“I have to produce songs with a duration of max 2-3 minutes,” said a client this week. “Because the average attention span of people’s daily behavior is going down.”

It wasn’t the first time I heard this from someone. 

No matter where I was in my life, there were always people complaining about attention spans.

Professors at the university complained about students being not attentive for one and a half hours at courses.

Promoters at clubs complained about people coming too late or leaving too early.

Hosts at the radio station complained about listeners turning off their devices.

Parents complained about having kids that don’t show interest in the things their parents love.

Musicians complained about people not listening to their music.

Complaining helps no-one.

I studied to become a school teacher. But guess what, I don’t want to work at school anymore. Do I complain about being a teacher? No. I want to teach, help and guide others - not at school though. That’s why I started my business and as a part of it this weekly mailing.

So, is the average attention span of our daily behavior going down?

I call that BS.

Rather than having a lowered attention span people are looking for better quality content.

So when they are watching a video or listening to a song, they think about missing out on something. This fear of missing out (FOMO) paired with a pinch of shiny objects syndrome (SOS) leads them to be more selective about the content.

They don’t watch less tv or listen to fewer songs. Au contraire. They binge content like crazy. And that wasn’t even a thing a few years back.

It’s not the attention span that’s going down, it’s the tolerance for content that’s only mediocre or even bad.

I see this whenever I write emails of lesser quality for my readers. That’s why I ask for feedback and am glad if you share your thoughts, fears, and frustrations with me. So I can produce the best content for you that will help you succeed with your vision and goals. 

Thus, the key is not to put out a lot of content or extreme content. Many people do it and fail because it’s not resourceful or sustainable over long periods. And you don’t want to be successful for only a few months, do you?

The key to getting more and more people to listen, watch, read … ENJOY your content so they can immerse themselves in it is to put out quality content that’s rare of its kind.

Create “quality content” for your audience. That’s it.

Quality content isn’t quality content though. I probably enjoy other content than you. And you probably enjoy other content than your best friend. And the list goes on.

You see, it’s not important if your partner, family, friends, or random people from the internet love your content. What’s important is that the right people crave your content. These people might be your partner, family, and friends - but that’s not necessary. It’s easier, yes, not vital though.

So, once you have found a few fans, ask them. Once you know what your audience defines as “quality”, you can produce more and more “quality content” for your fans.

Get clear about it and everything else becomes easier or unnecessary.

P.S. Speaking about knowing your audience. Do you mind telling me what’s currently your biggest frustration as an independent musician?