Spotify and 3:40

Hey guys just heard labels are starting to make tracks around 03:40 in length. Where this is usual is pop genres etc not so much techno and that’s what these labels focus on, the reason was briefly highlight as they are aiming the tracks for Spotify as generally Beatport is dead etc can someone elaborate a little on why the track length 03:40?

I think it has to do with the streaming services paying royalties per play basis, and the song needs to be marked “played” or it won’t generate revenue for the artist/label. The average song length has come down since streaming business got big and many labels guide their songwriters and producers to make songs between 3 and 4 minutes.

3 Likes

From a quick internet search it seems that 3:20-3:40 is the typical length of songs that rank in the top spots of many popularity/sales charts. So It likely is corelated with stuff like current average attention span of people, etc.

2 Likes

#freesonglength

#killyouridols

4 Likes

ah ok, thats crazy, cd killed vinyl then mp3 killed cd now this :man_facepalming:

1 Like

Vinyl lives! :slight_smile:

2 Likes

I personally are fan of very long tracks, i hope that this does not trend into the real musicians. This sounds like pop industry thing.

Given the last few Kanye albums along with San Fermin’s last release, the more troubling thing is that the trend seems to be going for 27 minute albums :frowning:

1 Like

Nice to see how much value the average listener places on your carefully crafted work isn’t it? :joy:

I guess it is part and parcel of being competitive in such a cut throat industry, personally I think it is best avoided, in the very near future things will probably only get much worse, once AI gets better at predicting what the masses want and creating it. Given the populations reluctance to wean themselves off of the digital teat it all seems a bit futile and inevitable.

But as always there will be people who don’t want this, and those are the true music fans, there may be much fewer of them but quality over quantity, anyday.

3 Likes

Most listeners give about 10 seconds tops, maybe with a skip to somewhere halfway to see if that creates dopamine or not. Sucks for me. I love 2-3 minute long, atmospheric intros

2 Likes

IMO it doesn’t need AI to predict, what the masses like. I have seen a pretty interesting video quite some time ago explaining that’s just the other way around. If you play particular music to people over and over again - in the radio, in TV shows, in the malls, on the streaming portals - people seem to get used to it, later they begin to like it, and finally they demand it.

It was this … https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVME_l4IwII
and for the impatient … fast-forward to 16:13

2 Likes

I’ve read an article recently about how this phenomenon is exploited for pop music productions. Basically what they do when a new song will be released is, they make sure people will hear it everywhere; on the radio, at the cinema, at sport events, maybe in commercials, ads on streaming sites etc. etc.

This exposure will eventually make people like the song.

Nice one :wink:

Spotify pays by the song. Two three minute songs are twice as profitable as one six minute song. So songs are getting shorter.

3 Likes

Theoretically, if a release has its tracks broken down to several short tracks (played back with gapless track change), it will generate more revenue?

4 Likes

It´s rather absurd to see how Spotify changed the way people compose music. The time threshold for a full payout is one significant thing, another is that most songs start with the chorus and hookline instead of an intro or what you´d usually do at the beginning of a song. Producers want to make sure that listeners don´t skip the track because it´s boooring.

2 Likes

yes

This to shall pass. :slight_smile:

I say keep making the music that you want to listen too, fuk the metrics. One day you will be in the lead and all others will be following, this is the nature of cycles.

Artistically it is impossible to make a tune for someone else, all art is personal; and if someone appreciates enough to toss a shekel your way; gravy.

Haha, pretty sure I’m rambling now, need more coffee. My bad! :slight_smile: carry on.

1 Like