This Era of Music (thus far into the 21st Century)
By: Andre Corea
Tags: Music Business, Technology, Music Technology, Music, Creative

There has never been more musical diversity than right now. We have enormous amounts of genres and sub-genres, and the combinations of those have no limit. Genre fluid bands and genre bending artists are becoming more and more expected in our music scenes. We are seeing what I consider to be the most interesting era of music history to date.

Music, as a creative endeavor and an industry, has never seen so much change in a relatively short amount of time. This generation of young music makers (the cusp of Millennials and Gen Z) are the first to grow up with democratized systems of global music distribution, an accessibility to music technology that is astounding compared to 30 years ago and the internet’s power of globalization has had profound effects on music genres and how any artist can achieve a career through music.

This is just the beginning of how advancements in digital technology and the development of new technologies (artificial intelligence, virtual reality, quantum computing, blockchain, etc…) will affect the creation process of music and new forms of music that will emerge in the near future.

Technological Accessibility

The advancement of technology has always pushed music, and the arts, forward in all eras of history. The inventions of keyboard instruments (harpsichord, piano, etc…), string instruments, concert halls, phonographs, radio, electronic instruments, the internet & DAWs — new technology placed in an artists hands will inevitably bring change to their medium.

This is no surprise to anyone but what we are seeing, within the past three decades, is technology, already developed, that allows just about anyone to write, produce, mix, distribute & market their music. Nowadays anyone with a laptop, that has some base level of sufficient software, can make a record and put it out for anyone to listen. While this is something that isn’t new to music professionals as it has been a point of discussion for over two decades, this phenomenon has never happened before and never to such an astronomical scale as we see today.

The accessibility of music software along with the development of online music distribution (CD Baby, Distrokid, Symphonic, etc…) has led to an overload of music being released today. So much music, in fact, that streaming platforms like Spotify, Apple Music and Deezer have to go through tens of thousands of music submissions a day. This is a complete democratization of the process to produce and release music that was once controlled by record labels & publishers through the barriers of high production costs and their sole ability to execute world-wide marketing and distribution.

There are pros and cons to having just about anyone to have the ability to make and distribute music. The documentary, “PressPausePlay”, dives into the possible pros and cons of technological accessibility, from a 2010’s perspective within the music & film industry (at the cusp of when streaming is going to make a profound influence in the industry).

One benefit is equal opportunity. Now, this isn’t an example of pure equal opportunity where we are all gifted a computer (or musical talent) with music software to produce music. What is real is that the financial threshold to make music today is exponentially lower than it was even 20 years ago. Apple laptops come with Garageband, you can get basic versions of Logic, Cubase & Ableton for relatively low costs. This low entry point allows more and more people to have the technological capacity to create music. Does that mean everyone is going to make amazing music? Of course not. What this does do is give talented individuals who will make amazing music an easier time to start creating at an early age. You are now seeing more and more young artists who had their start producing music within a DAW before they were even teenagers. Any aspiring artist, now, in their late teens have grown up with all this technology available to them. This means that any kid can begin the process of learning music production and developing their craft decades ahead compared to anyone who grew up in the 80's.

“When I was 7 years old I got musical piece of software called Cubase.” — Jacob Collier, 27 year old, 4 time Grammy Award Winning Multi-Instrumentalist, Composer & Producer.

The Internet and Globalization

With the development of the internet and creation of platforms like Youtube, iTunes, Spotify & Pandora; a new generation of artists, that also grew up with the development of accessible music technology, have also had the access to learn and be influenced by music and culture from any part of the world.

In my teenage years, when my music journey began, I would use Youtube to fulfill my obsession with music discovery. Where else could I find a live recording of Nina Simone from the 70’s, a taiko ensemble from Japan, Rachmaninoff’s 2nd Piano Concerto or a Led Zeppelin concert? You can argue that this was all accessible with TV and records stores or even iTunes and CDs — but the flexibility, both with the convenience of time and money, the internet provided has given people the power and liberty to discover as much music as their hearts desired. This has a profound effect in the upbringing of musical minds who want to create their own music.

The globalization power of the internet has brought up a breed of music creators that have been naturally influenced by music & cultures from different parts of the world. We have already seen the first generation of music producers influenced by the internet, and musical diversity has thrived in the 2010s because of it. The internet has also allowed these same musicians to grow an audience from anywhere. Especially artists within genres and styles that, 20–30 years ago, would have little chance at having a music career. Now, it almost doesn’t matter where you are as long as you make music, and a artist brand, that can captivate an audience.

A boy from England can be influenced by jazz harmony, RnB, African rhythms, pop music & choral music at a young age (Jacob Collier). A band that merges RnB, jazz, soul, hip hop, rock and indigenous rhythms can come from Melbourne, Australia (Hiatus Kaiyote). A band that fuses together folk, indie, rock and electronic music can become a sensation (Bon Iver). Some of the most compelling and modern, electronically infused, jazz music is coming out of London right now with the melting pot of cultures building that scene (Space Jazz Playlist). Genre fluidity is normal now and the examples are endless!

This globalization has resulted in a sort of “kaleidoscope” of musical styles to emerge in which multiple genres are directly influencing the sound of one artist. There are more styles of music being produced right now than ever before and the combinations of genres & cultures will only continue to expand. New intersectional cultures will also be created through the creation of new genres and styles. As someone who loves discovering music, this genre fluidity is a renaissance of musical creativity and an exciting time to be a musician.

Forward to the World of Tomorrow

This article may seem like a retrospective on “old news” but remember that everything mentioned so far has only happened in the past 20 years! The music industry, an industry that’s not even 100 years old, has changed faster than anyone could’ve anticipate. With the introduction of the internet, smart phones, social media & streaming this industry has seen a massive transformation since the early 2000’s. Partially due to the fact that computer technology has been developing at an exponential rate unlike any other industry in human history. There are not many industries where you can have a product’s efficiency, computing power, increase by 100% every few years. Yet, here we are with USB sticks that can hold 1 terabit of data when, over 20 years ago, I was inserting 1.44 megabit floppy disks at my elementary schools computer.

Now, with the development of artificial intelligence, virtual reality, augmented reality, blockchain technology & quantum computing we will most likely see the rate of progress and change keep growing. This technology will have profound effects on business infrastructures, consumption of media and arts, the way we create art and even how we will define work itself in the future. We are at the intersection of transferring into a “Digital Exponential” age, where the internet has long established itself as a normal aspect of everyday life (already is) and we will find new identity in a hybrid world of machine intelligence aiding our human limitations.

“One thing is for certain, though, in the Digital Exponential world: Any technology must be inextricably linked with human purpose — with a great story that uplifts the entire user experience — or it will be doomed to fast obsolescence.” — David Sable

How will music be consumed in 2050? What kind of new music will be created as a result of the integration of new technologies? How will we value the arts and the humans that make it?

If the our access to music technologies and the internet has brought about all the artistic creativity & diversity we are currently seeing now. How will all this new technology influence the trajectory of music within the rest of this century?

This is why, I believe, we are currently in the most interesting era of music history and it’s just getting started.