Last week I did a consultation with someone who came to me because she wants to start a podcast. Needless to say, there are lots (and lots) of questions from someone in that position. Having been podcasting for more than seven years now, I can anticipate just about all of them.
I have also been publishing a weekly blog on this website for six-and-a-half years now. While occasionally I’ll have a guest contributor provide me with something to post, the overwhelming majority of what you read on here is written by yours truly.
Open in another window on my laptop as I write this week’s blog is my video editing software program, where I’m working on something that I hope to upload to the Now Hear This official YouTube channel tomorrow.
And the common thread that is woven throughout the overwhelming majority of the work that Now Hear This does is working with artists, singers, songwriters, performers, on advancing their career in entertainment.
A common question throughout all of the above, though, is, “How long should my (podcast or blog or video or song) be?”
An argument could even be made that pitching yourself via email could be added to the list of where that question gets asked. So, let’s take a closer look.
Podcast Length
Somehow a myth got started that the ideal running time for a podcast is 22 minutes. And I use the word myth because that’s wrong. In fact, a well-respected authority in the podcast industry has presented at conferences that I’ve spoken at and/or attended and referenced a study he did of the Apple Podcasts Top 200. The average length of those was 51 minutes. “Oh, so 51 minutes is how long mine should be?” No. As I mentioned during the aforementioned consultation that I did last week, once you are talking just for the sake of talking, now your podcast is too long. Whether that’s eleven minutes in, 31 minutes in, or 51 minutes in, pay attention to where the meaningful content ends. That’s how long your podcast should be.
Blog Posts
I try to stick to the same length for these entries that I put up each week, and thus I use that as a guideline when I tell others how much they should (or shouldn’t) write when doing a guest post for me. But, while there’s a wee bit of flexibility, it pertains simply to this website. When I submit guest blogs for Stage32.com, they ask for me to give them quite a bit more. Unless it’s your own site, the parameters will be given to you.
Aside from that, while the above podcast guideline applies, to an extent, think of when you’ve read blogs. Nowadays there often times is a note telling you how long of a read it is, time-wise. What turns you off and prevents you from even starting it? Seeing that it’s going to be a seven-minute read? A four-minute read?! Don’t give people a reason to stop before they’ve even started reading.
| Related posts: |
| Your First Email Might Not Get You the Job - But the Follow-Up Might! |
| Resources for Your Music Career - Instead of New Gadgets |
Making Videos
Apparently, we are all super busy or super tough to impress, as in, “C’mon, entertain me now. Capture my attention now.” An argument can be made that we’re in a less-is-more time period. It is widely felt that people’s attention spans have grown really short. This is why short form video is currently king (think Instagram stories, TikTok, YouTube Shorts, etc.). If you’re making a music video, you can’t control the length of your video. If you’re filming something that is long form, however, perhaps you can turn it into a time-lapse video so that it comes out significantly shorter. If you feel you have a lot to say on some topic, perhaps you can break it up into short videos. For example, if you can do 36 minutes of commentary about a topic, can it instead be broken up into nine different four-minute videos rather than one continuous video? For that matter, maybe even twelve three-minute videos. Or, if it’s an interview, can you pull out the one attention-grabbing question/answer and have that as a standalone video, almost like a trailer? Get creative with your running times as much as the content itself.
Song Length
Remember the days when three to three-and-a-half minutes was the ideal length for a song because it was all about what would be good for radio? Now people are listening to internet radio or, moreover, streaming services such as Spotify. It’s not simply someone programming songs for a DJ to play on an FM station. Some of the most successful bands of all-time ignored the three to three-and-a-half minutes idea and it led them to halls of fame, such as The Beatles (songs less than three minutes) and Rush (songs of six or more minutes in length). Don’t write for the radio. Write to get your message out, to connect with people, and to publish something you are proud of and feel good about – regardless of its running time.
Guess what? This week’s blog went longer than I usually write. As I was writing it, I noticed that occurrence as I went onto the second page. But you’re still reading and you learned something, right? That’s exactly the point of this week’s post.
Comment on this post by tweeting to me via @NHT_tweets or by using Facebook or LinkedIn. Alternatively, you can write to me via email. Do you need a consultation, like the person mentioned at the start of this blog? Schedule a private, one-on-one video session with me so we can address whatever area you need someone to chat with about.