Why are most songs about the same length?!
Question: I mean there are exceptions, but most songs are anywhere from 3.5 min to 4.5 min.....how did this come about? Is there a real reason to this?
Answers: I mean there are exceptions, but most songs are anywhere from 3.5 min to 4.5 min.....how did this come about? Is there a real reason to this?
This is driven by commercial radio. I think there's three things going on. First, a lot of people have a short attention span, and they don't want to pay attention to a long song. Second, shorter songs allow the station to play more songs per hour, which means that listeners are more likely to hear something they like, and thus stay tuned in. Third, shorter songs allow for frequent commercials and thus more revenue from commercials.
Since groups know that this goes on, they tend to write songs that fit into that format so as to be "commercially viable."
That said, there are in fact groups that write longer songs. it's just that you'll never hear those songs on commercial radio. The British band Porcupine Tree is a fantastic group doing some really interesting music. Some of their songs are over 15 minutes long. But you won't hear them on commercial radio. For Porcupine Tree check out their Deadwing, In Absentia, and Fear of a Blank Planet albums. Best wishes.
I will guess it has something to do with radio.. since most songs that are longer than 3 minutes never become singles or are not played on radio or television. And songs that are longer are usually edited to be shorter.
back in the days when AM radio was king, two and a half minutes was the norm
Actually most songs are from 2.5 to 3 minutes in length.
One thing to remember is when recordings came out they were put on a 45 rpm turntable which radio stations had. And usually record lables would release a single as a teaser to get people to buy the longer version LP.
No days almost all recordings are either on a reel tape or CD. And so because of the limited space most songs are kept short.
Marty Robbins broke the mold with El Passo, which was over four minutes long.
Most songs are about the same length because artists try and make a great song, but they don't want to create a giant piece with no variety, but not too short, because then the point, whatever it is, will not get across.
3.5-4.5 minutes is the average, you're right, with some shorter or longer ones here and there.
I also believe it has to do with finances. It is easier to advertise a cd that is, say, $15 that has 8 songs on it than on that has 2.