Is music getting faster? 6 Minute English

Neil: Hello. Welcome to 6 Minute English,

I'm Neil.

Rob: And hello, I'm Rob.

Neil: Today we're discussing music

and the idea that songs are

becoming faster. What

music do you like, Rob?

Rob: Oh me? I like rock music. It has good

vocals and it's loud! How about you, Neil?

Neil: Well, I like anything and

I prefer streaming my music actually.

No old-fashioned CDs to buy

and load up - it's easier to play

and you can play it anywhere!

And streaming is where

you listen or watch music or

videos directly from the internet

as a continuous stream.

Rob: Did you know that some people

believe that streaming music online

is actually changing

the songs people write?

And it might be leading

to songs getting faster.

Neil: Well, that's what we're discussing

today. Let's hope it doesn't

happen to this programme,

otherwise we might become

Three Minute English!

But before it does, let's get on with our

question for everyone to answer.

In 2017 Luis Fonsi's summer hit

Despacito officially became

the most streamed song of all time.

Do you know approximately,

how many times it was

streamed? Was it: a) 1.6 billion times,

b) 3.6 billion times,

or c) 4.6 billion times?

Rob: I know the song was popular but

4.6 billion sounds too big - so I'll go

for a) 1.6 billion.

Neil: OK. Well, we'll find out later in

the programme. But now

back to our discussion

about how music producers are adapting

their songs for modern technology.

Researchers have found long

instrumental introductions to

pop songs have become almost extinct.

Rob: Of course the aim of many

pop songs is to be enjoyed by many -

to be popular - but

they also need to be a

commercial success - they need

to make money.

Neil: Brendan Williams, a music producer

and professor of music technology

can explain what he thinks influences

the songs. Here he is speaking on BBC

Radio 4's You and Yours programme...

Brendan Williams: I think that, you know,

one of the things that's driving this, there

are a number of things. They're all radio,

they're all singles designed

for radio playlists.

Radio playlists are extremely important

factors in judging the success

of a track and obviously

do feed into the kind of

commercial success of a track.

Neil: So, he mentions that radio playlists

are important factors. A playlist is a list

of songs that a radio station plans to play.

And he says that radio playlists affect the

commercial success of a song.

Rob: By the way he called a song a track -

that's a recorded piece of music.

And notice how he used the word

driving which means having a strong

influence. So getting a song played

on the radio is important and

it has to be made in a way that will suit

the radio station's playlist.

Neil: Now, we know there are

thousands of songs out there

to listen to - and plenty

of ways to listen to them - so how

can record companies get someone

to listen to their particular song?

Rob: Well, have a listen to

Brendan Williams again to see

what he thinks...

Brendan Williams: ... But then there's

the influence of streaming services

like Spotify,

where if a track isn't played for

at least 30 seconds then it

doesn't register a play

and Spotify...

Presenter: And if we don't hear the vocals

then we might not carry on listening.

Is that the theory?

Brendan Williams: Absolutely, yeah, yeah.

That's the theory - it's to get through - I

guess to get into the meat of the song to

hear the lyrical content and get through to

that first chorus.

Rob: Well, it seems songs no longer have

an 'intro' - the instrumental piece of music

that's played before the singing begins. In

the old days, radio DJs - disc jockeys who

played the records - loved to talk

over that bit! Now we need

to get to the lyrical content

- that's the lyrics or the words of

the song - as soon as possible.

Neil: So, the theory, or idea, is to present

listeners with vocals and

a chorus more quickly,

as it will make them want

to continue listening!

That's because if a song isn't streamed

for more than 30 seconds, it

doesn't register a play - it doesn't

get measured or recorded

as a play - so it doesn't make money.

So a song needs to hook

the listener in quickly - in

other words it needs to attract their

attention and be easy

to remember - another

word for this is catchy. Do you have

any favourite catchy songs, Rob?

Rob: Oh, I do, I do. It's got to be Happy

by Pharrell Williams. A very catchy song.

Neil: Well, something that is always

catchy in this programme is

our quiz question. Earlier

I mentioned that in 2017, Luis Fonsi's

summer hit Despacito officially

became the most streamed

song of all time. Did you know

approximately, how many times

it was streamed? Was it:

a) 1.6 billion times, b) 3.6 billion times,

or c) 4.6 billion times?

Rob: And I went for a staggering

1.6 billion times.

Neil: Well, it's not staggering enough, Rob.

It was actually streamed 4.6 billion times.

Rob: Amazing. That's a number that

we can only dream of for this

programme - or is it?!

Well Neil, shall we download

to our memory, some of the vocabulary

we've learnt today?

Neil: Streaming describes the activity

of listening or watching music,

radio or videos

directly from the internet

as a continuous stream.

Rob: Something that is a

commercial success is popular and

makes lots of money - like

a new computer game or pop song.

Neil: A good pop song, Rob - not

something annoying like Gangnam Style.

Rob: Well, that was a huge

commercial success because it was

catchy - a word that describes

something that attracts attention

and is easy to remember.

Neil: We also mentioned a playlist - that's

a list of songs that a radio station plans

to play. And we also use the same

word - playlist - to describe a list

of songs you compile

yourself on a streaming service.

Rob: We also heard the adjective driving,

which in the context of

our discussion means

having a strong influence.

Neil: And we mentioned the verb

to register. If you register something

you record, count

or measure it. Like every download of this

programme is registered.

But how do we download

this programme, Rob?

Rob: By going to our website at

bbclearningenglish.com.

Neil: And we have an app too -

download it for free and stream

all of our content!

Rob: Bye for now.

Neil: Bye.