Influence of song duration on probability of hitting NEXT
2008-05-15 19:53:32
Hi all, Does anyone know of any studies that have isolated and measured how much the duration of a track is a factor in a listener choosing to skip a song? ALL other things being equal, it seems to me that track duration ought to have a major effect on listening behaviour: Let's say a "skip" is only counted if the listener hits NEXT when < 50% of the song has been played. And let's say a song one likes (cancelling out current mood, listening circumstances etc..) is somehow 2 lengths at the same time (impossible I know), and let's say that hitting NEXT will skip to ANY OTHER song (i.e. random play, so we cancel out "I prefer the one that follows") etc... This theoretical song (SONG X) is identical in all others ways except duration (somehow ): SONG X1 = 3 mins SONG X2 = 30 mins Clearly it is more of a committment to listen to the 30 minute song. The question is how long does a song have to be before the probability that one will skip to the next/another song increases sharply (all other thing being equal). My guess (and it's only a guess) is that for me, on average, in leisure, non-rushed listening circumstances, the probability that I will hit next jumps sharply where a track is between 8 and 12 mins long, then increases gradually and probably has another jump at about 20 - 25 mins and is then pretty flat. Does anyone know of any studies on this? I'm sure there must have been measurements made by marketing types otherwise how else would they know what to ask for from their artists : "Could you do one like just like your last hit, but a bit different and if you could make it 3 minutes and 6 seconds, and include the name Versace that would be really cool" , kind of thing. The reason I ask is that I'm interested in ways to measure/rate music and counting avoidance of a song (i.e. how often it is skipped) tells you almost as much as counting how often it is played. So it's a useful variable in rating music. The problem is how much weight to give to that variable and how much is it related to duration. I'd really appreciate any info or leads on this, I've googled, but have found little of use. I keep getting submerged in papers on behavioral shifts due to music therapy and gripes about the annoying behaviour of various audio software. C.