Technological Innovations and How they are Evolving the

Music Industry

Danielle Freitas
Business 101
Dr. Panos Caperonis
April 2, 2019
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Table of Contents

Introduction…………………………………………………………………. Pg.2

Artificial Intelligence..……………………………………………………… Pg. 2

- AI-generated music/Amper……………………...…………………… Pg. 2

- Digital Audio Workstations/Pro Tools……………..………………… Pg. 3

Big Data……………………………………………………………………… Pg. 4

Spotify/Music Streaming…………………………………...………… Pg. 5

Blockchain…………………………………………………………………… Pg. 5

Conclusion……………………………………………………………………. Pg. 6
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Introduction

Over the past decade, as technology advances, it has influenced the music business to

grow and develop along with it. Society is greatly invested in music as well as co-dependant on

technology, therefore, it was only a matter of time before they became intercorrelated in order to

enhance the presence of music in people’s lives. Whether it is through Artificial Intelligence, Big

Data, or Blockchain, all these innovations have helped make the world of music more accessible

for artists and their consumers.

Artificial Intelligence

Artificial intelligence refers to computers or machines that have the capability to simulate

contemplation, judgement, intention, (among others), which, “...normally require a human level

of expertise”, as said by researches Shubhendu and Vijay. The three qualities that should be true

to all artificial intelligence are: adaptability, intentionality, and intelligence.1

AI-generated music/Amper

Producers are now starting to incorporate Artificial intelligence into the creative process

of music making. With the use of Amper Music, creator of the AI composition software called

Amper, composing and producing can all be done from a computer. Amper analyzes data from

any kind of music genre to find patterns, chords, tempo, and makes its own melodies from the

material it was originally fed2. With this AI software, one can get sample tunes and then

manipulate them by changing the tempo or the instruments incorporated. It creates the basic

structure of a song for the artist to then shape into a finished piece.

1
​West, Darrell M., and Darrell M. West. "What Is Artificial Intelligence?" Brookings. October 18, 2018.
2
​Deahl, Dani. "How AI-generated Music Is Changing the Way Hits Are Made." The Verge. August 31,
2018
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The use of AI has its perks because it is able to analyze large amounts of data and create

entire melodies with instruments that the composer may not even know how to play. Though it

can be unnerving that technology has the creative capacity of music composition, a quality

valued in this society, Amper’s Co Founder assures that they are not trying to replace musicians

with computers. He claims that, “It’s more of intelligence augmentation… For me it’s allowing

more people to be creative and then allowing the people who already have some of these creative

aspects to really further themselves.” As explained, Amper is a data analyzing tool meant to

make the process of music making significantly easier. Though it may not be traditional, it can

really be revolutionary.

Digital Audio Workstations/Pro Tools

In this modern era, the process of creating music is more software based than anything.

Digital Audio Workstations (DAW) are different from Amper because they do not create music

from data. DAWs such as Pro Tools, the most popular music engineering softwares among

professionals, record audio, edit and process it, and mix multiple tracks together3. Their function

is edit songs into finished pieces.

What’s beneficial about Pro Tools is that one basically has a full recording studio

downloaded onto their computer. One of the biggest perks that come with this form of

technology is the significant cutback in time and money. Pro Tools, costs about $299.004. In

contrast, booking a recording studio can cost from $30-$100 per hour, depending on the quality

of the studio5. To put in perspective, a full length album can take 90-150 hours to make, that

3
​Fumo, Dante. "What Is a DAW? | The Basics." Reverb.com. May 11, 2018
4
​Philip. "Best Music Production Software | Music Making in 2018." Audio Assemble. April 16, 2018.
5
​"How Much Do Music Studios Cost to Use?" Recording Connection Audio Institute. December 08,
2014.
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would cost about 5,000-10,0000 dollars. This is especially advantageous for amatuer artists

because Pro Tools can help prevent the need to spend all their money on booking a recording

studio in the hopes of getting signed.

Big Data

The term “Big Data” is used to describe a large collection of unstructured and

multi-structured data from traditional and digital sources6.This reveals patterns and trends that

can be used to make critical decision such as what artists to hire or what genre their company’s

next be hit should be. How each component of Big Data is crucial:

- Unstructured data can come from Twitter tweets about who’s the hottest artist at the

moment.

- multi-structured data is derived from analytics found in music streaming apps, such as

what genre’s playlists are getting the most downloads.

- Traditional data helps record labels decide what artists to sign next based on data trends

from the 90s per say7. This is due to the music market constantly entering “nostalgia

phases” in which past musicians gain popularity years after their time. Current musicians

then have to stay trending by coming out with similar sounds as those being remembered.

- Digital sources help deal with the modern trends and patterns of the music business such

as upcoming artists, who’s got the most views on youtube, and current ethnic trends such

as Reggaeton from Latin America or K-pop from South Korea.

