| | | |
Scott
|
4/3/2016 10:08:58 AM
the volatility of listeners and the Surge Factor
ok, what some of us may have already learned that we might not have known from the Stat Cave is that online listeners don't stay around a song long. It's a hard thing to imagine but there are folks out there who never make it past a minute into your song. I have a friend that's like that, this person gets bored very very fast, so if you have one of those songs where the last verse is basically the same as the first, there's a fair chance it won't get heard. This should possibly inspire you to pack some extra hooks and variety into your songs.
Anyway since our new stats sort of go to uncharted territory, I was thinking it's up to us to invent terminology that matches the cans of worms we're opening up here. I came up with the Surge or the Surge Factor to represent how songs keep you listening until the end. It should be a goal of all artists to record songs that keep the fire burning til the end of the song. Do your songs bring the Surge?
|
|
Two Silo Complex
|
4/3/2016 10:28:51 AM
As you said listeners are fickle creatures and the attention span is short. Industry standard is you have less than 30 seconds to grab them. Songs that have slow build ups seem to fair worse that songs that come out blazing or offer a quick hook.
The stats say my songs don't really bring the surge factor too well. I'll have to think about how to better mange that in future presentations.
Its a good thought to keep in the back of your head.
TSC
Ken
|
|
Larree
|
4/3/2016 10:46:59 AM
According to my youtube stats, the average listening time for my Nobody For President song (2:26) is just over one minute. So I guess I should be very happy with that!
|
|
The Man With No Band
|
4/3/2016 2:23:55 PM
" It should be a goal of all artists to record songs that keep the fire burning til the end of the song." ... poppycock ... (hardly ever get to use that word)
Songs are things of themselves ... They either work for folks or they don't ... inagodadavida has been played literally millions of times and will be played millions more ... da da dada da da ... da da da da ... da da dada da da .. da da da da ....
:)
|
|
Scott
|
4/3/2016 2:30:14 PM
You mean you don't want your songs to surge, Sammy?
|
|
Ben Elliot
|
4/3/2016 2:34:36 PM
I think it's more a reflection of modern society rather than music here. I'm guilty of it. I wouldn't want anyone to be discouraged by only having minute listens. The last thing you should do is alter how you write music. Even if it's only you that listens to the last 2 minutes, as long as you love it, who cares? What's the point in writing music you don't like just so people listen to all of it.
|
|
The Man With No Band
|
4/3/2016 2:35:16 PM
---- Updated 4/3/2016 2:36:09 PM
Ben has it right ... :)
my songs have surged well beyond my expectations ... I may even make a few more before they feed me to the wolves ...
I believe songs surge because they are good songs ... some simple and some complex ... take the song Mr. Soul ... I always thought it was a good song ... but after hearing it on Neil's unplugged album it actually became GREAT in my mind ... that's the way it should have been done in the beginning, yet the critics mostly hated it ...
I want to make songs like that, songs people with great taste like .. screw the monkees who don't know good stuff ... :)
|
|
Father Time
|
4/3/2016 2:41:09 PM
I like the electronic version of Mr. Soul best myself I suppose.
You know though it's the little touches like on Beatle songs that make them alltime classics. I'm not saying alter a song with things that don't belong, I'm just saying if you add some flavored embellishments you could improve a song from good to great.
Yes it's the nature of online listeners. Still, when I'm recording my own stuff I like building arrangements that get better throughout the song. My song Everybody's Into Their Own Thing is one of those that the last half is far better than the first half.
|
|
The Man With No Band
|
4/3/2016 2:51:54 PM
oh I do agree that there is nothing wrong with going back and reworking a song, I recently completely over-hauled some of my stuff that I haven't posted yet, because i'm still in the evaluating process ... I know I made a great lyrical song that sucked musically much better by reworking it drastically ... but I'm not a fan of over-doing things ... I find music is the same as painting, there comes a point when a song or a painting can only go down hill ...
Btw ... "Everybody's into their own thing" is one of your tunes that I think is one of your best pieces of creative work ... :)
|
|
Father Time
|
4/3/2016 3:21:41 PM
Thanks, it's one of my personal favorites too.
|
|
| |
©2015-16 IndieMusicPeople.com All Rights
Reserved
| |