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So what is the perfect duration of a pop song?
Tests have been conducted which indicate the answer, apparently, is four minutes. At least, that holds true for the modern era.
Data analyst Michael Twardos recently plotted the probability distribution of song lengths in a collection of 12 iTunes libraries comprised of more than 70,000 songs, and found the median song length was 241 seconds... or nearly exactly four minutes.
Meanwhile, a statistical analysis of the pop music database known as the Whitburn Project (which Craven has written about in this space before) shows that since the 1980s, U.S. pop hits have averaged between 3:50 and 4:00 in running time.
Does this reflect some innate human condition? Is there a circadian alarm clock that begins to clang at four minutes? Must our attention spans sputter out past that point?
Perhaps not. For that four-minute number is relatively recent in origin.
For most of the first half of the 20th century, the average length of a pop song was approximately three to three-and-a-half minutes. During the 1950s and '60s, the length shortened to just two minutes and 30 seconds. During the 1970s, the magic number crept back up to 3:30. The fact that the number changed during significant technological shifts in the recording industry is suggestive, and indeed it is technology which almost certainly accounts for the vagaries of song length.
From about 1910 until 1948, songs were primarily disseminated on 10-inch 78 rpm shellac discs which could hold, at maximum, about three minutes of music. The less common 12-inch record could hold a bit more.
Furthermore, radio stations were imposing limits on song length to ensure time for advertising and non-musical programming. During the early 1950s, when the 45 rpm vinyl single became the dominant format for song sales, average running times started to dip below three minutes (the maximum that would fit on a seven-inch single).
But during the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s, when the 12-inch vinyl album became more prominent, song lengths became less fettered, and longer songs, like Derek and the Dominos' “Layla” (which clocked in at just over seven minutes) and Kraftwerk's “Autobahn” (which was a then staggering 22:43 in its 1974 album incarnation), became popular. However, even these classics were usually condensed into so-called “radio edits” when played over the airwaves.
It wasn't until the CD became the standard unit of music sales that song lengths began to move en masse beyond the 3:30 mark.
So what does the future hold? A little more than 10 years into the MP3 era, the needle seems stuck at four minutes. But who's to say the running time of the pop music soundtrack of our lives won't mutate again, when some new technology emerges? When the change comes, it may only take four minutes... or less.
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Notes is supported by the Gay and Lesbian Fund, helping the Hilltop Community Resources enrich quality of life for families across the Western Slope.
Tests have been conducted which indicate the answer, apparently, is four minutes. At least, that holds true for the modern era.
Data analyst Michael Twardos recently plotted the probability distribution of song lengths in a collection of 12 iTunes libraries comprised of more than 70,000 songs, and found the median song length was 241 seconds... or nearly exactly four minutes.
Meanwhile, a statistical analysis of the pop music database known as the Whitburn Project (which Craven has written about in this space before) shows that since the 1980s, U.S. pop hits have averaged between 3:50 and 4:00 in running time.
Does this reflect some innate human condition? Is there a circadian alarm clock that begins to clang at four minutes? Must our attention spans sputter out past that point?
Perhaps not. For that four-minute number is relatively recent in origin.
For most of the first half of the 20th century, the average length of a pop song was approximately three to three-and-a-half minutes. During the 1950s and '60s, the length shortened to just two minutes and 30 seconds. During the 1970s, the magic number crept back up to 3:30. The fact that the number changed during significant technological shifts in the recording industry is suggestive, and indeed it is technology which almost certainly accounts for the vagaries of song length.
From about 1910 until 1948, songs were primarily disseminated on 10-inch 78 rpm shellac discs which could hold, at maximum, about three minutes of music. The less common 12-inch record could hold a bit more.
Furthermore, radio stations were imposing limits on song length to ensure time for advertising and non-musical programming. During the early 1950s, when the 45 rpm vinyl single became the dominant format for song sales, average running times started to dip below three minutes (the maximum that would fit on a seven-inch single).
But during the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s, when the 12-inch vinyl album became more prominent, song lengths became less fettered, and longer songs, like Derek and the Dominos' “Layla” (which clocked in at just over seven minutes) and Kraftwerk's “Autobahn” (which was a then staggering 22:43 in its 1974 album incarnation), became popular. However, even these classics were usually condensed into so-called “radio edits” when played over the airwaves.
It wasn't until the CD became the standard unit of music sales that song lengths began to move en masse beyond the 3:30 mark.
So what does the future hold? A little more than 10 years into the MP3 era, the needle seems stuck at four minutes. But who's to say the running time of the pop music soundtrack of our lives won't mutate again, when some new technology emerges? When the change comes, it may only take four minutes... or less.
--------------------
Notes is supported by the Gay and Lesbian Fund, helping the Hilltop Community Resources enrich quality of life for families across the Western Slope.
