Playlists, algorithms and the pop song: how music is changing in the era of streaming

Hand on heart: how free are you when it comes to music production? Do you have nothing more than artistic considerations when you make new music? Of course, nobody is free from external influences – not even your listeners. Music has undergone a dramatic change in recent years. Today, when a piece of music is primarily an MP3 in a huge database, critics are warning that songs are not only decreasing in quantity, but also in quality. Is it really in the nature of streaming services and their algorithms to force songs to have certain popular characteristics and structures – like a short intro, simple harmony sequences and a certain length?

Are songs becoming service providers, like the entertainers at holiday clubs, who have playlists for every mood and activity, for example to make it easier for you to get up on Mondays? Together with hit producer and artistic director of the Popakademie Mannheim, Derek von Krogh, we will try to shed light on the dark.

What does the radio have to do with our listening habits?

“The change and optimisation of pop songs did not start with streaming services”, explains Derek von Krogh, musician and producer who has worked with NENA, Samy Deluxe and Silbermond, among others. He believes the phenomenon originated in radio. “The so-called ‘radio edit’ is not a coincidence” says von Krogh. “Everyone remembers it from their childhood or even today: the exhaustingly good-humoured radio presenter who simply talks over the intro of a song, or the bridge is edited out. That is a tradition. In the mid-1980s, the radio began to shorten songs partly to make them more suitable, but also because it was now technically feasible”.

The pop song has skeletons in the closet

For Von Krogh, the shortening of the pop song began with the intro. “In my opinion, the first victim of this simplification was the intro”, he explains. “Take the intro of Led Zeppelin’s ‘Stairway to Heaven’, for example, with its never-ending guitar picking. This is unthinkable today”. This rigorous shortening is particularly noticeable when you listen to older pop songs from the 1980s or 1990s. Back then, a pop song usually had at least eight bars of intro before the vocals started. This “normal” structure has drastically shortened in the last 20 years. “Today, the vocals in most songs start immediately”, said von Krogh.

The second victim of shortening is the legendary guitar solo, according to von Krogh. “This musical event, which traditionally comes after the second chorus, has completely disappeared”, he says. “The guitar solo is as good as dead”.

Another relic of the past is the bridge – placed in many songs before the last chorus. According to von Krogh, the bridge is not what it used to be. “The tolerance for having music without singing has decreased. Today, the bridge usually consists of a quick repetition of phrases, which is just fine”.

According to von Krogh, the next streamlining in pop songs began at the turn of the millennium. “Then began the slow, agonising death of the pre-chorus (also known as the bridge). This is, of course, due to the idea that “We want the chorus to come as soon as possible, yet we absolutely do not want to make Schlager music. That’s why we can’t always start songs with the chorus, as is often done in Schlager music. So, let’s at least do away with the pre-chorus, so we get to the objective more quickly”. Von Krogh also says: “That’s roughly what the professionals were thinking long before anyone could guess that there would be a worldwide music database at some point”.

TikTok and the shortening of pop songs

Another point raised by von Krogh is the role of TikTok and Instagram in influencing music composition. “It’s not so much streaming that led to the most radical change in the composition of the pop song – it was TikTok”, he explains. “Today’s music must be TikTok-friendly. It needs a key moment in the first 15 seconds that is so spectacular that it can act as a trailer for the whole song”.

The constant presence of social media has reduced the listener’s attention span. Today, most people only give about 20 seconds of attention to a song. As a result, harmony sequences have become simpler and simpler. “With the death of the pre-chorus, there were already fewer harmony sequences in a song. The verse and chorus are often based on the same riff, just dressed up differently”, said von Krogh.

2:50 is the new 3:30!

Critics might now say “But what about songs like ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, by Queen? You don’t get songs like that anymore!” But this song was an exception even at the time. “Not everything was better in the past. We also had Modern Talking in the past. Today’s pop songs have a clear vision. They get to the point immediately, without any lengthy diversions. It’s a different concept, but not worse”, says von Krogh.

Playlists set the tone

More than just the structure of pop songs has changed: the way music is consumed also has a huge impact on music production. In the field of playlists, we now know that not every genre benefits equally from the new media. Pop, hip hop and EDM are the most successful genres on streaming platforms. They dominate the top of playlists. “But there are also exceptions, such as the ‘Off Pop Playlist’ on Spotify, which is made up of alternative songs”.

Playlists affect not only the popularity of a song, but also the way artists compose their music. Today’s playlists determine much more than just the length of a song. They have a direct influence on music structure and the type of composition.

Is the album really dead?

As we see as a distributor, the streaming services place their “Pop Album of the Week” every week. Deezer and Tidal, in particular, place value and focus on albums and keep adding new treasures to this section. And yes, categories are also noticed, not just playlists. Albums are also often important for the reputation of artists and work towards a visible and measurable goal. An interesting aspect is that rock music works least well in streaming services. The genre clearly addresses a target group that still wants to buy a “real” analogue album. It is an audience that is faithful and buys concert tickets a year in advance.

Also important is the artwork – not so much at first glance, but much more on the second glance. And even if the artwork has nothing to do with the album itself, it has always been very important in the past, especially with very successful artists. Here too, there are major changes. In the past, artists often relied on elaborate ideas, drawings, and even simply on a certain art form with

expression. Today, potentially decorative artworks are reduced to a small portion of an image in order to fit the layout of the streaming services. Now, as an artist, it is more important to focus on effect and pop of colour than to depict grand artistic thoughts.

Compose for the algorithm

Data analysis by the streaming services is an important factor in measuring the success of a song. The ‘Skip Rate’ is crucial. The longer the song, the sooner it will be skipped. This has a direct impact on music production, as many artists and labels want to make sure that the song stays as short as possible so as not to lose the listeners.

In summary: pop music remains exciting – fortunately!

Despite all the shortenings and changes, the unknown factor remains in pop music. “In the end, there is still the element of the unexpected in pop music – fortunately”, says Derek von Krogh.

In addition to the more than 400 curated Spotify playlists, which are replenished daily or weekly by editors, there are also up to 10 individual playlists, which are determined using algorithms to suggest suitable music for the listener. Audio streaming has been the largest sales segment in the German music market since mid-2018. This has advantages for labels as well as streaming providers. Through analysing the data from their streamed music, they can see when a listener clicks away or reacts directly to it. The so-called “Skip Rate” has become a winged word. The “Skip Rate” is feared – it should be as low as possible.

We thank Derek von Krogh for his thoughts.