It seems we have shortened attention spans; this is true when it comes to music. Our eyes catch hold of something…then we are off to the next thing. TikTok, for example, only uses a potentially viral and trendy part of a song for all its videos on the app. And last year, 38 of the top 40 songs were all less than four minutes, and almost half of those were less than 3 minutes!
Now, what does this mean for the music industry? More artists will have to adapt to this shorter format than the four to five-minute songs of the past. In addition, artists should consider that the chorus is more critical than the songs with many diverse lyrics. To make a hit, add repetition. It works.
Billboard Charts for June 11th
Another benefit of having shorter songs is replay value. More often than not, fans will play the song again thus getting another stream. There has never been this kind of financial incentive to make shorter songs. Legendary artists like Drake, Kendrick Lamar, Nicki Minaj, J. Cole, and many more have decided to follow this trend. The two biggest songs in the country, “As It Was” by Harry Styles, and “First Class” by Jack Harlow, are under three minutes long.
Are we forcing artists to follow formulas just to sell?
Now, will this be the latest trend in the near future? Not necessarily, another article also states that many songs have automatically dropped 20 to 30 seconds by eliminating intros and fades, which are no longer needed since radio is down the list of distribution priorities. From a financial and statistical point of view, this is great for the industry. Why make a longer song, if the industry counts a longer song and a shorter song as a stream?
But, from a lyrical standpoint, it may make music soulless, and we’ll only care about charting. The majority of the people who are happy about this are the record labels, not the artists. Let’s face it; an artist is just that: an artist. Who wants to follow a formula? (If they did, they would have become mathematicians!)
Longer songs are a thing of the past (with a few exceptions)
“Taylor Swift’s (2021) 10-Minute “All Too Well” is the longest single in history to go NO.1″
Can we appreciate that people still listen to music in the form of different lengths? Artists want fans to listen to their music right? Fans criticize that music is not the same as it used to be. But, in every generation we evolve, no matter the genre or the length of a song; there is change. Long gone are the five-minute Beatles or Bon Jovi songs.
We are in new times. Even if you market or engineer a song to be popular, and the general public likes it, (and the team should be proud that they achieved the success) only 0.0001% will succeed. Sad, right? Of course, there are always exceptions. You could land the theme song like Kate Bush’s “Running up That Hill” from Stranger Things. If this is not the case, try to capitalize on trends: you’ll have a better chance than someone creating a “passion project.” So, I guess formulas work.
