What is the Typical Live Music Set Duration.

Performance artists and musicians must prepare their set list and duration in advance for any bookings but how can they plan for different format events. A number of factors can influence how much time an artist gets allocated, and audiences will have expectations too. What are these factors and how can artists plan appropriate set time durations.

Artists may get booked for a variety of live performances that may be a mixture of music festivals, concert halls or clubs and they may be performing as part of a larger line-up of artists (music festival) or as a standalone show in a small club. Venues and audiences can vary so material selected needs to meet logical parameters and expectations. Genre styles and the popularity of the artists are also major influencing factors that determine allocated set duration times. 

Venues and Organising Entities. 
Performances in concert halls and clubs are often part of tours and the artist may be a headliner or support act. The fixed venue will be subject to licenced operating hours which gives the total allowable duration which may then be spilt into one or two sets of about 45 minutes each. A fixed venue will probably have little flexibility with timings, so artists need to have strict time management. A music festival venue could book hundreds of artists and with so many performances and limited stages changeovers between artists need to be slick. There are often very complex operational logistics being managed by festival organisers so set times even for headline acts will likely be considerably shorter. Festival sites are also subject to local curfews and operating licence conditions. Contracts and agreements from organisers will also specify set time duration which enables artists to plan what they will play. 

Artist Popularity. 
In a music festival environment with hundreds of artists booked to perform the set time durations allocated will largely depend on their popularity. A headline act could typically be given between 60 and 90 minutes whilst support acts may get between 45 and 60 minutes. Any emerging acts and lesser-known artists could get as little as 20 minutes, so artists need to plan well what to include in their sets. In some instances, artists with limited durations will play truncated versions of particular songs to ensure they include a sample of their material range. 

Genres. 
The genre of music performed by an artist can heavily influence their set times with rock and punk music usually consisting of short high energy sets so they can fit well into limited set times. Progressive rock and experimental music genres will require longer sets as each individual song could last a lot longer. DJ sets can often be some of the longest set times where it not unusual to see 60 to 90 minutes allocated to each artist. Festival organisers of EDM genre festivals usually face fewer challenges in changeovers because set ups can be similar. A rock band or headline pop artist will typically require longer set up times prior to performing reducing the total number of artists that can be booked for a main stage for example. 

For festival organisers planning their next event using a software management platform like Festival Pro gives them all the functionality they need manage every aspect of their event logistics including real time set time and scheduling modules. The guys who are responsible for this software have been in the front line of event management for many years and the features are built from that experience and are performance artists themselves. The Festival Pro platform is easy to use and has comprehensive features with specific modules for managing artists, contractors, venues/stages, vendors, volunteers, sponsors, guestlists, ticketing, site planning, cashless payments and contactless ordering.

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