Music has been the most influential force in my life, connecting people of all backgrounds and eliciting strong emotions.I often ponder its power: what is it about music that can move us so deeply?
What if its molecules could be extracted and made physical?
Popular music constantly changes across generations, shaped by culture and is usually reflecting our lives.I recall my childhood in Glasgow /Canada, with a record player in every home, and being magnetically pulled to rooms of the older kids for their Hi-Fi.
I spent a lot of time at my grandparents’ house, surrounded by LPs. When I turned 12,I took my allowance to Sam The Record Man and ordered imports. My parents exposed me to multiple genres and I had an ear for Motown, R&B and Disco. My very first import purchase was a Best of Booker T & The MGs, which shocked the employee behind the counter. Record collecting filled my soul with joy and eventually led me to getting featured slots in the Toronto club and concert circuit. That brought me into a journey of music broadcasting with four different radio stations across Canada. Music has taken me to places I could have never imagined.
Up and down the dial on stations
(One of many dreaded moving days , taking a rest on my rerecord library \ 2018)
Spending time in the UK and Canada exposed me to the popular culture music outlets of the time, allowing me to hear the latest tunes at home and then buy them in a shop. The internet and mp3s revolutionized our access to music, but it also enabled piracy that has taken away artists’ income—resulting in poorer quality music, in my opinion.
What will music listening look like in the future?
It's likely to be something totally different from today. As technology advances, art takes on new forms which apply to music too.
What will this look like?
Let's find out.
How technology is changing the way people listen to music?
The invention of the phonograph record changed the way music was heard, as it enabled it to be played without having to be performed live. It switched the production method from a hand-crafted craftsmanship to a cheaper, more convenient and attractive style of delivery. Prior to its invention, recorded music was only heard when musicians performed live for an audience, and boy have we come a long way!
Since the dawn of humanity, music has been a staple of our daily lives, allowing us to express our deepest emotions with an unrivaled intensity. But now, with the explosion of technology and new streaming services, the way people listen to music is rapidly transforming. No longer do we just listen to music for pleasure - it's become a lifestyle. From Spotify to Apple Music to YouTube, music consumption is quickly evolving. Will this new way of listening to music bring humanity closer together or drive us further apart?
Its Evolution Baby
In the past two decades, communication has drastically changed. Face-to-face conversations have been replaced with instantaneous conversations across great distances, facilitated by the availability of mobile devices. Art and artists have also been impacted: art can be experienced from almost anywhere at any time, and music can now be easily shared with streaming services like YouTube and SoundCloud.
Consequently, creating music is becoming simpler and more prevalent, especially as a form of social connection.The technology to modify pictures and sounds,
create memes, and save web items already exists and is widely used. This technology is advancing, and our ways of working with it will too. Wee are entering the first phase of a new musical revolution.
The Revolution
As engineering music is becoming easier and simpler, the obstacles that keep people from making music will soon disappear. When this happens, it'll be possible for almost anyone to make music. It's hard to predict what this revolution will have on the quality of music, but one thing is certain: more people will have access to music creation.
Thus, the decentralized nature of music will be preserved. Not only a select few will have access to the tools of creating and releasing music – it'll be something anyone can do.
Ai & Algorithm Technology
The concept ofAI, or artificial intelligence, has been around in popular discussion since the 1980s, but is only now becoming a reality. AI is the ability of computers to not only store and recall information, but to also evolve and create its own interpretations. The closest comparison to this technology is the brain, which can learn more and more about itself and its environment and in turn learn new ways of interpreting this information.
For a better understanding , here is a quick description: an Algorithm is a set of rules executed by a computer while AI includes algorithms along with self-correction and adaptation mechanisms. Even at this early stage of AI development, it has limitless potential. To exemplify this, imagine a machine that can analyze each and every certain bands song – everything from the melody to the recording's harmonics and loudness.
Using feedback from users on functions such as how long they listen to each song and if it was "favorited" or "saved," it could compare this info with the listener's region and other interests. With this data, it could identify the most likeable and influential aspects of a band. This machine could also search its library to find instrumentation, or even more unusual sounds, that best fit the style of the guitarists and vocalists. This way, it would be able to create songs with a unique sonic character that is still recognizably that band. It may be hard to believe, but modern technology can already do this.
