Did you know that the Billboard Hot 100 average length song has decreased by 20 seconds only in the past 5 years? now the average is 3 minutes and 30 seconds.
Our attention spam has significantly decreased in the last 15 years. And thanks to a Spotify skip rate study we know that a song has about 5 seconds before we decide to skip to something else which is why is recommended that the intro starts in an engaging way with either music or vocals.
We have an idea of how social media has changed the music industry but it seems to even affect the duration of standard music.
The answer to what is the best length for your song is.. it depends. If it is a traditional pop song, most data tells us that in 2020 3 min and 17 seconds is the ideal but if you are making a song focusing on social media exposure only, there has recently been a trend with very short songs varying from 1 to 2 minutes.
We’re seeing a trend in social media with instagram’s “1 minute music platform” and Tik Tok’s trend of 1 minute songs for content.If we are talking about radio, the standard is still 3 to 5 minutes
But of course if you’re making music for scoring purposes this doesn’t really apply, so its great to have a clear objective about what audience is best for your music.
Remember your music can be curated for whatever channel you choose to display it in. Sometimes we make 10 minute songs and other times we make 1 minute songs, just try to think where can they work the best?