Mark Ronson explains how streaming is changing the way music is made
Mark Ronson, a guy who knows a thing or two about writing and producing hit songs, isn’t exactly impressed with how streaming is changing the way music is made.
In a wide-ranging interview with The Guardian, he had this to say:
“All your songs have to be under three minutes and 15 seconds because if people don’t listen to them all the way to the end they go into this ratio of ‘non-complete heard’, which sends your Spotify rating down.”
Your Spotify rating determines where the algorithms might place your song in the future. And playlists are everything these days.
Then there’s this:
“Everything has to be produced so it sounds competitively as loud as possible coming out of an iPhone or as loud as possible when it comes out of a Spotify hits playlist; you have to make sure the kick drum and the guitar have the same loudness and presence all the way through the whole fucking song or you don’t stand a chance. It’s kind of crazy how you have to think about music now. I mean, Amy wouldn’t have let that shit happen for a second, which makes me think how Back to Black would have been received, or how it would have probably performed badly on Spotify playlists if it was released today.”
Anyone else depressed by this?
Yeah, really sad. Wondering when the “algorhythms” will dictate music so that it’s a simple 4/4 beat and three notes. We’re getting close. Glad I don’t listen to pop music.