Pop songs will drop on average by the end of this decade due to loss of attention and “jumping culture” on broadcast services, experts say.
According to a research by Samsung, the attention of music fans has fallen from 12 seconds to eight since 2000.
As a result, it’s more important than ever for musicians to attract listeners early on, keep the full length of a track short, and “load their hearts ahead”.
On music streaming services like Spotify, artists do not receive copyright if a song is played if the listener does not exceed the first 30 seconds.
By 2030, therefore, it will be more important than ever for the songs to move quickly to the next track on an album before listeners get bored, according to experts.
Pop songs are getting shorter and shorter and longer songs are becoming less popular, according to research, choirs are also getting earlier in an attempt to stop listeners from jumping.
Our attention span has dropped from 12 seconds to eight since 2000 and our culture of skipping songs has emerged 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.
“By the end of the decade, the average song is expected to be a maximum of two minutes, which will put the old cliché of the three-minute pop song to rest.”
Because of the accessible and accessible user interfaces of streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music, it has never been so easy for music fans to move on to the next track.
But this causes a headache for artists to keep users ’attention for long enough, which makes the music industry in general super competitive.
By 2030, this will manifest as short, catchy songs with early choruses, meaning subtle, instrumental meditative ballads could be left behind in the streaming race, Samsung suggests.
Today, of the 10 most aired songs on Spotify, 80%, including the most aired (Ed Sheeran’s Shape of You), is less than four minutes.
According to research conducted last year by the British record label Ostereo, the length of the average number one song has been reduced by almost a fifth in the last two decades.
Ostereo analyzed Spotify’s UK playlists and most-tracked tracks since its release in 2006 and found a steady shortening of song length between 1998 and 2018.
Of the 10 most played songs on Spotify, 80%, including the most played (Shape of You by Ed Sheeran, pictured), are less than four minutes
The UK’s No. 1 average in 1998 was four minutes and 16 seconds, he reported, while the 2019 average was three minutes and 3 seconds, one minute and 13 seconds shorter.
In 1998, 12 of 32 number one singles were longer by four minutes and 30 seconds and four by five minutes, including Madonna’s Frozen (six minutes 12 seconds) and Oasis ’All Around The World (nine minutes 38 seconds).
But in 2018, no original UK number exceeded four minutes.
The streaming platform algorithms suggested by Ostereo are influencing song length and encouraging artists to record shorter songs.
Because more people jump before a song ends, transmission algorithms may view it as a sign of dissatisfaction.
Therefore, they are less likely to recommend a longer song that has been skipped by other users, which means it is less likely to become popular.
That means something as trivial as having another crawl for too long to see a song with low performance, according to the record label.
“We’re seeing two trends appear simultaneously here: the average hit song gets shorter, while the longer songs become hits less often,” said Howard Murphy, founder of Ostereo.
The record label expert believes that shorter listener attention and streaming platform algorithms are driving the trend for shorter songs.
“Now that artists don’t rely solely on the radio playlist to achieve success on graphics, they are less compelled by the traditional demand to keep their song close to the three-minute three-minute.”
“So, in theory, they can make their songs as long or short as they want.”
However, short pop songs are nothing new: Buddy Holly and the Beatles were the first providers of a hit pop single that lasted no more than two minutes as an art form.
But real-time playback could cause songs to be shortened for the wrong reasons: financial rather than artistic.
Samsung’s research has been conducted with London-based firm The Future Laboratory as part of a broader investigation into our listening habits in 2030.
According to their findings, nearly a quarter of millennials listen to an additional five hours a day this year, due in part to the blockade.
‘Compared to 2019, almost a quarter listen to more than five hours more music a day and more than a third (34%) admit to their favorite playlists keeping them excited during a tough 2020, highlighting the number of people who trust music more than ever, ”Samsung said.
His other predictions include a new era of “hyper-experiential” and immersive virtual reality (VR) music videos that “transport audiences to different worlds”.
In 2030, music fans will be able to “play” their favorite songs, have their dogs sing and create graphic-worthy albums directly from their smartphones.