Music is as old as the world itself, except when the world was in a vacuum(sound waves don’t travel in a vacuum, duh!). With time people began understanding music and how it can be created more so. With the power to create, comes the need to constantly update the creation too.
We often hear that “Change is the only constant”, and if we talk about this ‘change’ with respect to the Music trends, then they’ve forever been changing ever since its inception. The music industry is one of the fastest evolving and growing industries in the market. Everything from what we listen to, who we listen to, how we listen to has changed in the span of the past few years.
We have transitioned from buying Vinyl records to purchasing VCRs & CDs, to downloading songs from the internet, to now streaming our favorite tracks from any place, any time without any restrictions. Not just streaming, creating music has gotten even easier than it was, technology offers limitless tools for music production and distribution. Creators have access to a wide range of tools at their disposal to produce their music and reach the right audience.
But, with all the changes that we’ve seen and heard of, what comes next?
Artificial Intelligence
AI or Artificial Intelligence has made its way to the music industry, giving creators the power of voice synthesis & AI mediated compositions. This will help in creating quality tracks with much ease. With the help of AI, music distribution and marketing will be simplified without the help of any middleman. This will ensure the flooding of tracks in the market, but targeting will be simplified as AI can help in the identification of the right audience and send targeted Ads their way.
Categorizing Music will Get Difficult
This will also change the way we promote music, YouTube has been the top platform for music promotion, but not anymore as more and more platforms come forth such as Tik Tok, Instagram reels and such, the way we market music will also change in the times to come.
With more and more diverse artists coming forth, genres are becoming a thing of the past as artists have started combining various musical styles into one and are not limiting their music. This will bring out more and more diverse content in the coming years, who knows we might hear Qawalli mixed with some techno next?
Consumption of Music is Changing
When TikTok was introduced to the world wide web, it changed the marketplace not only with its diverse platform but with the help of tools they provided for editing videos and making content. Every song that’s released finds its way to the platform and gets caught on by users, eventually becoming viral. Content creators are focusing more and more on how platforms will release their content, so now its ‘platforms decide the music content world’!
The Way We Listen to Music Is Changing
How did you find out about the recent song by the famous Artist? You might have heard it in a Spotify Ad, maybe some famous Instagram reel or a TikTok video, or in the background of a gamer’s video? Years ago, we used to find out about new releases via television or radio, but today with the evolving technology the way we explore new artists is constantly changing. This, in turn, provides better reach to artists and gives them various ways to reach their target audience.
These are a few changes that have been speculated about, and there’s a lot more in the sack, like the moving focus from full-fledged albums to singles, AI-driven playlists that cover local and international artists, and much more.
What are the changes that you’ve noticed and what are your speculations for the times to come?
Let us know in the comments below!