Single, EP or album: how many songs each one is

A single is one to three songs, an EP is usually four to six and an album is anything bigger, but the stores draw the lines by running time as well as track count. The label a store puts on your release decides where it sits on your artist page and how listeners read it, so it's worth knowing the rules before you settle the track list.

This guide gives the rules as Apple Music publishes them and as Spotify applies them, then looks at when each format fits.

The store rules at a glance

The stores label a release from what's on it. You name the release, and the store adds "Single" or "EP" where its rule says so.

Sources: Apple's Apple Music style guide (sections 3.3 and 3.4); Spotify's rule as described in CD Baby's help center, which notes the stores can update their rules. Apple also says videos aren't counted as songs.

How many songs is an EP?

Four to six, with a total running time of 30 minutes or less, on both Spotify and Apple Music. That's the answer for most EPs. The exception is length: on Apple Music, a release of one to three songs becomes an EP when one of them runs 10 minutes or longer, so a single with an extended mix or a long ambient piece can be listed as an EP there.

Go past six tracks or past 30 minutes and the stores treat the release as an album, whatever you call it. If you want a seven-song release to read as an EP, it won't on Spotify, and the reverse holds too: a four-song release under half an hour won't be listed as an album.

When a single fits

A single is one song (sometimes with a B-side or an alternate version) put out on its own. Many independent artists release most of their music this way, and for good reasons:

• Each single gets its own release day, its own pitch to the editors and its own entry in your followers' Release Radar.
• You finish one song and get it out while it still feels new to you.
• Regular singles keep your profile active and give you a steady reason to post.

Singles suit an artist building an audience, a song that stands on its own, or a stretch of releases leading up to something bigger. A run of singles that later come together on an EP is called a waterfall release.

When an EP fits

An EP holds a few songs that belong together: one sound, one period of writing or one story. It gives listeners more to spend time with than a single and costs you far less time than an album.

• A first longer release, to show more than one side of what you do.
• A set of songs from the same sessions that would lose something apart.
• A release to tour behind or send to press, with enough to say about it.

On Spotify, EPs sit with singles on your artist page, which suits a short release that you want listeners to find next to your newest songs.

When an album fits

An album is the biggest statement: a body of work listeners take in as a whole. It needs the most songs and the most time around it, and it gives you the most to talk about, from the first single to the weeks after.

Albums suit artists with an audience waiting for it and songs that work together as a record. Most albums today arrive with singles released ahead of them, so the songs reach listeners one at a time before the whole thing lands. Our guide to rolling out an album covers the months around it.

What the format changes, and what it doesn't

The format changes how the release is listed and how listeners read it. It doesn't change how the stores treat its songs. Each song still needs its own ISRC, the release still needs its UPC, and the steps around release day are the same: a date that leaves time for the editors, a pitch, a pre-save and promotion around the day. In Spotify for Artists you pitch one song from the release, whatever its size.

Keep each song's ISRC wherever it goes. If a single later appears on an EP or album, using the same ISRC keeps its play history with the recording. For the full sequence of a release, read how to release music.

Singles, EPs, albums and versions in Audora

Audora releases all three. A single is one song with its own audio and ISRC, and an EP or album is built from the songs in your catalog. You can also add a version of a song (a clean edit, an instrumental, an acoustic or live take, or a remix) and it starts from the song's credits, lyrics and store answers, so you don't fill them in twice. We create your ISRCs, they're yours, and they move with you if you leave.

Whatever the size, every release gets the same work around it:

• A pitch for the people who market it to the stores, written from your answers about the music, and a release date that gives the editors time.
• Cover art, a bio and a Canvas made to the stores' spec.
• A release calendar with your own moves (the pitch in Spotify for Artists, the pre-save, the Canvas) on the days they matter.
• A promotion campaign planned around the release, each post written in your voice for you to approve.

TikTok, YouTube, Instagram (Stories included) and Facebook Pages post automatically, and nothing goes out until you approve it. Stories carry no link sticker, so your release link goes in your bio.

The exact steps for your release, dated to its release day, wait in your Audora account, and we keep tuning them, adding, dropping and retiming steps as we learn what works best for our artists. To see every step a release gets, read what every track gets.