Compilations Are Getting Bigger and Bigger

In an increasingly digital music landscape where streaming and social media have an outsized influence, tracklists are swelling in size, but are people actually listening to all of these tunes?

Pattern Gardening is one of the year’s most celebrated dance music compilations. Released by UK imprint Wisdom Teeth and featuring 22 tracks of “minimal-, micro- and tech-house,” the record got a glowing review in Resident Advisor and prompted writer Philip Sherburne to interview label founders Facta and K-LONE in his Futurism Restated newsletter. The praise was well deserved—I too said some nice things about the release right here at First Floor—but among all the words that were written about Pattern Gardening, some of the truest were penned by Andrew Ryce, who in his Futureproofing newsletter said, “It's not the kind of thing you're likely to listen to all the way through…”

In fairness to Andrew, he wasn’t attacking Pattern Gardening or the length of its tracklist. (The rest of his sentence read, “but if you do, you'll be treated to a survey of some of the world's most exciting dance music producers trying their hand at an increasingly dominant sound.”) Yet his observation, perhaps inadvertently, called attention to a very real phenomenon. A slew of long compilations have been released in recent months, and it appears that more are on the way.

Just last week, the Tectonic label commemorated its 20th birthday with Tectonic Sound (24 tracks), which comes on the heels of anniversary / milestone compilations like Planet Mu 30 (25 tracks), GOST ZVUK 10 YEARS (33 tracks) and Kompakt 500 (50 tracks). (In October, Bristol’s Timedance imprint will be joining them with the 23-track TD10.) Elsewhere, Príncipe recently marked the opening of its new shop and venue space in Lisbon with Não Estragou Nada (37 tracks), while Berghain re-launched its vaunted Ostgut Ton label with Klubnacht 01 (18 tracks). Barcelona crew Maricas last month offered up MARICAS Compilation Vol 3 (17 tracks), and a few weeks later London imprint Clasico dropped its second annual compilation, Superclásico, Vol. 2 (16 tracks). On more of a historical / anthropological tip, this year has seen Strut’s Edna Martinez Presents Picó: Sound System Culture from the Colombian Caribbean (16 tracks), Soundway’s Road Fever: New Generation Carnival Riddims from St. Lucia and Dominica (25 tracks) and Music Man’s retrospective Boccaccio Life 1987-1993 (38 tracks). But when it comes to lengthy compilations, NYC outpost Air Texture is arguably in a class of its own, having released Hardwired (23 tracks), Place: Ireland (21 tracks) and Place: Toronto (23 tracks) during the past few months alone.

To be clear, there’s no concrete connection between the number of tracks on a release and the quality of its musical contents. Some of the records listed above are legitimately fantastic, but from a purely logistical and operational perspective, it’s still unusual that so many labels and collectives are now voluntarily exceeding what’s generally considered to be the “standard” compilation length (i.e. approximately 10-15 songs, with a total runtime of 60-70 minutes). Considering how much that “standard” was previously shaped by how much music could fit on a CD, or maybe a couple slabs of vinyl, the appearance of these new extended-length compilations might even be seen as a sign of progress. At the very least, it’s an indication that the music world is gradually casting off some of the prior limitations imposed by formats that are now largely defunct.

In the digital realm, there are no time limits, and in many ways, there are no hard and fast rules whatsoever. There’s freedom in that, and while it’s exciting to imagine artists and labels playing with traditional forms, the current wave of supersized compilations can’t be solely chalked up to a series of bold creative choices. They’re also a reflection of a musical ecosystem in which most listening is passive, individual songs have little value, branding is prioritized over user experience and maximizing visibility has become a cornerstone of even modest promotional campaigns.