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Why Your Favorite Pop Songs Are Getting Shorter

Discussion in 'Article Discussion' started by Melody Bot, Nov 6, 2018.

  1. Melody Bot Nov 6, 2018
    Melody Bot

    Your friendly little forum bot. Staff Member

    This article has been imported from chorus.fm for discussion. All of the forum rules still apply.

    Aisha Hassan & Dan Kopf, writing for QZ:


    The median length of Billboard Hot 100 songs dropped from over four minutes in 2000 to around three and a half minutes in 2018. Over the last few years, the number of songs in the Hot 100 under two and a half minutes skyrocketed from just around 1% of songs in 2015 to over 6% in 2018.

    So what happened? Streaming appears to be a big part of the story. In 2015, streaming overtook digital downloads as the music industry’s biggest source of revenue in the US. And streaming has dominated ever since: In 2015, it accounted for 34.3% of revenue, and that’s increased to 75% in 2018. In the process, many artists have adapted to the way their music is consumed. More streams make more money, but even then it’s not a lot, which is why volume is so crucial.
    ​

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  2. Phil507 Nov 6, 2018
    Phil507

    Resident NYC snob Supporter

    I'm all for it. CD's allowed for excessive album bloat in the 90's and 00's.
     
  3. CyberInferno Nov 6, 2018
    CyberInferno

    Line below my username Supporter

    That's really interesting. I wonder if they'll at some point switch to a YouTube-style system where amount of total play time is prioritized over the count number of plays. I'm not a huge fan of super-long tracks, but I do find that most songs I like are 3-3.5 minutes long.
     
  4. JRGComedy Nov 6, 2018
    JRGComedy

    Trusted Supporter

    Bad Religion, Joyce Manor, and Descendents have proven you can do the perfect pop song in under 2 minutes.
     
    fredwordsmith, Dumblecore and Raku like this.
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  6. Ska Senanake Nov 6, 2018
    Ska Senanake

    Trusted

    Pop from the 50s and 60s were usually all under 3 minutes.
     
    Bayside 182, Raku, JRGComedy and 1 other person like this.
  7. TerrancePryor Nov 6, 2018
    TerrancePryor

    https://mp3sandnpcs.com/ Prestigious

    None of them are on pop radio, though.
     
    heymattrick likes this.
  8. AllenRicketts Nov 6, 2018
    AllenRicketts

    Regular

    This is bad and we should feel bad.
     
  9. disambigujason Nov 6, 2018
    disambigujason

    Trusted Supporter

    In my mind the average pop song has been between 3 and 3.5 minutes since I first started listening to music so this blows my mind.
     
  10. Bayside 182 Nov 6, 2018
    Bayside 182

    Wolverine Supporter

    Nearly every Beatles song is under 3 minutes so I think it lends itslef more to what the current trend is and not due to streaming necessarily.
     
    coleslawed and Ska Senanake like this.
  11. somethingwitty Nov 7, 2018
    somethingwitty

    Trusted

    Radio pop has become a formula...the same small group of songwriters are working with Maroon 5, Selena, Demi, Cardi, Nicki, etc. and the similarities in structure/tone of their songs has become very noticeable.
     
  12. Crisp X Nov 7, 2018
    Crisp X

    Don't stop looking at me Supporter

    Have... you ever actually listened to any of them?
    This is so wrong, like wtf

    Pop threads always become messy on the front page as usual.
     
    heymattrick likes this.