It's all so subjective though, and ultimately those songs are more interesting than most of the contest to some people. There is a good balance, and it varies every month. I don't think anyone is intentionally trying to pad out a semi final, they're just keen to see the reaction to their song, the same as the rest of us in our own ways

Anyway this should have been 15 minutes long x

I wonder if somebody has confirmed the 37 minute song I had confirmed for Club Bizarre earlier in the year but switched away from as I felt too self indulgent to make people sit through it 😂

Long songs are fine for me as long as it's only a few each month, but if it's over 15 minutes long my attention will drift so it has to absolutely justify its length.

👀

oh so not as bad as y****

Nelly: Spends the entire thread defending long songs

The song is 37 minutes

Nelly:

Just now, blacksquare said:

Nelly: Spends the entire thread defending long songs

The song is 37 minutes

Nelly:

You can get the gist of it by just selecting any 1 minute part tbf.

No doubt it will be something completely different now!

When will Don Salsa ever be topped for Nelly.

1 hour ago, blacksquare said:

"this is not very gen z"

stares in gen z

14 hours ago, nine¾ said:

If you say that longer songs will definitely make it to the final, are people voting for the length and the boldness of the choice, or for the song itself?

I haven't read most of this discussion yet but I'll say (and obviously I'm just one contestant), I never vote 'for the length, boldness, weirdness or differentness'. I have some kind of intuition / instinct that 'guides' how I vote, I can't even explain it. Music often does things to me that I can't really consciously explain, that's why I'll often just say things like 'I love this' or 'ooh I'm enjoying this one' lmao, because I don't always know how to articulate it beyond that (with exceptions). I'm sure that's a familiar experience for some people.

Last year I gave 18 points to a track that was 25 minutes long - that James Ferraro one from Scotland 2, and in that case I did find it odd that a song in the contest was that long, but when actually listening to it I really enjoyed the sound and it also helped me tune out chatter in the library in a satisfying way so I had a soft spot for it

there is no need to question people’s intent when sending songs, just as there is no need to question integrity when voting (e.g. whether everyone has listened to every second of every song no matter the length). it is simply not that serious lmao. this is a song contest not an election, assume good faith!

Edited Tuesday at 10:483 days by dhwe

1 hour ago, Lindsey. said:

That being said, I do think some people send long songs so they're intentionally taking up a chunk of the run time or just to be different. It sometimes feels like a contest on who can send the longest song.

Not everything is about ragebait and shock factor.

However, standing out does equal attention and therefore points. This is a song competition with a big variety of genres entered each time so I think you might want to be different and stand out in the 50+ songs crowd entered each month.

Commonplace Song Contest doesn’t really sound too appealing to me personally x

Edited Tuesday at 10:513 days by pavi

59 minutes ago, awardinary said:

And if you want to veto me for it that's fine too! (In fairness it doesn't need to be that long it could have been shorter). I might reconfirm.

Don’t give in to the pressure of tiktok brains x

2 hours ago, Harve said:

Guys chill out please 😭

I'm only aware of one very long song being entered so far and while the rest will of course be fully randomised, I'm minded to put it at the end of the running order of whichever semi it's allocated to for the purposes of the listenthrough. I believe that's what's been done before.

If it is handled like this - I have no problem with long songs. If it would come inbetween a listenthrough and not at the end - this is something I don't like. My usual bedtime on working days at 10.30 pm cet (9.30 gmt) and I would like to listen to as many songs as possible in the listenthrough.

I was asking whether people vote on the song's length after someone comment that it's already known that the song will qualify for the final. And judging by all the comments that followed, it's clear that people here have different views on the matter.

Of course, everyone has the right to submit whatever they want, think whatever they want, and ask whatever they want.

I also think that discussions like this are not arguments or toxicity, and that if someone has an issue with something here, whether it’s because they don’t understand something or because something bothers them, the only way to change that or make things easier for themselves is through conversation and exchanging opinions. The point is not to keep quiet about your opinions just because it’s politically correct.

Due to an administrative error last time, which we apologise for.

East Rukahavian have entered.

Idk I just enter whatever I’m loving the most at that moment in time that won’t be thrown out by the veto. Put literally no more thought than that into it. (And it shows, I know Pavel)

I try not to over think it or put too much stock in the outcome

8 hours ago, RobBot said:

I don’t think there’s really any doubt about this in the first place but just to quite simply shut this off as a mod - we will never be blocking songs from being sent because of their length and I don’t think any of us would sign that off.

I think policing what people send (outside of the veto system which is simply to do with perceived fairness rather than taste) is not a direction any of us would want for the contest.

And in the same breath - nobody needs to feel guilty for skipping through songs that they don’t enjoy. I certainly don’t, it’s my time to choose what I want to do with it 😂

+1 to this. Veto only exists to ensure this isn’t a race to the bottom featuring this summers latest releases from Madonna, Charlie XCX, Ariana Grande etc and remains a place where everyone can find a new song or artist. Have no interesting in policing entries any further

On 03/08/2026 at 20:18, awardinary said:

When does a song become a long song? At what exact second of the song?

I still haven't had it in me to read this whole discussion yet, plus I've been mostly busy today but just as a small note, I really don't think there's a universal 'exact second' that a song becomes a long song lmao - but I tend to think of songs 6 minutes and over as 'long songs'. And even then that doesn't really say much haha, it's just like a general thing.

Flynnonda finally got round to entering - a bit of alt pop-rick this time around

I usually try to listen to every song in full, but sometimes I just know I don't like it. I'll skip through 3 minute songs if I really don't like the first verse and chorus (especially by the final if I've heard and disliked it from my semi) so don't see what the issue is. For a longer song, maybe it takes you longer to judge it but if it hasn't grabbed your attention at all within the length of a normal song (3-4 minutes) and you know you won't vote for it, skip through it or past it. If it does grab your attention, great, you've found something you like, even if it took a bit longer. I get finding time can be difficult, I find it hard on a normal week too, but on average we're probably talking 20-30 mins total variance at most for an entire semi, and not even that if you skip what you're not enjoying.

For me, a lot of the time a track being longer than 5 minutes allows it time to be a different kind of piece of music than the standard pop (broad sense of pop I mean) song, but that doesn't guarantee it's good and quantity isn't indicative of quality. It just gives the opportunity for the track to have the space to breathe and develop for a certain kind of song or piece. With some styles fast and punchy works better, with others, drawn out with slow development really helps it.

look at the end of the day, this is an online contest with about sixty of us voting for songs on a forum. it’s really not that deep. if someone’s dropped a twenty-minute prog-rock saga and you’re already reaching for the skip button, just give it two, realise it’s not your vibe, and move on.

we take it serious in some aspects to ensure fairness and to have some degree of stability.

but threatening to withdraw because the tracklist might contain something longer than a radio edit feels a bit much for what is essentially a hobby with a leaderboard. if it’s stopped being fun, fair enough, take a step back.

but it’s never that deep