I’ve heard about the Podcast “Switched on Pop” multiple times but finally gave it a listen and this episode is fascinating!
The episode is based on an article discussing how streaming platforms like Spotify are changing the landscape of Pop music as artists shorten song lengths to game the system for more play.
Even if you aren’t a huge Top 40/Pop music fan it’s interesting to hear them deconstruct the arrangement of songs and you don’t need to be a professional Los Angeles DJ like us to appreciate the depth their detail and knowledge.
Original article here: https://qz.com/quartzy/1438412/the-reason-why-your-favorite-pop-songs-are-getting-shorter/
We’ve been providing DJ services for weddings, corporate events and clubs for almost 3 decades (15 of those in Southern California/Los Angeles and have watched all types of music trends change, but the evolution of song length is especially interesting.
Back in the mind 1940’s when the phrase “Top 40” originated, songs we very short in order to gain more quarters in the jukebox which created revenue. In the 70’s, 80’s & 90’s we song artists gradually extend the length of songs as they used a track to tell a more sweeping story and 12” Extended versions became popular.
Now here we are in 2019 and we’ve come full circle as artists are creating tons of songs under 3 minutes and the average person has less attention span than a goldfish.
It’s hard to believe Spotify launched way back in 2006 and took a decade to really reach its full potential. They (and streaming in general) have officially killed iTunes as Apple announced recently that it is killing off iTunes store downloads.
On the one hand, this is Karma finally coming around because I believe iTunes was responsible for killing the Album and eventually the CD. But it’s bad news for artists because they receive a shockingly low amount of royalties per stream.
The good news for music lovers that crave new content, is that artists will have no choice but to consistently crank out new material in order to stay relevant. I find it overwhelming to keep up sometimes, but we must adjust because the days of owning an album are over and the generation of shorter songs and more choice is upon us!
As a wedding & corporate event DJ in Los Angeles, we always spin live but there are occasions like during cocktail hour or the dinner portion of a wedding reception where we might use a custom pre-curated playlist. Spotify is our platform of choice just because of how easy it is to navigate and it’s prediction algorithm is spot on! (Pun intended) NOTE: We are in no way compensated or supported by Spotify, we just love it!
Need some new music in your life?
You can check out all our Spotify Playlists here:
https://open.spotify.com/user/hey-mister-dj