Pop songs will be shorter on average by the end of this decade, due to the loss of hesitant attention and “skipping culture” in streaming services, experts say.
The attention span of music fans has dropped from 12 seconds to eight since 2000, according to research conducted by Samsung.
Therefore, it is more important than ever for musicians to attract listeners earlier, maintain the full length of a short piece, and “load the choruses forward.”
On music streaming services such as Spotify, artists do not receive royalties from a song played if the listener does not exceed the first 30 seconds.
Therefore, by 2030, it will be more important than ever for the songs to progress quickly to the next track on an album before the listeners get bored, experts say.
Pop songs are getting shorter and shorter, and longer songs are becoming less and less popular, research suggests, and choirs are becoming earlier in an attempt to stop listeners from giving up.
Our attention span has dropped from 12 seconds to eight since 2000, and our culture of jumping songs has appeared in streaming services like Spotify
“Our attention span has dropped from 12 seconds to eight since 2000, and our culture of skipping songs has emerged in response,” Samsung said in a blog post.
“At the end of the decade, the average song is expected to be a maximum of two minutes, putting the old three-minute pop song cliché to rest.”
Thanks to the easy and accessible interfaces of users of streaming services such as Spotify and Apple Music, music fans have never been easier to move on to the next song.
But this causes artists to have a headache to keep a user’s attention long enough, making the wider music industry super competitive.
By 2030, this will manifest itself as short, catchy songs with early choruses, which means that subtle ballads and juvenile instrumentals can be left behind in the streaming race, Samsung suggests.
Today, of the top 10 songs on Spotify, 80% – including the most played (Shape of You by Ed Sheeran) – are shorter than four minutes.
According to research conducted last year by British record label Ostereo, the length of the number one track has shrunk by almost a fifth in the last two decades.
Ostereo has analyzed the UK charts and the most popular songs on Spotify since its launch in 2006 and found a consistent shortening of song lengths between 1998 and 2018.
Of the top 10 songs on Spotify, 80% – including the most played (Shape of You by Ed Sheeran, pictured) – are shorter than four minutes
The average UK number in 1998 was four minutes and 16 seconds, he reported, while the average for 2019 was three minutes and 3 seconds – one minute and 13 seconds shorter.
In 1998, 12 of 32 number one singles had more than four minutes 30 seconds and four had more than five minutes, including Madonna’s Frozen (six minutes 12 seconds) and Oasis’ All Around The World (nine minutes). 38 seconds).
But in 2018, none of the number one original in the UK exceeded four minutes.
The streaming platform algorithms suggested by Ostereo influence the length of the songs and encourage artists to record shorter songs.
Because more people jump before a song ends, streaming algorithms may see this as a sign of dissatisfaction.
Therefore, it is less likely to recommend a longer song that has been omitted from other users, which means that it is less likely to become popular.
That means something as mundane as having an outro that takes too long could see a sub-efficient song, according to the record label.
“We see two trends appearing simultaneously here: the average hit song gets shorter, while longer songs get hits less often,” said Howard Murphy, founder of Ostereo.
The record label expert believes that the listeners’ attention is shorter and the algorithms of the streaming platform lead to the trend of shorter songs.
“Now that artists don’t just rely on radio playlists to be successful in the top, they’re less constrained by the traditional demand to keep their song close to three three-minute points.
“So, in theory, they can make their songs as long or as short as they want.”
But short pop songs are nothing new – Buddy Holly and the Beatles were the first providers of a successful pop single that lasted no more than two minutes as an art form.
But streaming could make the songs shorter for inappropriate reasons – financial rather than artistic.
Samsung’s research was conducted with London-based company The Future Laboratory as part of a larger investigation into our listening habits in 2030.
According to their findings, almost a quarter of millennials listen for another five hours a day this year, due in part to blockages.
“Compared to 2019, almost a quarter listen to more than five hours of music a day and over a third (34%) admit their favorite playlists, keeping them excited in a tough 2020, pointing out how many are based on more music. much more than before, “said Samsung.
His other predictions include a new era of “hyper-experiential” and captivating virtual reality (VR) music videos that “transport audiences to different worlds.”
By 2030, music fans will be able to “touch” their favorite songs, sing their dogs and create graphic-worthy albums directly from their smartphones.