There is a strange, yet wonderful connection between music and the human brain, and now, music is more present in our lives than it ever was. Gone are the days when, if you wanted to listen to music, your only chance was to go see a live performance. Now, the only thing that separates us from listening to whatever kind of song we can think of, is a click.
In time, technology has changed music in each and every way imaginable, and it does not show any sign of stopping. It’s not just the way we listen to music that has changed, but the way music is produced, promoted, shared and accessed. In theory, now, anyone with a good computer and internet access is able to create music, but is this a good thing? Technology reshaped and disrupted the music industry in more ways than you can think of, but is this fair for musicians, or should we be more careful as to when and where to draw the line?
The debate is far from being a simple one, so all we can do is show you how technology changed the music industry up until now, and allow you to draw your own conclusions.
Technology birthed new sounds and a new way of making music
Until the 1980s, each and every sound people were hearing on a recording, or in live concerts, was played by someone using real instruments. But once the synthesizers, which were able to emulate nearly every music instrument, rose to fame, many of the sounds we heard became artificially produced.
This significantly cut down the hours spent in the studio, as musicians were able to create perfect sounds without days of practice. This helps artists release tracks, and even entire albums, much faster than they did before.
On top of that, studios became more portable and much cheaper to put together. Now, you can have a professional home-based studio assembled for just a few thousands of dollars. Gone are the days when home-recorded songs were merely reaching demo quality. Now, aspiring musicians can skip traditional routes and produce their music straight from home.
What’s more, this led to the apparition of royalty free music, which is produced and then uploaded on various platforms, for people to use in their videos, presentations or ads. Royalty free music download has become very popular, as it allows people to avoid any form of legal issues when using a song in their projects. This way, video creators don’t have to limit themselves to the library of their video editing software or get tempted to illegally use music for their projects.
Streaming platforms saved record companies
In the past, the only way to actually own music, was if you bought it from the store in physical form. Vinyl records, tapes, and later CDs were taking up space on our shelves, so there was only so much that you could actually buy. This, until the debut of Apple’s (News - Alert) iPod, together with iTunes, which changed the game entirely. Suddenly, you could take your entire music library with you wherever you may have gone, and at a much lower price.
The apparition of the iPod, and iTunes did not only help customers but record companies as well. Back in 1995, a CD’s revenue was split between a number of parties. 35% of the price went to the store, only 27% of it went to the record company, 16% went to the artist, and 22% was split between the manufacturer and the distributor. Things were not looking that bad for record company yet, as they still snapped a good $4.31 from a $15.99 CD. But in the next 10 years, once online file-sharing became mainstream, people went from buying CDs to getting them for free. Even though iTunes only kept a small $0.10 form a $0.99 song purchase, people were suddenly not purchasing music anymore, so it was time for a change.
Record companies had one big bet to make, and they went all-in on streaming platforms. In the beginning, things were looking a bit dramatic, but now, streaming revenue holds the key to the music industry’s recovery. Platforms such as Apple Music, Spotify (News - Alert), and YouTube killed illegal downloading and helped artists get remunerated for their work. In 2019, 80% of the U.S. music industry revenue came from streaming. That is over 26% more than in 2018, and the numbers are not going down.
Blockchain technology could help out even more
Even though artists and record labels work together with streaming platforms, in an attempt to eradicate online music piracy, this is not the only threat they have to face. One major issue that significantly hurts artists and record labels alike is the secondary ticketing market. I’m talking about the bot technology that was developed to purchase and resell more than half of the tickets at any large live performance. In the first ticket selling phase, prices are usually much lower, so what these bots do is purchase a large number of tickets, which are then resold for double, or even triple the price, if we are talking about a huge event.
Even though organizers are doing their best to try and limit these issues, we are far from winning the war. But fortunately, we are very close to finding a solution, thanks to the blockchain technology. To put it simply, blockchain technology allows for digital information to be distributed between parties, but not copied. This opens the door to a new form of ticket-selling, which can now be end-to-end encrypted. This way, the entire journey of one ticket can be traced, and scalpels, as those second-hand ticket sellers are called, can be once and for all eradicated.
Bottom line
Over the years, music has had a tremendous cultural impact on society, but even so, is still lacks proper monetization. Independent musicians still struggle to protect their creations and may blame technology for this. But technology can also be the one to salvage the industry if artists and record labels learn how to use it right. This way, music is brought closer to the people, and for a fair price.
