THE SEVEN-INCH IS ONE OF THE MOST VERSATILE FORMATS. IN THE DAYS OF DWINDLING PHYSICAL SALES, THE 7″ GOES FROM STRENGTH TO STRENGTH.

From its earliest beginnings, plying teenagers with sugary pop and rock n’ roll via ‘50s jukeboxes, the 7” has never been far away. And it’s consistently moved with the times – through the champion sounds of reggae dub-plates, chicken scratch funk, boogie soul gems lighting up the Wigan Casino or the D.I.Y ethos of the Punk and 2 Tone/Ska movements.

Heralded by many an independent label long after its perceived commercial viability to the majors, this most prolific of formats has stuck around, offering up that same quick fix satisfaction that buying a few high quality digital tracks can bring; but of course with the added value of a real hands on product, possible re-sale value and often great sleeve or package design.

Fast-forward to the cutting edge of electronic beat music and you’ll find the 7” once again blowin’ up spots. A flick through the racks of your finer record suppliers will throw up “45-L-O-V-E” from progressive beat labels like Tokyo’s Jazzy Sport, Dublin’s All City 7×7 series, Philadelphia’s Record Breakin Music, Cologne’s MPM Beat Series or London’s Futuristica, One-Handed Music and Mukatsuku, along with a wealth of independently produced music appearing from emerging producers and labels worldwide.

However, it’s not just the leftfield beat heads revelling in the return of the single. Reports from high street retailers such as HMV would indicate that indie, alternative rock and even pop are still doing big trade with teenagers and students. At its London flagship store, HMV has quadrupled its floor space dedicated to 7 inch singles in the last year alone. But the market demographic doesn’t end there. As any checkout assistant will tell you, it’s the “£50 Bloke” who’ll be religiously restocking his mid-life bunker and avidly revisiting the nostalgia of their youth at 45 revolutions per minute.

Further evidence of this trend appears in the 2008 British Phonographic Industry singles report, highlighting a year-on-year growth for 7 inch vinyl since 2004; whilst the demand for other physical formats drop off steadily. It’s something that’s been more than visible at pressing plants such as Portalspace Records based in Middlesex, who are quoted as reporting as much as 50% of their business coming from 7 inch pressing.

There is, however, one cautionary note in this story, and that is the sharp decline of vinyl production in Jamaica, with island selectors having now made a wholesale move to digital formats while the once thriving exports market has also dropped off severely in the last year. Something that has forced well established labels such as Greensleeves to completely downscale vinyl production; citing that consumers are now favouring mix CDs, live DVDs or downloads to acquire the latest riddims.

So quite how we should view the return of the 45 is hard to decide. Is it simply the last financially-viable format for an industry brought to its knees by the digital age, is it enjoying a short-lived resurgence or is its popularity a clarion call from a buying public yearning something more substantial and meaningful in their audio gratification?