Could an AI ever create music on its own in the future?
.An AI may be able to compose hundreds of music tracks, but there will still likely be a human involved in choosing which ones they think sound good.
At the moment, it seems like AI music is kind of smoke and mirrors - you can put Amy Winehouse's back catalogue into an AI and new tracks will come out.
But someone still has to go and edit them, deciding which parts they like and which ones need a bit more work from the AI.
The issue here is that we're trying to teach the AI
It's easy to overlook the tremendous shift that has taken place in the music industry over the past decade. We now have access to vast libraries of music through top-tier streaming services.
According to
Alex Esser, a music contractor, is also an IT entrepreneur, having founded the innovative music service Tuna spot. He believes "we will gravitate towards music flows in the future. The streaming services used to create playlists for their users and were very static in their content; now, users expect their music to always be available and ready to consume with ever-changing playlists. The accelerometer in a phone could even detect how someone is traveling and adapt the playlists accordingly, be it a car ride, walking, or jogging.
Voice control is being implemented as well, allowing people to say "play my favorite songs," "give me something new," "I'm sorry" or "now is the pre-party!" and receive a custom-made music stream personalized for them and their environment. In other words, music is becoming a soundtrack to life."
Juliet Shavit, CEO of SmartMark Communications and executive director of MusiComms, believes that in the near future, many platforms for music distribution will emerge. With an estimated market value of three trillion U.S. dollars, Juliet Shavit thinks this industry could ultimately be the savior of the music industry. However, the biggest problem right now is that both the industry and the consumer must understand and learn how to use the technology in order to be successful. Currently, streaming models put the music industry at a disadvantage; if the industry can begin using Internet of Things (IoT) technologies, power will return to them.
According to a survey conducted on 4,000 people in the United States, 40 percent stated they would be willing to.change mobile operator depending on the music plan that is available in the subscription.
With new revenue and new distribution methods in the music industry, there will also be better compensated songwriters – and the rest of the value chain will be able to flourish. New business opportunities mean new compensation opportunities, which in turn leads to creativity flowing more freely.
What’s beyond streaming services?
I think streaming services will remain a little while and develop even more from their strong platforms. However,everything will be more open and freely available in the near future. It is very interesting to follow startups like Soundtrap where artists create and distribute with each other directly through a platform – a step beyond SoundCloud who was also early in the spray.
Will the whole way of thinking with a “45-minute rock album every two years” disappear in favor of a more playful and open approach to artistry?
That is what we hope, says Björn Lindborg. Playlists have already replaced the album as a concept and we believe in the future is dynamic “artist bundles”. By this we mean that the future album will constantly be updated with new versions, new songs, new remixes. Basically, we always have composition and the text, but the number of recorded versions will only be more. We also believe that many more people than before will create music and make it available to the public – tools like Soundtrap will certainly grow up with platforms like Spotify.
Streaming is now the biggest source of income for the music industry, despite Steve Jobs' prediction that the subscription model was bankrupt. For less than $10 a month, people can access 60 million songs without ads, compared to what would have cost them $60 million with Jobs' download-only idea.
Spotify is the global leader in streaming with 248 million active users in Q4 2019, of which 113 million are paying customers. Despite its high conversion rate, Spotify's streaming-only business model creates cash flow challenges.
Apple entered the streaming game late, but now has more than half Spotify’s paid subscribers. Cupertino's marketing strategy and massive presence has been successful, with record quarterly revenues of nearly $92 billion
In my own humble opinion, I've seen the decline of old formats like 8 track, vinyl, cassette, CD and even MP3 (which sounds ancient now). I'm always willing to embrace new forms of music distribution and acquisition. But let's not forget that ultimately it's the actual artists who put in the hard work to make music happen. Hopefully, as we move forward, we can come up with a way for them to get more royalties and generate greater revenues. Until AI machines start writing songs, music will still remain in the background of our daily lives.
So buy music – it's worth it!
Anthony
😀