How long should my song be?
This is all about timing, which is one of the most important tools for writing commercial songs.
Here’s a story
Twenty years ago, when I finally left my corporate job to become a full-time songwriter, I knew there was a lot of information I didn’t know about this beautiful craft. Especially for Christian music. It was not just about lyrics and music, but about what commercial songs needed to be crafted to be pitched by publishers and, ultimately, cut on artists’ albums. In particular,
How long should my songs be?
And this was one of my main questions. The best way to find out was to ask the pros, those who knew what the answer would be. So I jumped on a plane from Heathrow to Colorado and drove up into the mountains to Estes Park, where the GMA’s Music in the Rockies took place. And this week-long festival (now replaced by Immerse by GMA) was full of seminars, competitions, concerts, and everything related to Contemporary Christian Music (CCM), other genres, and the Christian music business industry. It was just what I needed. During the competitions, that’s where I found gold. Some judges would give feedback on my songs and, even better, let me listen to their input on EVERY song my songs were up against in the competition. Fantastic! One thing they would always say is this:
“Keep songs under 3:30 minutes.”
That’s right. And, looking at my copious notes, some judges said to keep it within 2:45 minutes. They also always used to say -
“Don’t bore us. Get to the chorus”.
And this is great, helpful feedback. But, after all these years, does this remain? Recently, several people have said that 2:45 is the new 3:30. But I needed some evidence.
The answer is out there
The best way to answer this question was to get out my old spreadsheets again and see the evidence on ‘paper.’ Albeit digital paper. It took a while, but after analyzing over 500 songs in different genres, here are the results: In terms of how long are the songs out there on the radio:
- CCM – 3:33 minutes
- Worship – 4:37 minutes
- SOGO –3:36 minutes
- My Church – 5:19 minutes
- Pop – 3:12 minutes
Note that this is data analyzed using finished tracks rather than work tapes or demos. But I think it’s helpful to see them as final versions because they are commercially successful songs. There are exceptions, like one Dove award winner ‘Joyful’ by Dante Bowe that got played TWICE together on K-Love because it’s only 2:17 minutes long. Then there are others, like ‘Overwhelmed’ by Big Daddy Weave that run well over 5 minutes, like a few of their other tracks end up. So there we are.
What does this mean?
While these are averages (not about the songs, but in terms of length!), the split of songs is fascinating to me. See the attached chart:
With over 50% of K-Love songs still running 3:00-3:49 minutes, we can still ok to go and write that bridge. And, if we can push up the tempo to 150+ BPM and beyond, we might even be able to write a third verse!
Questions
Here are a few questions:
- Do your favorite songs on the radio bear this up?
- Are your co-writers looking to write shorter songs?
- Are you wanting to write shorter songs?
Economy of our words has always been vital for us as songwriters. But, I’m thinking for my writing, economy of our music is also essential.
I hope this is helpful!
– SJLH