CD singles, some 7 inches, 12 inches. And all of PJ's of course. iPods have made 'em redundant, too. I just stuck all of Soundgarden's and Pumpkins' B-sides onto iTunes from my original CD's and 7 inches, and lashed 'em onto my iPod. They were cool, but expensive. Stone Temple Pilots were rubbish for B-sides, as were AIC, so I didn't bother with their singles. The joys of collecting. I still remember finding a 1st pressing 12 inch of 'Screaming Life' in a store in Sydney. I used to live for moments like that.

Depends on the Band, some have killer b-sides (Pearl Jam, Modest Mouse).

I'll only buy it if it has a non-album b-side. Honestly, for any band but PJ, I'll find a way to DL the non-album tracks if I can. I've got about 10-12 PJ sinlgles (not counting xmas), a couple of Neil Young singles, a couple Pumpkins, I've got the Immigrant Song single with Hey Hay What Can I Do, and maybe a couple others. For $5, I'll pay to have the actual disc for a rare song.

i have a bunch of 7" singles

For years, the US music industry has been album driven. Singles have been used to drive album sales. Commercial radio still focuses on a single track from an album to drive those sales.

The single format (CD single/7"/12") is becoming less relevant in the digital age but people are able to purchase a single track easily from I Tunes e.g.

Music industry dilemma? Record companies spend lots of money on a focus track and hope people will pick up the whole album. Yet the consumer can easily pick up the single for 99 cents at I Tunes.

There was an article recently about how record companies made a bad decision when allowing I Tunes (and other online retailers) to sell tracks individually instead of as a whole album.

Interesting stuff......

I haven't bought a single in many years. I have a ton of cassette singles in my closet and I think that I have one CD single (Pearl Jam).

There used to be a music store by my old house that still sold singles. Unfortunately, they closed a few years ago. Borders on the other side of town sold them too, but the one by me doesn't.

I've never bought a single in my life. I've recieved them but never bought one.

I've download plenty of them