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An Editorial on Radio Finally Gets Shorter Songs

Y2kTheNewOldies

Y2kTheNewOldies

https://radioinsight.com/ross/178302/shorter-song-lengths/

This is an editorial on top songs airing on Hot AC/ CHR Stations, Rhythmic Christian CHR station having shorter song lengths. If it gets the target demos attention then congrats.

It began two months ago with a tweet from Scott Lowe, now heard doing a Classic Alternative show on WNYL (Alt 92.3) New York, but then on-air at CHR WTDY Philadelphia.

A few weeks later, it was RadioInsight.com publisher Lance Venta: “I’ve seen multiple Facebook group threads recently discussing how many CHR songs are 2:30 or less now. Has QuickHitz [the controversial mid-’10s CHR format built around edited songs] won after all? Promo vet Kevin Powell also reached out to note the trend towards shorter hits around the same time.

More recently, Hot AC WDAQ (98Q) Danbury, Conn., PD/MD/morning host (and “Beat Shazam” ninja) Rich Minor e-mailed me. “I just looked at four current categories for 98Q. Of 21 songs total, fifteen of them are three minutes or under, and two more are barely over 3:00 . . . So when we say ‘more music,’ we really mean it.”
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It's also happening in country. The new Garth Brooks song is 2:33. The new Thomas Rhett is 2:46 Average song length is around 3 minutes.

There really is no real for songs to be more than 3 minutes. No one gets paid more for longer songs.

If the songs are shorter, perhaps listeners will want to hear the song more times. That means more money.
 
When I was a teenager in the late 50's I seem to remember pop songs were shorter as well. Given the garbage that passes for Pop these days I don't know if short means more listeners or not though. It seems quality has gone far, far away.
 
TheBigA said:
It's also happening in country. The new Garth Brooks song is 2:33. The new Thomas Rhett is 2:46 Average song length is around 3 minutes.

There really is no real for songs to be more than 3 minutes. No one gets paid more for longer songs.

If the songs are shorter, perhaps listeners will want to hear the song more times. That means more money.
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A lot of older motown songs were about two and a half minutes I know you cant really compare that with the stuff out today but just an observation.
 
kidrauhl said:
A lot of older motown songs were about two and a half minutes I know you cant really compare that with the stuff out today but just an observation.
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In the mid-60's when I first programmed a CHR station, we played 18 to 20 songs an hour along with a full 10 minute commercial load.
 
TheBigA said:
There really is no real for songs to be more than 3 minutes. No one gets paid more for longer songs.
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You have to remember that it's all about streaming revenues now. For non-interactive streaming, it's .18 cents per spin. At 3 minutes/track, that delivers 3.6 cents per listener per hour. If you pull back to 2 minutes/track, that's up to 5.4 cents--so streaming revenues jump 50% for the same hour of that listener. If you think a 50% revenue bump to SoundExchange is not of interest to the musician side, then you obviously have found a different side of the music industry than me! I'm definitely finding myself including duration when looking at new music for our format--a mediocre 2:10 track now strikes me as someone trying to charge a premium price for shoddy merch--I'll pass.
 
Radio Vashon said:
You have to remember that it's all about streaming revenues now. For non-interactive streaming, it's .18 cents per spin. At 3 minutes/track, that delivers 3.6 cents per listener per hour. If you pull back to 2 minutes/track, that's up to 5.4 cents--so streaming revenues jump 50% for the same hour of that listener.
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Yes I understand that, and have mentioned that in other threads. On the other side, it's a way for SoundExchange to increase the cost to music users (streamers) without action by the CRB. This follows the recent 44% increase in publishing royalties. Which may explain why several online radio platforms (such as StreamLicensing) have shut down recently. Advertisers aren't paying more for their spots, and subscribers aren't paying more. It's squeezing the streamers. I'm sure the accountants at Sirius will discover this at some point, and use it to justify another price increase. Same with Apple, Spotify, and Pandora.
 
TheBigA said:
Yes I understand that, and have mentioned that in other threads. On the other side, it's a way for SoundExchange to increase the cost to music users (streamers) without action by the CRB. This follows the recent 44% increase in publishing royalties. Which may explain why several online radio platforms (such as StreamLicensing) have shut down recently. Advertisers aren't paying more for their spots, and subscribers aren't paying more. It's squeezing the streamers. I'm sure the accountants at Sirius will discover this at some point, and use it to justify another price increase. Same with Apple, Spotify, and Pandora.
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All of those reasons and more is why it's hard for me to get excited about resurrecting my old hobby station which I shut down in 2016.
 
3:30 is long enough for songs.I'm stretching it..If they cut the 4 plus minute repetitive lyrics tune to 3:30 .The message of the tune will still get out in less time.The longer tunes end up expanding the 3 hour countdown shows to 4 hours back in the day.Could do without the extras and filler tunes..Now the countdown shows drop from 40 to 30 and some went to 20 and the the rest of the show are filled with filler music.

American Pie the LP version probably shocked the industry in the day back in the early 1970's.More likely it was a DJ's best friend as it at 8:33 gives the DJ a break and catch his/her breath or go the the bathroom,quick snack,go outside for a smoke,chat on the phone with somebody."Plus pray that the record does not skip"..Some of you in the biz on this board can relate to that...........
 
Today, music revenue is all about streaming, not selling albums, so they no longer need to pad out a song to 5 or 6 minutes to help fill up an album.

But fade-out endings still haven't made a comeback yet.
 
kevtronics said:
Today, music revenue is all about streaming, not selling albums, so they no longer need to pad out a song to 5 or 6 minutes to help fill up an album.

But fade-out endings still haven't made a comeback yet.
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They will fade in songs on some stations.
 
CTListener said:
Maybe iin the 78 rpm days, but 45s were always capable of accommodating longer songs.
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The original 1949 design spec for 7-inch 45 RPM records was a maximum length of 5½ minutes per side. But the Beatles were able to put "Hey Jude" in its full length of 7:11 on one side of a 7" 45.

It was 10-inch 78 RPM records that were limited to about 3 to 3½ minutes per side.
 
TheBigA said:
MacArthur Park ran 7:21
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There was a 20th anniversary 45 of "Stairway to Heaven" that put the whole thing (8:02) on one side.

And Bruce managed to cram just over 10 minutes on one side:

61YtxGw6AyL.jpg
 
There were a lot of changes in the vinyl, the thickness of the singles, and even the grooves themselves. Compare singles from the early 60s with the ones from the 80s and you can see and feel the difference.
 
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