Why are so many songs around 3 and 4 minutes long?

Question

I notice it a lot on the mainstream on the radio...but why is this? Why not more 5 minute songs, for example? Is there a reason why artists make them so short?

Answer 1

It became industry standard back when you could only fit songs of a certain length on a vinyl album.

Answer 2

Pop songs have been kept at a formulaic 3:30-ish length for decades. It's mostly due to marketing. Many listeners have short attention spans and lose interest if a song is too long. Radio is all about advertising. If a listener gets bored and switches stations from A to B, they won't hear the ads on A. Station A's sponsors will pick up on this and start doing business with Station B.

This whole concept was challenged in the 70's with AOR (album-oriented rock) stations that would play longer songs, sometimes even entire albums. Their sponsors were targeting a specific listener base that didn't want to hear mainstream pop. These stations played songs like Manfred Mann's version of Bruce Springsteen's "Blinded by the Light", Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Free Bird", Moody Blues' "Nights in White Satin", The Eagles' "Hotel California", and Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven", all of which are 6 minutes or longer.

Now, most pop stations adhere to a slightly more flexible playlist of 3-4 minute songs. Classic rock and alternative rock stations, as well as other specialty stations, like those that play jazz and classic country still enjoy fewer time restrictions on their playlists because advertisers know there are multitudes of people who just won't listen to mainstream pop.

Answer 3

When records were 78r.p.m. songs lasted about 3 minutes, it became the industry standard. With commercial radio it became the length of time between commercials. Lots of radio $tation$ don't play songs longer than 5 minutes for economic rea$onS.

Answer 4

The shorter the songs, the more commercial ad time the radio stations can sell...also, longer tunes increase the chances of the listener switching stations if he/she doesn't like the particular song.

Back in the '50s and '60s, most songs were less than three minutes...so it could be worse!

Answer 5

They make them short so they don't have to perform so long, also most songs tell a story and their stories are short.

Answer 6

well
sometimes a person can get tired of a long song and skip to the next station on the radio
too long unless it's ABSOLUTELY STUNNING!!! gets boring :)
but i do know a lot of good 5 minute and up songs :)

Answer 7

yeah, so the radio stations will play them.