By The Numbers

You may have noticed Stripmall Architecture’s catalogue system, each release having an “Object” or “Document” number attached to it. But, I’m willing to bet that most music fans don’t pay attention to catalogue numbers attached to any given release by any artist. And why should they? They’re often anonymous groups of numbers assigned to a CD or LP, echoed in its barcode for the sake of tracking inventory. Of course, such numbers are even more invisible in the download age–you don’t see them at all in the iTunes store. Because, really, who cares?

Well, if anyone, music collectors do. As a former semi-obsessed music collector myself, I used to follow these catalogue numbers. It was Frankie Goes To Hollywood’s UK releases on ZTT Records that first got my attention. The label had a system that assigned every artist’s release to either “The Action Series” or “The Incidental Series“. Frankie’s most famous and notorious release, the “Relax” single, for example was assigned the number ZTAS1–the first in The Action Series. The 7″ single was 7ZTAS1, the regular 12″ single (there were a few different ones) was 12ZTAS1. Logical, right? Not quite. The “Relax” cassette single somehow got assigned the number CTIS102, suggesting it was the 102nd entry in The Incidental Series.

I later found out just how esoteric ZTT’s system was: even Claudia Brücken, singer of Propaganda, got a catalogue number for her unusual lips. A ZTT night of performances got a catalogue number. I gave up after a while and, apparently, so did ZTT–I checked in a few years after and found they had revised their system into something more logical. Factory Records, I learned later, also had a habit of adding non-releases to their catalogue (such as founder Tony Wilson’s coffin, Fac 501).

4AD Records‘ system included an esoteric mention of each release’s year in their numbers–this came in handy for fans in pinpointing what year the Pixies first came out. The mini-album Come On Pilgrim carries the number MAD 709: the “M” in MAD denotes mini-album, “AD” is presumably derived from the label name, and 709 means it’s the ninth release in 4AD’s seventh year, 1987. Obviously you’d have to know the label launched in 1980, but most of 4AD’s hardcore fans know that fact. Although I could, I’m not going to go into explaining the whole system.

I also realized that it was generally indie labels that had such catalogue systems, which makes sense since the indies tend to have much fewer releases than the majors (thus, more manageable). But even bands like Nine Inch Nails gave their releases unofficial catalogue numbers (the Halo series, in NIN’s case).

A good catalogue system helps fill in the gaps in your collection–kind of doubling as a subtle marketing tool, as it did for the aforementioned labels. Hey, why not?