為什麼流行歌曲通常都是3分鐘左右？Why are so many pop songs roughly three minutes long?

來源:中國日報網

你可能已經注意到，現在的流行歌曲通常都是3分鐘甚至更短。其實這一慣例源于上世紀初，這背後有什麼曆史原因呢？

[Photo/Pexels]

No matter where you usually hear today’s top hits—the radio, Spotify, a mixtape on your Sony Walkman—you’ve probably noticed that they tend to be around three minutes long.

無論你習慣上哪聽歌——在收音機、流媒體音樂服務平台還是在随身聽上——你應該能注意到現在的流行歌曲通常都是三分鐘左右。

As Vox explains, the custom dates back to the early 20th century, when shellac records first appeared in the market. The rates at which these records spun varied, but 78 revolutions per minute (RPM) quickly became the norm. The most popular record sizes were 10 inches—which could hold about three minutes of music per side—and 12 inches, which held roughly four to five minutes per side. To get radio stations to broadcast their music and get people to buy it, musicians pretty much had to accommodate those time limits.

Vox公司解釋道，這一慣例源自20世紀早期，當時蟲膠制作的黑膠唱片（粗紋唱片）剛剛在市場上出現。這些唱片的轉速各有不同，但是每分鐘78圈的轉速很快便成了業内标準。最流行的唱片大小是10英寸（25.4厘米）和12英寸（30.48厘米），前者每一面可以播放3分鐘音樂，後者每一面可以播放四到五分鐘音樂。為了讓電台播放以及讓人們購買他們的唱片，音樂人基本上都必須迎合這些時間限制。

The late 1940s saw the birth of the 45 RPM record: a smaller, cheaper disc made of vinyl that couldn’t manage much more than three minutes of music per side. Long-playing records (LPs) were introduced around the same time, but it was much easier for radio stations to play single tracks from 45s—which hordes of listeners then went out and bought. While 10-inch 78s had originated the three-minute trend, 45s really helped make it a necessity for radio singles throughout the mid-20th century.

20世紀40年代晚期45轉的唱片誕生了，乙烯基塑膠制作的更小更廉價的黑膠唱片每一面隻能播放三分鐘左右的音樂。大概在同一時間密紋唱片也上市了，但是電台播放45轉的單聲道唱片要容易得多，大批聽衆在聽過電台的音樂之後就會去購買這種唱片。盡管3分鐘的潮流是由78轉的10英寸唱片引發的，但是45轉的唱片卻讓20世紀中葉的電台單曲不得不控制在3分鐘以内。

There were definitely exceptions to the rule. Bob Dylan’s 1965 song “Like a Rolling Stone” runs more than six minutes, and fans overwhelmed radio stations with calls demanding the full version. It worked: “Like a Rolling Stone” became an unlikely radio hit. If you wanted to hear the full six minutes, you could buy the LP.

當然，肯定也存在例外。鮑勃·迪倫1965年的歌曲《像一塊滾石》時長超過6分鐘，粉絲們紛紛打電話要求電台播放完整版本。結果奏效了，這首歌意外成為電台的熱門歌曲。那時候如果人們想聽6分鐘的完整版，就可以購買密紋唱片。

As music technology evolved over the years, from records to cassette tapes to CDs, three minutes didn’t fall out of fashion as the de facto estimate for pop songs. According to Classic FM, this is partly because radio stations could fit more commercials into a program if the songs stayed relatively short. Record labels may have favored shorter singles, too, since longer songs didn’t mean fatter royalty checks. It’s also likely that pop music listeners just preferred concision; after all, it’s what the last several decades had taught them to expect. As Thomas Tierney, director of the Sony Music Archives Library, told Mashable, “it’s embedded in our DNA.”

過去這些年音樂技術不斷進步，從唱片到錄音帶再到CD光牒，然而3分鐘作為流行歌曲實際長度的标準并沒有過時。據Classic FM電台介紹，一部分原因是如果歌曲相對較短，電台就能在節目中插播更多商業廣告。唱片公司應該也青睐較短的單曲，因為時間長的單曲并不能給他們帶來更多版稅。不過也可能是因為流行歌曲的聽衆就是喜歡簡短的歌，畢竟，過去幾十年他們已經養成了這種聽歌習慣。索尼音樂資料圖書館館長托馬斯·蒂爾尼告訴部落格網站Mashable說：“這已經根植于我們的DNA中了。”

Today, many tracks come in under three minutes long. Justin Bieber’s “Ghost” is just two minutes and 33 seconds, and Lil Nas X’s “THATS WHAT I WANT” is a tidy two minutes and 23 seconds.

如今，許多單曲時長都不到三分鐘。賈斯汀·比伯的《幽靈》隻有2分鐘33秒，李娜叉的《這就是我想要的》隻有2分鐘23秒。

Shorter attention spans and social media’s influence might explain the trend toward brevity, but it’s not the only factor: The compensation model matters, too.

人們的注意力持續時間變短以及社交媒體的影響或許可以解釋流行歌曲為什麼越來越短，但是除此之外，還有報酬機制的因素。

'Instead of getting paid by physical sales, you’re getting paid in a stream, which only counts if someone listens to 30 seconds of a song,” songwriter Charlie Harding told The Verge. “It actually makes sense if you can have more songs streamed at a time, which means that you want to pack your album full of much shorter songs.”

作曲人查理·哈爾丁告訴The Verge網站說：“現在不是依照唱片銷量，而是依照流量來收費，一首歌收聽時間達到30秒才能計入流量。這樣一來，你會想在流媒體平台上一次播放更多歌曲，這意味着你會在專輯中收錄更多短歌。”

In other words, success is now less about sales and more about number of streams. Today’s pop stars are making music that reflects the shift—not unlike how 20th-century musicians learned to work within the confines of the original three-ish-minute limit.

換言之，如今一張唱片成功與否，與銷量關系沒那麼大，而流量則重要得多。現在的流行歌手在制作音樂時也會反映當下形勢的變化，這與20世紀的音樂人學着在3分鐘的原有限制内創作并無不同。

英文來源：Mental Floss

翻譯&編輯：丹妮