I'm Neil.

And hello, I'm Rob.

Today we’re discussing music and

the idea that songs are

becoming faster. What music do

you like, Rob?

Oh me? I like rock music.

It has good vocals and it's loud!

How about you, Neil?

Well, I like anything and I prefer

streaming my music actually.

No old-fashioned CDs to buy and

load up – it's easier to play and you

can play it anywhere! And streaming

is where you listen or watch music

or videos directly from the internet

as a continuous stream.

Did you know that some people

believe that streaming music online

is actually changing the songs

people write? And it might be leading

to songs getting faster.

Well, that's what we're discussing

today. Let's hope it doesn't happen to

this programme, otherwise we might

become Three Minute English!

But before it does, let's get on with

our question for everyone to answer.

In 2017 Luis Fonsi's summer hit

Despacito officially became the most

streamed song of all time. Do you know

approximately, how many times it was

streamed? Was it:

a) 1.6 billion times,

b) 3.6 billion times,

or, c) 4.6 billion times?

I know the song was popular but

4.6 billion sounds too big – so I'll

go for a) 1.6 billion.

OK. Well, we'll find out later in

the programme. But now back to

our discussion about how music

producers are adapting their songs

for modern technology. Researchers

have found long instrumental

introductions to pop songs have

become almost extinct.

Of course the aim of many pop songs

is to be enjoyed by many – to be

popular - but they also need to be a

commercial success – they need to

make money.

Brendan Williams, a music producer

and professor of music technology

can explain what he thinks influences

the songs. Here he is speaking on BBC

Radio 4's You and Yours programme…

I think that, you know, one of the things

that’s driving this, there are a number

of things. They’re all radio, they’re all

singles designed for radio playlists.

Radio playlists are extremely important

factors in judging the success of a track

and obviously do feed into the kind of

commercial success of a track.

So, he mentions that radio playlists

are important factors. A playlist is a list

of songs that a radio station plans to play.

And he says that radio playlists affect the

commercial success of a song.

By the way he called a song a track – that's

a recorded piece of music. And notice how

he used the word driving which means

having a strong influence. So getting a

song played on the radio is important and

it has to be made in a way that will suit

the radio station's playlist.

Now, we know there are thousands of songs

out there to listen to – and plenty of ways

to listen to them – so how can record

companies get someone to listen to

their particular song?

Well, have a listen to Brendan Williams

again to see what he thinks…

… But then there’s the influence of

streaming services like Spotify, where

if a track isn’t played for at least

30 seconds then it doesn’t register

a play and Spotify…

And if we don’t hear the vocals then

we might not carry on listening.

Is that the theory?

Absolutely, yeah, yeah.

That’s the theory – it's to get through…

I guess to get into the meat of the song

to hear the lyrical content and get

through to that first chorus.

Well, it seems songs no longer have

an 'intro' – the instrumental piece of

music that's played before the

singing begins. In the old days, radio

DJs – disc jockeys who played the

records – loved to talk over that bit!

Now we need to get to the lyrical

content – that's the lyrics or the words

of the song - as soon as possible.

So, the theory, or idea, is to present

listeners with vocals and a chorus

more quickly, as it will make them

want to continue listening! That's

because if a song isn't streamed

for more than 30 seconds, it doesn't

register a play – it doesn't get measured

or recorded as a play – so it doesn't

make money.

So a song needs to hook the listener

in quickly – in other words it needs to

attract their attention and be easy to

remember – another word for this

is catchy. Do you have any favourite

catchy songs, Rob?

Oh, I do, I do. It's got to be Happy

by Pharrell Williams.

A very catchy song.

Well, something that is always catchy

in this programme is our quiz question.

Earlier I mentioned that in 2017, Luis

Fonsi's summer hit Despacito officially

became the most-streamed song of

all time. Did you know approximately,

how many times it was streamed?

Was it: a) 1.6 billion times,

b) 3.6 billion times, or

c) 4.6 billion times?

And I went for a staggering

1.6 billion times.

Well, it's not staggering enough,

Rob. It was actually streamed 4.6

billion times.

Amazing. That's a number that we

can only dream of for this

programme – or is it?!

Well Neil, shall

we download to our memory, some of

the vocabulary we've learnt today?

Streaming describes the activity of

listening or watching music, radio or

videos directly from the internet as

a continuous stream.

Something that is a commercial

success is popular and makes lots

of money – like a new computer

game or pop song.

A good pop song, Rob – not something

annoying like Gangnam Style.

Well, that was a huge commercial

success because it was catchy – a

word that describes something that

attracts attention and is easy to

remember.

We also mentioneda playlist – that's

a list of songs that a radio station

plans to play. And we also use the

same word – playlist – to describe

a list of songs you compile yourself

on a streaming service.

We also heard the adjective driving,

which in the context of our discussion

means having a strong influence.

And we mentioned the verb to register.

If you register something you record,

count or measure it. Like every

download of this programme is

registered. But how do we download

this programme, Rob?

By going to our website at

bbclearningenglish.com.