I wanted to goto both presentations offerred during this time slot but in the end decided on
Music 2.0 where Colin Brumelle discussed how technology is changing the music industry. I chose this presentation mostly because I wanted to know what the future holds for amateur musicians like myself and to hopefully learn something that can help us improve our
products and services. Colin broke the presentation into three parts discussing the past, present and future of the music industry.
Past:
- The invention of the phonograph allowed for music recording and distribution. However it was very expensive in cost and time. Using one phonograph, you would need to record 100 times to have 100 recordings!
- The phonograph wasn't welcomed by all musicians - some feared it would replace the need for live musicians.
- The introduction of the cassette came as an alternative to vinyl. The manufacturer didn't produce blank cassette tapes initially as they did not anticipate the need of home recordings.
- Introduction of Sony Walkman and other players allowed easier access for listeners to music
- Digitalize format of music has dramatically reduce the distribution and production cost and helped listeners access more music through p2p applications like napster.
Today:
- The current music revolution is due to three factors: cost of producing music has fallen rapidly, internet has provided cheap global distribution, listeners have many ways to discover and consume music:
- Some services: Pandora which analyzes the elements of the song you chose to listen such as rhythm, genre and key to recommend songs you might like. Last.fm has a plugin that tracks your listening habits to suggest recommendations.
- We also acquire new music through free services like bittorrent and pay for download like iTunes.
- These new services and technology are creating new economic models. Consumers are starting to explore the long tail of musicians.
Tomorrow:
- The record company is becoming less and less important in the success of the musician.
- We will see a new explosion of small niche record companies.
- In a New York Times article, David Bowie writes that the music industry won't work by labels - "Music itself is going to become like running water or electricity."
- New forms of distribution like releasing a track at a time instead of the whole cd
- New ways of supporting your musicians like a premium subscription to your favorite artists who will produce a music track once a week.
- Copyright: Not sure whats going to happen.
- Record companies will have to expand their business model to make money. Typically, the record companies make money only on the cds. In the future, the record company will have to play a bigger role in marketing the brand of the musician rather than just the cd and possibly expand their revenues to include merchandise, tours etc.
Miscellaneous:
- "Piracy will destroy the record industry, not the music industry."
- Derek Miller: "Not everyone blogs for money, not everyone will make music for money."
Colin also mentioned that vibrato was invented and used to overcome the recording deficiencies of the phonograph and is why we didn't hear vibrato in music before the phonograph. I don't agree with his statement as vibrato has been around for centuries and was prevalent during the Classical era. Nevertheless, it was a very interesting presentation and indeed, there are already a rise of musicians from the long tail. Colin will put his presentation online so check out his site.
Northern Voice Colin Brumelle music music 2.0 musicians