The onset of the Internet age has allowed the music industry to soar to new horizons, beyond what was ever imaginable in the past. Today, the music industry is intrinsically tied with a plethora of Internet features that make it widely accessible and popular. The development of streaming services, social media marketing, podcasts, and Internet-based production software are only a few of the advancements to name.
Music Streaming Apps
From a consumer point of view, this is arguably the best thing that the Internet did for music. The creation of streaming sites and apps such as Spotify, YouTube Music, Apple Music, JioSaavn, and others has made music listening easy, fun, and limitless.
Today, you can stream an endless and infinite library of music from across the world for surprisingly low subscription rates. This has reduced many issues such as pirated content, copyrighting, and theft. It has also allowed consumers to find all of their favorite music in one place. All you need is Spectrum Mobile Internet, and you can stream to your heart’s content.
Recording and Production Technology
The internet has changed the game for music producers and creators. There is such a vast variety of recording software available on the internet now, making it drastically easier to produce, record, and even edit music. Whether you need to autotune your voice, record a song, tune your guitar, create a sound without the real instrument, learn an instrument, find a musician to hire, sample a sound, mix music, share your music, or anything under the sun, there is an endless array of apps to aid you.
The Internet has made making music convenient as much as it has made listening to it. There is software that can help DJs for sound mixing, such as Audacity, software to help producers gather musicians, such as Fiverr, and even software to help musicians tune their instruments, such as GuitarTuna.
Additionally, there are also apps for listeners to stream music, like Spotify, and find music, like Shazam. Remember the times when you would have a song stuck in your head and couldn’t recall its name? All you have to do is hum it to Google to find it now!
The involvement of the Internet in music has also polished home and commercial recording studios. By syncing recording software with the Internet, you can add new filters, textures, and sound effects to your music, such as reverb, echo, or distortion. VST or virtual studio technology makes music development much easier.
Star Power and Presence
The Internet has brought us unbelievably closer to all our favorite celebrities. Today, all famous singers, bands, artists, and musicians have a social media presence. Both for publicity and approachability’s sake, most musicians’ managers recommend keeping a friendly, unique, and uplifting media presence.
The availability of celebrity profiles on social media sites like Instagram and Twitter humanizes artists. Posting relatable content or appearing as a ‘real’ person can boost the popularity of a musician because it gives their fans a direct insight into their lives. This is both for better and worse.
On the one hand, the easy accessibility of musician profiles has made them so much more accessible to their fan bases, allowing them to connect on a whole different level. It has also made the marketing and distribution of music much more fun and interactive; they can now post teasers and countdowns for their new songs. It has also opened many new avenues for marketing in general, as artists who are hired as ambassadors for major brands become part of their brand image, such as Jared Leto for Gucci.
On the other hand, this drastically increases musicians’ accountability to their fans. In an age where cancel culture prevails, it is very easy to lose most of your buxic following due to one wrong move. While this can be a very good thing in cases where artists engage in problematic activities, it can also be very risky for anyone who may unnecessarily get caught in the crossfire.
Artists need to tread with caution on the Internet because they are constantly being watched. Many scandals are born out of Internet feuds between celebrities, such as the one between Kanye and Pete Davidson. Oversharing during depression spirals can be detrimental to an artist’s brand, which is what the formerly mentioned rap star experienced after his divorce with one of the most influential Internet celebrities in the world, Kim Kardashian.
Cross-Cultural Collaboration
This is another aspect of music development that would’ve been impossible without the Internet. Now, musicians from all over the world can not only listen to each other’s music and discover new talents, but also collaborate with them.
New Artist Discovery
With the advent of so many music production apps, add-ons, extensions, and software, it has become incredibly easy to make music. This has, in turn, also made it easier to make it big. So many artists make it big based on their Internet presence now, by amassing an organic following before releasing their music.
It has also become drastically easier to discover new talent, due to the existence of so many streaming sites where upcoming artists can post their music, such as SoundCloud or YouTube. Only recently, the globally acclaimed rap artist, J. Cole, found a rap beat titled ‘J. Cole Type Beat,’ on YouTube, rapped over it, and told the producer to share it on his channel.
