• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

Labels Speed Up Songs

T

TheBigA

For years I've been reading comments here asking if radio stations speed up songs. Now here's an article that says record labels are speeding up their songs before they get to radio. Part of the reason is TikTok:

www.billboard.com

With Sped-Up Songs Taking Over, Artists Feel the Need for Speed

\Artists and labels are leaning into uptempo or sped-up remixes as a way of driving new streams and sales.
www.billboard.com www.billboard.com

Sped-up remixes also spurred recent chart surges for Miguel’s “Sure Thing” (actually a resurge, as it first charted over a decade ago), The Weeknd’s “Die for You,” Lady Gaga’s “Bloody Mary,” and Mariah Carey’s “It’s a Wrap,” as well as boosting streams for tracks like Lizzy McAlpine‘s “Ceilings.”
Click to expand...
 
radiofan2023 said:
A lot of Top 40 stations sped up songs 30-40 years ago too, this is nothing new.
Click to expand...
The difference is that then we could speed the revolutions of a turntable by varying the AC cycles to the motor or by changing the diameter of the drive wheel or shaft. Today, it's done electronically and at the same time we can adjust the pitch so that the increase in speed does not carry an increase in the audio pitch.

Back then, we got Ross Bagdasarian and Alvin and the Chipmunks. Today, we can get new versions of songs that still maintain the vocalist's voice and all the rest.
 
DavidEduardo said:
The difference is that then we could speed the revolutions of a turntable by varying the AC cycles to the motor or by changing the diameter of the drive wheel or shaft.
Click to expand...

DE: Regarding top 40 stations 30-40 years ago, how many seconds could be shaved off a song of say 3 minutes?
 
Mark40 said:
DE: Regarding top 40 stations 30-40 years ago, how many seconds could be shaved off a song of say 3 minutes?
Click to expand...
We are talking about somewhere around 2% to 2.5% speeding up, which would only take about 4 seconds off an average record. The purpose, as some inaccurately assume, was not to be able to play more ads. It was to make an AM station sound brighter and/or to make a stations music sound crisper and brighter than a competitor that did not speed up the music.
 
DavidEduardo said:
We are talking about somewhere around 2% to 2.5% speeding up, which would only take about 4 seconds off an average record. The purpose, as some inaccurately assume, was not to be able to play more ads. It was to make an AM station sound brighter and/or to make a stations music sound crisper and brighter than a competitor that did not speed up the music.
Click to expand...
Although 4 (seconds) times 15 (songs) equals 60 seconds, which is one minute. So what did stations do with that extra minute they gained every hour instead of running one or two more ads? Have the jocks talk more?
 
CTListener said:
Although 4 (seconds) times 15 (songs) equals 60 seconds, which is one minute. So what did stations do with that extra minute they gained every hour instead of running one or two more ads? Have the jocks talk more?
Click to expand...
Music stations in the era that we started using sped-up turntables (generally for copying 45's or album cuts to cartridges) did not have strict format "markers" (top of the hour, or even fixed news or feature times) so all that the speed did was make AM stations sound crisper and FMs could make competitors sound "draggy" by comparison.

Speeding up songs by a tiny percentage was never about gaining time for ads or some kind of feature or whatever. It was about making the music sound "better" or "sharper than that other station".
 
These comments are still focused on radio speeding up songs. That's not what this article is about. It's about labels and artists speeding up songs, and also allowing FANS to speed up or remix songs. Labels are making stems of the music available to listeners for them to create their own remixes.

“The kids are taking control of the songs, and they’re determining what part of the record is sticky and what version of it is sticky.”
Those “sticky” versions — often just sped up or slowed down, or a pair of tracks mashed together — can spark streams.
Click to expand...

We talk about why radio is losing listeners and here's a reason why: The record labels are giving listeners the elements of the music so they can make their own remixes. What is radio doing that is as interactive? We need to get out of this top-down approach, because the audience doesn't want to be lectured. We think of radio as a specialized skill, but everyone can do it, and the tools are there for them to do it themselves. But if we want to know why audiences are decreasing, it's because there are lots of other activities taking up listeners' time, and this is one of them.
 
TheBigA said:
These comments are still focused on radio speeding up songs. That's not what this article is about. It's about labels and artists speeding up songs, and also allowing FANS to speed up or remix songs. Labels are making stems of the music available to listeners for them to create their own remixes.



