0F
Offline
Melbourne

A lot of my songs this year will likely be silly little punk/thrash songs and there's no reason why short songs like that can't be seen as legit (cf. Short Music For Short People compilation, Syntax short song comp, You Suffer, etc). It feels absurd saying this as someone who is notorious for creating extended length tracks lol.

I don't think there's any official policing on it, but I just thought I'd create this thread so people who make very short tracks can chime in and feel just as legitimate as those who write longer songs big_smile

orangedrink
Offline
Wisconsin, USA

just add silence! smile

Aday
Offline
Melbourne, Australia

Paulstretch the damn thing?


If it's obvious in the description that it's less than a minute for a reason perhaps..?
Wonder what others think anyway, Syntax has a 31 second music compo each year... :thinking-face:

I actually find I end up just filling out 'filler' if my tracks less than 60 seconds out of rule-keeping sake... its kinda annoying sometimes

.... Would 30 seconds be viable just to weed out potential 7 second troll audio?

Last edited by Aday (January 9, 2024 6:31 am)

impbox
Offline
Sydney, Australia

"The submission should be over minute long, but this rule is flexible. Just be sure your composition is complete and not just a snippet or a work in progress."

Sounds like it's already flexible! More of a guideline and a minute is very short anyway.

gesceap
Offline
Los Angeles, CA
0F wrote:

A lot of my songs this year will likely be silly little punk/thrash songs and there's no reason why short songs like that can't be seen as legit (cf. Short Music For Short People compilation, Syntax short song comp, You Suffer, etc). It feels absurd saying this as someone who is notorious for creating extended length tracks lol.

I don't think there's any official policing on it, but I just thought I'd create this thread so people who make very short tracks can chime in and feel just as legitimate as those who write longer songs big_smile

in 2022 i used a pitch down on the end of a song just to make it to 1 min lol

mnapoleon
Offline
australia
0F wrote:

A lot of my songs this year will likely be silly little punk/thrash songs and there's no reason why short songs like that can't be seen as legit (cf. Short Music For Short People compilation, Syntax short song comp, You Suffer, etc). It feels absurd saying this as someone who is notorious for creating extended length tracks lol.

I don't think there's any official policing on it, but I just thought I'd create this thread so people who make very short tracks can chime in and feel just as legitimate as those who write longer songs big_smile

no a minute is fine

Paisleyfrog
Offline

I think shorter than a minute is absolutely legitimate. Punk is one example - Black Flag's "Spray Paint" on Damaged is 33 seconds. Paraphrasing Rollins, it takes the shortest, most direct route to what the song is about and then gets the fuck out. It's perfect.

I also think about Brian Eno, who was tasked with creating the Windows 95 startup sound. He was given this laundry list of emotions that it must convey..."and it must be seven seconds long". This sent him down a whole rabbit hole of micro compositions. If it works for Eno, it works for me.

I think the one minute "rule" is a good guideline....but if the song is purposeful in its short length, go for it!

Last edited by Paisleyfrog (December 18, 2025 3:01 pm)

As_Yoesual
Offline
Dordrecht, The Netherlands

wait, you guys make tracks shorter than 7 minutes?
*confused stare*

Kidding aside, I totes agree with Paisleyfrog's last line.

Wisefire
Offline
Amsterdam

Correct, there is no active policing of this guideline. though it's good to have some length (or filesize) contrast between upload failures, or a incomplete render/bounce of a track, and normal tracks.

evanericksonmusic
Offline
United States

Just fade it in and out!

polygloss
Offline

I'm working on an album of 30-second experimental tracks, so that's going to be all of my submissions. I'm taking "this rule is flexible" to mean that there's an exception made if there's some kind of artistic vision at play here, which in my case there is.

Wisefire
Offline
Amsterdam
polygloss wrote:

I'm working on an album of 30-second experimental tracks, so that's going to be all of my submissions. I'm taking "this rule is flexible" to mean that there's an exception made if there's some kind of artistic vision at play here, which in my case there is.

yeh, it's flexible enough that you don't have to worry. Maybe mention it in your description.