Throughout the years, technology has played a pivotal role in shaping the music industry. Taking into the progression from the phonograph and analog tape machines to digital recording software and internet streaming services. We can see truly how far we have come with the technological advancements of our time. The past two decades have especially had prominent and rapid innovations in digital technologies that have shocked the music business to its core.
As technology has changed so have the ways people create music. Composers can produce film scored from their home studios in hours. Musicians can now play for fans around the world through live-streamed platforms. Even songwriters can record albums and release them on digital distributing and streaming platforms without ever coming near a record deal. The space is truly in a remarkable state where anything can happen.
For anyone looking to remain relevant as a music professional understanding all of the new technologies is a must. This includes the ins and outs of new applications and technologies coming out. Furthermore, in this state, the industry moves at a relatively quick pace so keeping up with trends is also incredibly important.
The Impact Of New Technologies On Music
With the advancements in digital technologies came many monumental shifts in many aspects of the music business. This is especially noticeable as simple digital recording hardware and software are much easier to come across and cheaper. Musicians nowadays work with good quality audio thanks to technological advancements such as compact discs. Long gone are the days of Napster, one of the first music streaming platforms that revolutionized the music industry.
Ever since its conception the revenue stream and style of the music industry completely changed. Nowadays paid digital distribution platforms such as Spotify and iTunes are the standard monetization model. These platforms constitute a bulk of the music sales in the industry nowadays. An interesting development here is that nowadays revenues are nowhere near the levels before the age of Napster.
However, the introduction of new technologies is overwhelmingly positive, especially in recent years from the integration of AI in music production. You can and should read more about how music and entertainment are embracing new technologies. This innovation has brought significant changes to each step in the creation of music with changes that impact both artists and listeners.
Artificial Intelligence In Music
Alongside artificial intelligence, music streaming platforms have emerged as a dominant force in listening to music. While there were vast libraries of music created by artists now a majority of songs are created utilizing AI. For rock, rap, and all other fans artificial intelligence has opened up a new door full of seamless exploration and discovery. Most applications of AI in music are applications towards workflows, tools that generate backing tracks, analyze patterns, and even assist in the songwriting process.
Artificial intelligence has proven to be quite skilled at all steps of song creation as it blends well with human input. If machine intelligence and human creativity are meshed well you can quickly see how a good song no matter the genre is composed, produced, and mastered. This has resulted in many unique projects getting released.
How Music Professionals Adapted To The Digital Era
Musicians and music businesses always had to diversify revenue streams to compensate for lost sales. The live music industry has always been an integral part of this formula for performers and everyone else involved. This is why many people in the music industry focus on live music as the digital era decimated album sales. In the last few years, the steady growth of live performances and streaming service revenue has kept growing.
Another way many professional artists earn funds is through focusing their music on movies and tv shows. This grants them funds through revenue streams and royalties. Some have also turned to digital recording platforms and created new revenue streams in the booming industry. One of these is video streaming, services like Netflix. Video games have also seen wild growth and are a great element to focus on as a professional musician. We have seen a good example of this with the ZEDD x Valorant collaboration. Naturally, there have been more across all of gaming as many bands have become synonyms with some games and e-sports.
This digital era while it has been tough on the music industry has opened the door for many new and interesting opportunities. Many artists have gotten the exposure they deserve through each of the new options gained thanks to the digital era. The innovations in music technology have spurred growth in music creation and have advanced the art to the next stage. As time goes on we will see how the music industry handles its revenue and if its levels ever return to what they once were.
