Why are songs only 2 minutes now?

Attention Span Again Today artists and labels still fight attention span and many feel it's lower than ever, hence the shorter songs. But songs have automatically dropped 20 to 30 seconds just by eliminating intros and fades, which are no longer needed since radio is down the list of distribution priorities these days.

hypebot.com - Why songs today are shorter - Hypebot

Why is B flat and not a sharp?

What does B♭ mean? It means the third note of the scale. In 12-tone equal temperament, they may sound the same; you may play them the same on the...

Last updated Sep 23, 2022

What grade is a 18 year old in?

Twelfth grade, 12th grade, senior year, or grade 12 is the final year of secondary school in most of North America. In other regions, it may also...

Last updated Aug 8, 2018

Join almost HALF A MILLION Happy Students Worldwide

Promotion

Why songs today are shorter

While plus or minus three minutes was once the standard for recorded music, (owing in large part to radio play) the songs being released nowadays are much briefer, with many even coming in under the two minute mark. So why is this sudden difference in runtime occurring?

Guest post by Bobby Owsinski of Music 3.0

Songs today are shorter than ever with some coming in at even under 2 minutes. That doesn’t mean that they’re any better or worse than what came before, but it’s worth noting the reasons why shorter sub-3 minute songs seem to be the norm these days.

Historically Speaking

Most pop songs destined for singles were traditionally 3:30 and under. This was because of the physical limitation of the vinyl medium back in the 7 inch single days. If the song went too long, then it couldn’t play as loud and would be noisier as a result. This set the original time limit, although radio (the major discovery medium at the time) had a lot to say about it as well. Radio has always been aware of its listener’s attention span, so it was felt that anything approaching 4 minutes long was already losing the audience. One of the ways that radio was somewhat placated was by adding long intros and fades to the songs so the DJ’s had plenty of time to talk over them. There’s also some speculation that songs back in the 40s and 50s were almost as short as today because of pressure from the mafia. The organization owned all the juke boxes in restaurants and pressured the labels to make shorter records so they would be paid more.

Attention Span Again

Today artists and labels still fight attention span and many feel it’s lower than ever, hence the shorter songs. But songs have automatically dropped 20 to 30 seconds just by eliminating intros and fades, which are no longer needed since radio is down the list of distribution priorities these days. It’s said that a goldfish has an attention span of only 12 seconds but that’s glacial in comparison to today’s listener. You have about 5 seconds before a listener decides to skip to something else. That’s why so many songs start right on the hook or chorus. Grab someone early and hopefully keep them for at least the 30 seconds it requires to get paid.

Why can't you sell ivory?

A. The new U.S. ivory ban will legally close most ivory trade in the U.S. to protect elephants. It essentially prohibits all commercial import,...

Last updated Aug 15, 2018

Can a digital piano go out of tune?

Digital pianos and keyboards can be out of tune relative to 440 Hz. This can be rectified in two ways: transposing in small increments back to 440...

Last updated Jul 24, 2019

Join almost HALF A MILLION Happy Students Worldwide

Pianoforall is one of the most popular online piano courses online and has helped over 450,000 students around the world achieve their dream of playing beautiful piano for over a decade.

Learn More »

Promotion

Let’s Get Paid More

Short songs serve another purpose. If a song is 2 minutes or 20 minutes long, it pays out the same royalty rate, so why bother with a long song when you can get someone who really likes it play it again. That means a bigger pay day for the artist payment chain. As we’ve seen with the juke boxes in the 40s and 50s, short songs are attractive to those who benefit from lots of plays.

It’s The Latest Trend

Artists, producers and labels will always follow the latest trend, even to their detriment. It’s not uncommon for a trend to last for only a short period, but the chasing lasts long after, meaning there’s a never-ending game of catch-up. Short songs were a significant trend over the last few years, but we’re already seeing big hits that are back over 3 minutes again. From an anthropological standpoint, short songs are bad for music, say some scientists. The reason being that even going back to the ancients, music was used for rituals and trance-like mindsets. This required a song or beat to be at least 10 minutes in length. Pop music has never approached that and likely never will. We don’t need to go into a trance to enjoy music though, and however long it is, we’re going to still enjoy it if it strikes our fancy.

Share on:

hypebot.com - Why songs today are shorter - Hypebot

What is lost key coverage?

Lost key insurance usually covers the contractor who is responsible for keeping the keys (for example, a cleaning service) and its employees (the...

Last updated Jul 30, 2020

Why is it called drop 2?

The term Drop2 comes from taking the 2nd higest note in each one and drop it down an octave. This makes it possible to get the notes together in...

Last updated Nov 18, 2020

Promotion

Why are songs in EB?

Some guitarists tune to E Flat as a way to change the sound and feel of songs while playing the same chord and scale shapes as Standard Tuning. E...

Last updated Feb 27, 2019

Join almost HALF A MILLION Happy Students Worldwide

Pianoforall is one of the most popular online piano courses online and has helped over 450,000 students around the world achieve their dream of playing beautiful piano for over a decade.

Learn More »

Promotion

What is the use of F5?

Internet browser. In all modern Internet browsers, pressing F5 refreshes or reloads the page or document window. When pressing Ctrl + F5 , it...

Last updated Jul 15, 2020