We talk about why radio is losing listeners and here's a reason why: The record labels are giving listeners the elements of the music so they can make their own remixes. What is radio doing that is as interactive? We need to get out of this top-down approach, because the audience doesn't want to be lectured. We think of radio as a specialized skill, but everyone can do it, and the tools are there for them to do it themselves. But if we want to know why audiences are decreasing, it's because there are lots of other activities taking up listeners' time, and this is one of them.
Click to expand...
Kids don’t want to hear a DJ talk up a song or read an ad.
 
Many songs have long instrumental riffs and repetitive segments. Instead of speeding up the song, how about some creative editing?
 
wadio said:
Many songs have long instrumental riffs and repetitive segments. Instead of speeding up the song, how about some creative editing?
Click to expand...

Depending on the format, some record labels do that already. However, if the labels are making stems available, listeners can do their own edits.
 
Yes, the artist and the "record company" can do whatever they are able to do in their goal of a hit. Many songs were speeded up for the single, among other things. A musician or music theory person could tell you if speeding up a recording produces a result that is "correct" in terms of notes and the scale of a key.

And anyone who listens to today's hit music can hear how sonically manipulated it is, often resulting in amazing, detailed, multilayered aural delight.

Now listeners can do much of the same thing with software and devices, and sometimes at a concert. Be sure to run the demo on the website and adjust the controls:

PEEX: The future of live music is here

Experience amazing sound feel closer to Elton John make your concert magical
www.peex.live www.peex.live

David makes the distinction between increasing tempo and pitch (speeding up the tape) compared to controlling tempo and pitch separately, such as speeding up tempo without changing pitch. This can be done today with software.

Here's an interesting product that isn't about remixing by the audience (from what I can see) but is about improving concert sound experience for the audience and enabling them to have more control over potential hearing damage (short of not going to the show). It also enables the concert audience to not have to deal with venue acoustics, which can be awful.

Mixhalo | Immersive, real-time audio experiences

Mixhalo enables live event organizers to give audiences high-quality, real-time audio directly to attendees’ phones and headphones.
www.mixhalo.com www.mixhalo.com

Incredibly, at Red Rocks Amphitheatre the product set off social media storm. In reality apparent relatively low SPL from the traditional sound reinforcement system at Red Rocks has undoubtedly helped preserve the hearing of many people. What the public may not understand is the "renowned acoustics" of Red Rocks is probably about a lack of acoustics, compared to closed spaces.
 
Last edited:
TheBigA said:
That's up to them. That's what this thread is about. DIY music.
Click to expand...
Has any study been done as to who takes the time to do this sort of music customization?

I'd suspect it leans significantly make, and very significantly under age 21 to 22. I suspect it might parallel the strong buyers of 45 rpm singles "back in the day" and represents a very distinct subset of the fans of individual artists and specific songs.
 
DavidEduardo said:
Has any study been done as to who takes the time to do this sort of music customization?
Click to expand...

I don't think it matters. What the record labels know is that those personal customizations are leading to increased streams, and increased streams means money for the label and the artist. So it's about having impact, not unlike a local PD increasing the spins of a song on his station. What we're seeing is that those 22 year olds playing around with music on TikTok or YouTube are also making money doing this. So they're becoming the new PDs or DJs in the musical universe. It might be helpful for those in traditional roles to be aware of their new competition. If you want to know why CHRs are losing listeners in the 18-25 category, this may be why.
 
You might say today's analytics and ability to count downloads (performances to older folks) enables those who monetize content to tweak reach and frequency in order to make the most revenue. Like yield management with inventory. Dynamic pricing, etc. It's a bit starting to see the freeway sign say the toll is 10 cents at 3:30 AM, knowing it will be 8 dollars in a few hours.

Sometimes the goal of more revenue is played out a bit differently, such as when one orange juice company offers a multitude of different variations of orange juice. I doubt the grocery store customers really want twelve varieties of Tropicana orange juice. I think Tropicana does this to use all the shelf space they paid for to exclude competitors, without the obvious stupidity of seven linear feet of one variety of orange juice.

Just business
 
Last edited:
radiofan2023 said:
A lot of Top 40 stations sped up songs 30-40 years ago too, this is nothing new.
Click to expand...
Yes, but the original post was that record labels are speeding the songs up.

This also is nothing new, though. Columbia Records noticeably sped up Bob Dylan's "Tangled Up In Blue" for the 45 pressing from its normal speed on the "Blood on the Tracks" album. That was 1975.

And UA Records did the same thing with Gerry Rafferty's "Baker Street" in 1978.
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom