Friday, December 13, 2019
Learn How Long a Radio Edit Should Be
Learn How Long a Radio Edit Should BeLearn How Long a Radio Edit Should BeWhen you want to get your poppopsong played on the radio, timing matters. The length of your song can have a major impact on its chances of getting played. How long should your radio edit be to maximize your chances of getting played? First things first Getting onto radio is incredibly competitive. And getting onto the playlists of commercial radio stations in major radio markets is extremely difficult if youre a musician bedrngnis signed with a major record label. If youre an indie musician, that doesnt mean youll never get on the radio, but you might need to be a little creative to get your foot in the door. Commercial Pop Radio Top of the Food Chain Most (but not all) musicians want to get their songs played on pop, mainstream radiobecause of its massive reach and audience size. But thisradio format is the most restrictive, and the most difficult to break into. If you want your song to have a shot there, it should not be longer than four minutes. Ideally, you should keep your songs on the low end of the three-minute range, or shorter if possible. Anything else is going to take up too much space in the playlist (and eat up too much advertising airtime), so its not going to make the cut.? Dont assume that your pop masterpiece just cant be cut and that radio stations are going to swoon over it so much that theyll play it no matter how long it is. Things are done a certain way for a reason, so best to just make your song four minutes or less for pop/mainstream stations. Other Station Formats Other radio formats tend to have more flexibility in their playlists for song lengths. Youll notice that your local classic rock station is more than willing to play Stairway to Heaven in its entirety. It is true of stations that play genres of music that tend to have longer songs, like some types of jazz, some types of reggae, and so on. Non-commercial radiostationshave the most flexibility wh en it comes to song length. Additionally, non-commercial radio stations are usually the outlets for the genres that dont play by those pop rules. Jam bands, blues bands,jazz acts, bluegrass groups are among the genres likely to find a home on non-commercial radio stations. Since so many college and indie radio stations are non-commercial, itsis the most likely starting place for an up and coming independent artist. College radio, in particular, is a good fit for new artists. Dont mistake non-commercial radio as somehow lesser than commercial stations. Some non-commercial stations are hugely popular and are often where commercial radio and others discover new acts. Know Your Market Ultimately, when you are making a radio edit, you have to consider your market. Stick to the rules for a pop track youre pitching to mainstream radio. If youre playing outside the box, like on a non-commercial or non-pop radio station, dont send them a 20-minute opus, but dont sweat the four-minute mar k. In the latter scenario, its more about knowing when a song should end than knowing when a radio station needs it to end.
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