Where Are All the Good Songs?
Ever wondered why most songs are about three minutes long? Maybe not, but now you're wondering (thanks to my question). Well, you may hear theories about the human attention span and other psychological explanations. But the true reason is not even remotely related to music as a form of communication. It is more of an incidental tradition. More like why we use notes for money and yet the paper used to make it does not cost as much as the currency indicated (In case you're now wondering about this too, follow this link for your diversion).
In the late 19th century, music was recorded in a gramophone. This was a disc with spiral grooves that were modulated to store music in analogue format. The gramophone, which initially held only one song, or "record" , would later advance to become the music albums that preceded the magnetic tapes and the Compact Discs. However, the early "records" were about 10 inches wide, and the turntable motor on which they revolved could only go as fast as 3600 revolutions per minute (rpm), giving a rotation speed of about 78 rpm since the turn-table gear ratio was 45:1.
Okay, no need to bore you with the technical details, but the point is that these technical factors meant that the typical disc could only hold a 3 minute song.
Therefore, artistes who wanted to record their songs had to make them this long or have the song split into parts. This means that before the "record", songs were much longer than they are now. Just like before the internet, essays and "short-stories" were much longer than the blog-posts we see today (need I mention tweets?). Technology influenced the art, and the art in turn influenced the technology. The form shaped the content. Since people were already used to the 3-minute-song, the length continued to be thereabout even after the technology started allowing for longer songs.
I tell you all that in order to get this off my chest:
I was going through my music collection today and I got very disappointed with myself. I hate that I have to scour through dozens of tracks to select the ones I like, and the ones I want to listen to. Of course, this is not a new frustration. Developers of music players years ago came up with such options as 'favorites' and 'playlists' to help us sieve out the songs we want to listen to in an album and ignore the fluff. What frustrated me today was the unwritten code that seems sacred in how we treat our music albums.
Today, few people listen to music on their CDs. We have the individual tracks on our computers or in our iPhones. For years now, it has been possible to purchase individual songs on iTunes and other online music stores. But no, we still insist on storing our music in albums. Even when we know we will never listen to that album in its entirety, we insist on hoarding it. Even when we only like one song in an album, we still want to have the album there, and have to go to the folder to pick out that particular song every time we want to give it a listen. Why?
That's why I am starting a revolution in my Hard-disk and my phone. I am going to pick out all the songs I love and put them all in folders of my choice. I will compile them into albums of my choice and you know what? I will get rid of all the useless, 'album-fillers' imitations of songs that I never even play. Why keep the music if I will never listen to it? Just so I can say to my friends "I have the whole album"? Preposterous!
I remember in the years just before CDs became popular, it was common to find "Best-of" mixes compiled in a single tape. These could best of the 90s, best of a given artist, best of the RnBs... Even when the CDs took center stage, the same thing happened. Some music producers felt the needs of our musical tastes and responded to them in this way. They compiled the best of each genre of music and sold them as single albums. But when it comes to our own individual collections, we somehow still feel bound to the album. We still want to save our music in these neat categories that we will never ever utilize. Why? Why?
No more, I say. No more!
In the late 19th century, music was recorded in a gramophone. This was a disc with spiral grooves that were modulated to store music in analogue format. The gramophone, which initially held only one song, or "record" , would later advance to become the music albums that preceded the magnetic tapes and the Compact Discs. However, the early "records" were about 10 inches wide, and the turntable motor on which they revolved could only go as fast as 3600 revolutions per minute (rpm), giving a rotation speed of about 78 rpm since the turn-table gear ratio was 45:1.
Okay, no need to bore you with the technical details, but the point is that these technical factors meant that the typical disc could only hold a 3 minute song.
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| Image courtesy: blurtonline.com |
Therefore, artistes who wanted to record their songs had to make them this long or have the song split into parts. This means that before the "record", songs were much longer than they are now. Just like before the internet, essays and "short-stories" were much longer than the blog-posts we see today (need I mention tweets?). Technology influenced the art, and the art in turn influenced the technology. The form shaped the content. Since people were already used to the 3-minute-song, the length continued to be thereabout even after the technology started allowing for longer songs.
I tell you all that in order to get this off my chest:
I was going through my music collection today and I got very disappointed with myself. I hate that I have to scour through dozens of tracks to select the ones I like, and the ones I want to listen to. Of course, this is not a new frustration. Developers of music players years ago came up with such options as 'favorites' and 'playlists' to help us sieve out the songs we want to listen to in an album and ignore the fluff. What frustrated me today was the unwritten code that seems sacred in how we treat our music albums.
Today, few people listen to music on their CDs. We have the individual tracks on our computers or in our iPhones. For years now, it has been possible to purchase individual songs on iTunes and other online music stores. But no, we still insist on storing our music in albums. Even when we know we will never listen to that album in its entirety, we insist on hoarding it. Even when we only like one song in an album, we still want to have the album there, and have to go to the folder to pick out that particular song every time we want to give it a listen. Why?
That's why I am starting a revolution in my Hard-disk and my phone. I am going to pick out all the songs I love and put them all in folders of my choice. I will compile them into albums of my choice and you know what? I will get rid of all the useless, 'album-fillers' imitations of songs that I never even play. Why keep the music if I will never listen to it? Just so I can say to my friends "I have the whole album"? Preposterous!
I remember in the years just before CDs became popular, it was common to find "Best-of" mixes compiled in a single tape. These could best of the 90s, best of a given artist, best of the RnBs... Even when the CDs took center stage, the same thing happened. Some music producers felt the needs of our musical tastes and responded to them in this way. They compiled the best of each genre of music and sold them as single albums. But when it comes to our own individual collections, we somehow still feel bound to the album. We still want to save our music in these neat categories that we will never ever utilize. Why? Why?
No more, I say. No more!
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