Do you feel that music is getting faster than before? If you feel that way, it’s true. Songs are getting faster now, comparing 20 or 30 years ago.
But why? Is our taste for music changed? Here on BBC program, a music producer and professor of music technology gave his analysis.
Firstly, new technology has changed the way we listen and find music. The old fashioned playing CDs was nowhere. Nowadays, people stream music, radios and videos online. That’s easy and convenient, and you can play it anywhere.
This habit changes the way how people write songs. The instrumental introduction of music, during which DJs was used to chit and chat a bit, has almost been extinct. You get through directly to the meat and listen to the core part of music more quickly.
Then if you like it, you will continue listening and stream. As modern people become less patient，if a song can’t get listeners’ attention as quickly as possible, they will slip away. It seems you don’t need a ramp any more to reach a high when listening music .
Secondly, music producers are chasing commercial successe eagerly. Songs are produced to be enjoyed by many, but the most important part is to be commercial success, it has to make money for record companies.
Many songs are designed to be played by radio stations. A playlist is a list of songs that radio stations are planning to play. If a song has long intros, it needs time for listeners to judge whether they like it not.
So radio stations have strong power to decide the fate of a song, and they actually prefer catchy songs, that are easy to repeat and remember. A song with a long intros don’t fall in the part of this category, obviously. So song writers have to shorten, almost remove the intros of music.
Thirdly, streaming service providers, such as Spotify, plays an important role in this new trend. If a song doesn’t last more than 30 seconds, it will not be registered as a play. No counting, no income. That is the underlying theory.
All in all, there are many reasons that drive music and vedios shorter and faster. People still love music, various kinds of them, rock music, pop music, etc. which make us happy and relaxed. But new technology changes the way we approach music, radio and vedios, and that has significantly reshaped the structure of modern music.
Is it a good thing or not? No one can answer. We just want a high to give some colors in dull days, and we must get it immediately. Never be patient to wait, and that is the fault of modern people.
