The Idea Of Singles

I have yet to see or buy an actual CD Single. And for two reasons: One, I don’t think the trend of releasing CD Singles ever became a solid format in the Philippines since it was introduced during the mid 1980’s in western countries. I recall buying a number of cassette albums back in high school and college (with whatever I can scrimp and save from my daily or weekly allowance) before compact discs became the more acceptable and accessible format. Secondly, I am part of this music generation who finds instant gratification with downloading MP3s and P2P sharing during the onset of this trend that has been slowly revolutionizing the music industry.

Singles here often come in the form of a radio single (where a cut in a full length album is sent to radio stations for promotional purposes). Digital consumerism in the country is yet to be cultivated due to the amount of pirating and illegal file sharing over the internet. The Philippine iTunes store doesn’t even support MP3 downloads just yet (that’s how late our 3rd world country is) but do have local counterparts like Fliptunes and a few more.

Physical record sales are down and not even proportional to the high cost of producing and traditionally marketing quality releases. So the idea of cannibalizing an album with a series of single came into mind. Originally planned for radio promo and digital single release, The Bernadettes “Let’s Make Babies” and Turbo Goth’s “Morning Swim” became an offshoot of the traditional CD Singles and Maxi CD (CD Singles has a B-Side, Maxi CD Singles contains a number of remixes from one title track). Instead of a B-Side, we toyed with the idea of including a remix to come with a physical release. It was a proposition by Paolo of Turbo Goth which Jonathan Ong (our record producer) and I received with enthusiasm. And boy, Jonathan din an amazing job! If you want to hear the singles and remix click on the following:

Morning Swim – Turbo Goth
Let’s Make Babies – The Bernadettes
(There’s a music player on the site that plays the singles and remix side by side)

And if you like what you hear and wishes to support Lilystars Records and the bands we cater to (and enable us to produce more), we urge you to buy the Limited Edition CD Singles that comes with collectible badges/pins. It is unknowable at this point if we are the first to release such in this territory during this decade, but for us trying to produce a physical product that artists, music fans and collectors (like myself) will treasure is a worthwhile contribution to the local music industry. We will be appreciative of any generous action of support.

So what do you say to a Lilystars CD Single?

Let’s Make Babies – The Bernadettes

Morning Swim – Turbo Goth

If interested, you can grab these records during gigs or thru mailorder from our Shop (yes, we deliver) while supplies last.