How Short Will Songs Get? - by Ted Gioia

tedgioia.substack.com · 1,652 words · saved by 1 readers

We now have 30-second classical works and pop tunes you can sing in one breath—but is this really the future of music?

I often hear people talk about longform journalism—expansive writing that resists the rigid word count limits of modern media. There’s even a revival of it, as writers migrate from newspapers to more freewheeling platforms such as Substack. But what about longform music? I’ve never heard anybody use that term. But they really should. Music also operates under strict time constraints, and in recent months they’ve gotten tighter than Elvis’s white jumpsuit. I recently learned about this bizarre Spotify playlist, curated by a listener who collected recommendations from the company algorithm.…

How Short Will Songs Get? - by Ted Gioia

related reading