Do you think songs long less than 3 minutes are the new trend?

[crazyboutbrit]

We are noticing that tracks are getting shorter with big names dropping their latest releases for songs with a length of 3 min or less (Ariana, Dua, Little Mix ...)

Do you think that this this the future of music? As consumption turnover is getting higher and let's be honest i usually skip a song after 2 min listen

It's the era of 'Hit quick"

Thoughts? 

[Roxxy]

Britney did it in 2015 before it became a real trend in 2018-ish, with the 2 minute and 44 second track, Pretty Girls.

 

[BUWYGF]

Yep, and its definitely gonna bring a downfall of pop music to the point where pop artists will become irrelevant and will have to reinvent the whole thing after a few years. Their greediness is definitely destroying the form of art that music is, and its sad. 

[Towelney]

Yeah but I don’t mind it.

[Spicechinodiva]

Yes, and it's been a thing 

 

Watch reaction videos to Madame X, many complain of the time stamps..

 

Particularly the six minute epic God control. 

 

But coming from the Album era. Don't short yourself kids, if it takes five minutes to get it out, whether Anger, Depression. Get it all out. You're only cheating yourself. 

 

Plus Music used to be made for the artist's with the hopeful intention it would find an audience. 

[jonjon2000]

There were couple of articles from last year about why this is the new way to go for songs and streaming business

• https://qz.com/quartzy/1438412/the-reason-why-your-favorite-pop-songs-are-getting-shorter/
• https://www.theverge.com/2019/5/28/18642978/music-streaming-spotify-song-length-distribution-production-switched-on-pop-vergecast-interview
• https://www.hypebot.com/hypebot/2019/01/songs-are-getting-shorter-and-streaming-is-to-blame.html

I liked this paragraph, as it describes what's happening since 2018, and maybe a bit before that, but it became the way to go:

Quote

One of the main things that has changed is how people are getting paid, and it’s is affecting how songs are being written. In the past, you used to get paid if you sold an album or a single. In 1995, we had songs that were coming in at four minutes and 30 seconds. Today, songs are down to three minutes and 42 seconds, because of the difference in how artists are getting paid now. Instead of getting paid by physical sales, you’re getting paid in a stream, which only counts if someone listens to 30 seconds of a song. It actually makes sense if you can have more songs streamed at a time, which means that you want to pack your album full of much shorter songs. So if you have an album like Drake’s Scorpion, which is a really long double album coming in at almost 90 minutes, he’s got a ton of really short songs on there, because he gets paid for every song you listen to, whether or not you listen to the whole album.

 

[Jamie Lynn Forever]

As if Gen Z's attention span wasn't already short enough..This isn't going to help

This is so dumb. But honestly, i'm not surprised 

[Jordan Miller]

I think it's good for streams, and if it doesn't mess the integrity of the song then I say yes. Why make a song ~3 minutes long just cause that's what we think they should be. 

Get ready for 45 minute feature films

[FullyDattAndDatt3full]

1 minute ago, Jordan Miller said:

45 minute feature films

Sounds scary

[aleomg]

I personally don’t like short songs. If the song’s good, you don’t want it to end abruptly just because that’s the new trend. 

I love instrumentals because they give an extra touch to the song that makes it more “meaningful”. 

For example, I cannot imagine Take a Bow as a 2:30 min track, even though they had to cut some parts for the video. 

 

[Spicechinodiva]

8 minutes ago, aleomg said:

I personally don’t like short songs. If the song’s good, you don’t want it to end abruptly just because that’s the new trend. 

I love instrumentals because they give an extra touch to the song that makes it more “meaningful”. 

For example, I cannot imagine Take a Bow as a 2:30 min track, even though they had to cut some parts for the video. 

 

That was the radio Edit. 

They cut out two choruses, but I get what you mean. 

[2K16NEY]

Yes and I hate it. Songs are shortened in order for it to be successful in the “numbers” game but it affects the quality of the song and it’s longevity. I miss the old song structure or verse-prechorus-chorus x2 then bridge then chorus-fade out. A solid chorus is what makes a song memorable and timeless. 

[Stifler's Mom]

No, they're just lazy and no they're not starting any trend. 

[DollyParton]

4 hours ago, Roxxy said:

Britney did it in 2015 before it became a real trend in 2018-ish, with the 2 minute and 44 second track, Pretty Girls.

 

What about shattered glass? 2:56.. that song doesnt even have a bridge; for me it always feels like this song is unfinished.

[Roxxy]

4 minutes ago, Needleney said:

What about shattered glass? 2:56.. that song doesnt even have a bridge; for me it always felt like this song is unfinished.

I don't know but a 2:56 song doesn't register to me as a "short song". I never saw it as odd especially when Freakshow is literally shorter by 1 second.  I guess cause you can technically call a 2:56 and a 2:55 song a 3 min song... ish.

Pretty Girls looked so weird with "44" seconds. I was literally in shock when I saw the length.

[redacted statement]

I prefer songs that are 3:30 - 4:00ish. If they're longer than 5:00, then that's already pushing it, and they must be masterpieces like this song:

As for albums, though, I don't like it when albums are longer than 40 - 45ish minutes. That's one of the reasons why I hate repackages - they always make perfect albums longer than they should be.  There's a lot of flawless albums that I don't listen to as much as I'd love to because they're way too freakin' long, such as "Rebel Heart", "Born This Way", "Alright, Still", "Red", "Dua Lipa", etc.  The worst offender is definitely "Halcyon Days" by Ellie Goulding. I love pretty much every song on that album / repackage, but it's like 29 songs / 1,5 hours long. I love you, Ellie, but not enough to sit through that. 

[Groundbreaking]

It has been a thing for some time now. Anyway, it should not be a problem until the song is great! The length has nothing to do with the quality of the song. You can have a great song that is short as well as you can have 6 minutes long song that is trash. Change my mind. 

[Roxxy]

2 minutes ago, iAlwaysSingLive said:

There's a lot of flawless albums that I don't listen to as much as I'd love to because they're way too freakin' long, such as "Rebel Heart", "Dua Lipa", etc.  The worst offender is definitely "Halcyon Days" by Ellie Goulding.

YOU DIDN'T LIE.

[ALBAVEASP]

I think artists, songwriters and producers are getting lazier overtime. Usually, the verses consist of 12 to 16 lines but recently, most of them would only have 10 or even lesser. The redundancy with the chorus is worrying too, it was widely demonstrated in new track releases. Rap/hip-hop is the generous genre these days. 

[Midnight]

Yes I feel todays music lacks true quality, not all of it of course and is designed to be consumed to produce money so making the music shorter  just makes it easier for the listener to click play and produce that revenue.