Moving from the analog to the digital age has completely reshaped the music world regarding recording and listening. The rapid advances of the last few decades created possibilities far beyond what early musicians could imagine. Yet, despite all the advances that technology has created, it still acts as a double-edged sword in some aspects of music. Why is this, and are the benefits of this new age still worth the cost?
The Almighty Convenience
The most obvious and appreciable change for music consumers is convenience. The ubiquity of the internet has made finding and listening to music far easier than at any point in the past, and the same is true for many forms of entertainment. The advantages here are shared across many industries, each of which can accomplish more thanks to the possibilities afforded by the net.
Outside of music, television, movies, and the online casino industry best mirror the developments experienced in music. When you play real-money slot games online today, for example, you’re spoiled for choice in services like Caesars Palace, PlayStar, and BetMGM. The reduced cost of these online businesses also opens up the potential for deposit matches and free spins bonuses. The convenience is far greater than physical establishments, and music adopts similar advantages.
Instead of having to locate a music store, drive to it, and hope they have what you want, you now have access to everything you want from a computer or phone. The most popular music streaming services of 2024, like Spotify and Apple Music, provide libraries far beyond the biggest physical store and often at a much lower cost. You don’t need much data on your device or a fast internet connection to get the most out of these platforms, as they offer small, compressed, and high-quality music that you can download and store on a device.
Effects on Musical Appreciation and Community
Convenience is a lifesaver in our increasingly busy lives, but it’s not without its downsides. The shortcuts it generates, especially in the worlds of music and TV streaming, can reduce some of the more positive community aspects that make the musical world so special.
Going to a music store was and is a pain, but it also presents an opportunity. In a store, we can discuss tastes with the staff and other patrons and discover interesting music we might have missed. The algorithm online might aim to broaden our listening horizons similarly, but it can never compete with actual discussions and debates shared with real human beings.
Going to physical stores and having to invest in a few individual albums also forces us to a place where we have to spend more time focusing on fewer tracks. When we buy a couple of albums, we want to get our money’s worth to settle down, put them on repeat, and get in the mood to absorb their message. Fast-paced delivery systems like Spotify can reduce our emphasis on this approach, as we adopt music more as a background track than as something we concentrate on. Modern systems act like doomscrolling does in social media, where we never stop to smell the roses.
New Ways to Engage
One newer set of systems on the cusp of arrival into the mainstream is the possibilities introduced by augmented and virtual reality systems. With headset systems, you can completely immerse yourself in a VR concert or use AR to have a performer inserted digitally right into your home.
While this isn’t exactly like experiencing the real thing, it does open up ways to appreciate live music to a huge audience that might otherwise miss out. People who can’t travel due to time, financial, or health reasons could use these approaches for a taste of what their favorite bands are like in life, for example. It could also be possible to use AI and existing footage to emulate some of the best live performances of the past, keeping them relevant and introducing music to new generations.
Technology is just a tool, not intrinsically good or bad. What matters is how we use it, and in this way, digital technology has the potential to do amazing things for the world of music appreciation. It’s all positive, but there is potential here to help music evolve and reach more people than ever before. That is, as long as the artists and not the executives keep a firm hand on the wheel.