6
​Arthur, Lisa. "What Is Big Data?" Forbes. August 15, 2013.
7
​Heitner, Darren. "Big Data Is Revolutionizing the Music Industry. Here Are the Lessons for Your
Business." Inc.com. June 07, 2018
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Spotify/Music Streaming

Without Big Data, the most popular music streaming website, Spotify, would never have

succeed. Ever since the App caught the media’s attention in 2011 after it became available in the

United States, the music industry had a huge shift. In a matter of years CD albums were replaced

by music streaming apps as the new mainstream platform for audiences. The reason being

customization. Unlike in radio or albums, for $9.99 Premium plan users can pick and choose

whichever artist or song they wish to listen to at any given time. Spotify is also extremely useful

because it is constantly recommending new songs and new artists based on what each individual

consumer listens to. This is only possible through the use of Big Data. Spotify is a very

data-driven company, with their user creating 600 Gigabyte of data per day8. Spotify uses a

Python framework for definition and execution called Luigi which allows them to analyze what

their consumers are listening to in order to make educated/data-based recommendations to them9.

Blockchain

Over the recent years, society has slowly been introduced to a new revolutionary concept

called Blockchain. Blockchain allows for digitized information to be spread out across a

network. Its benefit is that it has no central location, therefore, it is almost impossible to hack due

to the information existing simultaneously in thousands of computers10. Blockchain is the

backbone for cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin or Litecoin.

It is a well known fact among the music industry that musicians usually do not get paid

fairly. In fact, globally, the music industry has about 2.5 billion dollars worth of uncollected

8
​Rijmenam, Mark Van, Dr. "How Big Data Enabled Spotify To Change The Music Industry." Datafloq.
9
​Rijmenam, Mark Van, Dr.
10
​Dughi, Paul, "A Simple Explanation of How Blockchain Works." Medium. February 04, 2018.
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Royalties (the payment made to use a copyrighted songs)11. The unlawful distribution of a

musician’s work can be detrimental because that is most likely their only form of income. For

this reason, the music industry is starting to embrace blockchain, because it allows for there to be

transparency in royalty payouts. As explained by Michaela Shiloh in her article on ​Entrepreneur,

by creating a “Blockchain centric distribution model that allows metadata [data that gives

information about other sets of data] to interact with different systems.”12 distribution of money

can be managed much better because the digitized transactions are done through a public

network.

Conclusion

In Conclusion, the music industry is an extremely adaptable business because it takes advantage

of technological innovations and applies them to what needs to be improved. Through the help of

artificial intelligence, creating art is now more accessible for both amatuer and professional

musicians. With Big Data, music companies are able to keep consumers happy with new trends

and provide them with accurate recommendations of song and artists to help them expand their

music library. And Finally, with the expansion of Blockchain and cryptocurrency, the risk artists

run of not getting fairly paid for their work can be a problem of the past. The world of music has

benefited immensely from the digital era and it can only keep improving from here.

11
​Michaela Shiloh. "How Blockchain Will Revolutionize Murky Music Industry Relationships and
Practices." Entrepreneur. February 25, 2019.
12
​Michaela Shiloh. 25
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Bibliography

Arthur, Lisa. "What Is Big Data?" Forbes. August 15, 2013. Accessed April 01, 2019.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/lisaarthur/2013/08/15/what-is-big-data/#14856c7a5c85.

Philip. "Best Music Production Software | Music Making in 2018." Audio Assemble. April
16, 2018. Accessed April 01, 2019.
https://audioassemble.com/best-music-production-software/.

Deahl, Dani. "How AI-generated Music Is Changing the Way Hits Are Made." The Verge.
August 31, 2018. Accessed April 01, 2019.
https://www.theverge.com/2018/8/31/17777008/artificial-intelligence-taryn-southern-amp
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Dughi, Paul, "A Simple Explanation of How Blockchain Works." Medium. February 04,
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https://medium.com/the-mission/a-simple-explanation-on-how-blockchain-works-e52f75d
a6e9a.

Fumo, Dante. "What Is a DAW? | The Basics." Reverb.com. May 11, 2018. Accessed April
01, 2019. https://reverb.com/news/what-is-a-daw-the-basics.

Heitner, Darren. "Big Data Is Revolutionizing the Music Industry. Here Are the Lessons for
Your Business." Inc.com. June 07, 2018. Accessed April 01, 2019.
https://www.inc.com/darren-heitner/big-data-is-revolutionizing-music-industry-here-are-le
ssons-for-your-business.html.

"How Much Do Music Studios Cost to Use?" Recording Connection Audio Institute.
December 08, 2014. Accessed April 01, 2019.
https://www.recordingconnection.com/reference-library/recording-entrepreneurs/how-muc
h-do-music-studios-cost-to-use/.

"How Technology Is Changing the Music Industry." MusicFIRST Coalition. January 17,
2018. Accessed April 01, 2019.
http://musicfirstcoalition.org/technology-changing-music-industry/.

Rijmenam, Mark Van, Dr. "How Big Data Enabled Spotify To Change The Music Industry."
Datafloq. Accessed April 01, 2019.
https://datafloq.com/read/big-data-enabled-spotify-change-music-industry/391.

Scrimgeour, Heidi. "How Technology Is Changing the Music Business." The Telegraph.
March 15, 2018. Accessed April 01, 2019.
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https://www.telegraph.co.uk/connect/small-business/business-solutions/how-technology-is
-changing-music-business/.

West, Darrell M., and Darrell M. West. "What Is Artificial Intelligence?" Brookings. October
18, 2018. Accessed April 01, 2019.
https://www.brookings.edu/research/what-is-artificial-intelligence/.

Michaela Shiloh. "How Blockchain Will Revolutionize Murky Music Industry Relationships
and Practices." Entrepreneur. February 25, 2019. Accessed April 01, 2019.
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/328895.