Run Times

 

I've been rethinking run times for albums. I think I still feel the same way about CD run times, but in the streaming and digital-only world I think shorter albums are totally acceptable and maybe even preferable. With the current vinyl craze, an average runtime on vinyl averages 30 to 35 minutes. I feel that a streaming album that's something like 30 minutes or a little over for runtime is still perfectly acceptable. 

I think it's also a better use and treatment of the material. For example, I'm working on a project right now that's just about to release that's about 65 minutes of material. If it were a CD that would be fine to release it all at once, but this music is pretty dense and challenging, and I think breaking it into two albums is it great way to kind of let it begin its life in the world more slowly rather than all at once. Like release the first half this year and then the second-half next year.

I had a conversation about this topic with one of my long-time collaborators.  He said: 

"I feel the run time of both CD and vinyl are artificial constraints applied by the technology of the time and have nothing to do with what's best for the art.  This isn't to say that 70 mins of music isn't valid. or that 40 mins isn't.  But now that we are free of those constraints, I see no reason to keep referencing them."

I could not agree more.  What's best for the art is key here.  I think run times for digital-only releases should be determined by the compositions, and/or the overall project as a whole. 

Or, in other words, the run time should be self-determining by each project.

Yesterday, I finished the album release work for the project to which I previously referred. We had around 63 minutes of total material.  That would have been acceptable for a full CD, but the material is pretty dense and demanding.  Hence, I divided it up into two albums: 

• The first album has a run time of 32 minutes.
• The second album has a run time of 29 minutes.  

The pieces for each record are all connected and related, like movements in a symphony.  Each of those two albums will be more cohesive than had the project been released on one CD.

I spoke with my partner on this project, and he loved the idea of splitting it up into two records.  He said he never liked the obligation of 60-minute albums.  

Obligation. I think that's what it is, really.  When you have a medium with an 80-minute capacity, I think we have this sense of obligation of trying to fill that medium.  I didn't previously realize it, but I now think that obligation is or could be at the expense of the art.  

But now, for digital-only releases, I think the only run time obligation is whatever best fits the art.  This new realization feels very freeing to me, and in a way it's exciting as the real consideration now is the overall statement of the album, not the run time, and no concerns over having too much or too little material for an album release.

-kk