December 9, 2025
Press play till the year 2999
A thousand-year-long composition turns 25 (2024)
1,000‑Year Song Turns 25: Nostalgia, “mediocre” jabs, and a live link
TLDR: Longplayer, a 1,000‑year‑long composition, just hit 25 and keeps streaming worldwide, with a live 1,000‑minute performance coming in April 2025. Commenters split between cozy nostalgia and “meh,” while comparisons to John Cage’s ultra‑slow organ piece fuel a funny, fiery debate about what “long” music is for.
At midday GMT on New Year’s Eve, Longplayer — the 1,000‑year‑long composition that started on Dec 31, 1999 — quietly blew out 25 candles, and the internet did what it does best: argue, reminisce, and hit play. One commenter simply dropped the goods — “Wanna hear?” — with a direct stream, while another went full time capsule, remembering hearing it at London’s Millennium Dome in 2000. Then came the spice: “Nice idea. Mediocre music.” Cue the art-vs-ambient debate, with defenders calling it patience made audible and skeptics calling it an endless screensaver for your ears.
The nerdy flex arrived fast: someone pointed to John Cage’s super‑slow organ piece, ORGAN2/ASLSP, which also hits 25 next year, turning the thread into a “who wore long-duration better” contest. Meanwhile, organizers reminded everyone this marathon isn’t just theory — you can hear it online, at a lighthouse in London, and from January 2025 on the rooftop of Madrid’s La Casa Encendida. The showpiece? A rare Longplayer Live at the Roundhouse on April 5, 2025: 1,000 minutes performed on 234 singing bowls, read from a graphic score link.
Between nostalgia, side‑by‑side composer trivia, and playful “wake me in 2999” jokes, the community made one thing clear: the music is slow, but the takes are fast — and very, very human.
Key Points
- •Longplayer has played continuously without repetition for 25 years, starting at midnight on 31 December 1999.
- •The composition is designed to run until the last moments of 2999, then return to its starting point and begin again.
- •Longplayer is currently performed mostly by computers and is audible online and at venues including Yorkshire Sculpture Park and Trinity Buoy Wharf.
- •From January 2025, a rooftop listening post at La Casa Encendida in Madrid will broadcast Longplayer.
- •A Longplayer Live performance at the Roundhouse on 5 April 2025 will present a 1000-minute score section on 234 singing bowls, played by rotating ensembles reading a graphic score.