From the book Poor & Famous by Clive ‘Mono’ Mukundu

1. Singles: These are typically records with a maximum of two songs. Before the CD era, they were found on vinyl with an A side and a B side. The B side was the accompanying song, or sort of a bonus whilst the A side was the main song being marketed. One purpose of releasing a single is to give your fans an appetiser before releasing a larger body of work. Most artistes were accused of putting boring B side songs as a cover up after they had spent their energy on just one song. Morris Minor and the Majors, a 1980s British comedy band, created by the British comedians and writers Tony Hawks and Paul Boors released a song called Another Boring B Side, which made fun of musicians for always putting a boring song on the b side of singles.
2. Extended Play (EP): This is a collection of music with more than just the single but not long enough to qualify as a studio album. The estimated length that the industry gives is 25 minutes, with between three and five tracks. An EP is usually part of an album, and an album usually contains more than ten songs but an EP can have four or five songs, which also means than an EP is cheaper to do than an album. Doing an EP is recommended for artistes who are still considered as new, who are still trying to find a sound to be identified with, so an artiste can experiment with different sounds on an EP before coming up with an album.
3. Long Play (LP): This is a collection of music that qualifies as a full album release. It is usually 40 minutes or 10 tracks at the minimum.
4. Album: What an album is today is a LP that is promoted and sold, under a record contract. So basically the definition of an Album is an LP made by artiste s but controlled by record labels on every level, even the creation process. An album is more expensive to do and usually contains similar themes, or tells a complete story.
5. Mix tapes: This is a term that originated with the hip hop community. Originally these were underground albums that were given away for free containing both original and unoriginal works. The sole purpose was to build a fan base rather than profit. Typically, since they are self-funded the artiste was in complete control of this project so they decided on the length, content etc. Songs that failed to make it on previous albums were then sometimes also added on mix tapes.

Mix tape Albums Differences

Basically, mixtapes are done by new acts on other artists’ beats. They were given out for free for the reason of self-promotion, but albums are funded and controlled by record labels featuring original beats.

The differences are not very clear at times. Drake’s 2015 release, If You Are Reading This It’s Too Late, was labeled a mixtape, but he put it on a paid platform, iTunes, and it sold over 500 000 records in one week and was nominated for best album. Just like Drake, Chance the rapper also released a so-called mixtape on a paid platform. Some rappers are said to be using the word mixtape so as to avoid criticism if they doubt their projects’ merit or just as a way of confusing the market. Drake also released a project in 2017 which he called a playlist and it caused a lot of confusion and discussions on the difference between an album and a playlist. It was a good publicity stunt for him too as this caused a lot of buzz.

Later on, mixtapes started including original beats, so right now there is no clear-cut difference between a mixtape and an album. I recommend new artists to start with singles so as to test the waters of the industry, and then move to EPs before coming up with a proper album.

The Zimbabwean Scenario

Currently, in Zimbabwe, our situation is very awkward. Much of the music being recorded is self-funded, which makes our projects LPs instead of albums because the majority of our artists are not funded by record labels. The majority of record labels went broke because of piracy and the slow adaption to internet streaming.

Our projects also qualify as mixtapes because due to the closure of record shops, the majority of our artists are giving away their music for free simply for the purpose of being known. Whilst the rest of the music world is experiencing a rise in music being bought online, our situation is still stagnant. Zimbabweans, just like the Japanese, still love their physical CD and they are still turning a blind eye to internet streaming.

Artistes are releasing singles but have nowhere to sell them so they just end up sending them for free downloads via social networking sites like WhatsApp, so I do not know whether to still call our current set up a music industry because the situation is so different, that is why we currently continue to have musicians who are poor and famous.

From the book Poor & Famous chapter 16.

Author: Clive”Mono” Mukundu, Edited by Philip Chidavaenzi & Bernadette Mari-Deve

Monolio publications, Harare, Zimbabwe 2018