2 - Music based assignment/essay. PDF

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Music based assignment/essay....

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Imogen Heap: Saviour of the Music Industry? There are a few main ideas in this article. The most prominent idea is that in today’s technological driven world, musicians cannot be afraid to take risks, embrace new technology, and come to the realization that the way a musician makes sustainable income today is quite different than it was even 20 years ago. The article touches on how streaming services are the predominant way that audiences listen to music in today’s market, and that royalties from these services are hardly even considered scraps, as seen by the reaction of musicians like Imogen Heap and Zoë Keating. Finally, the article pushes how relying on current technology, like blockchain, might be the next steps for the modern musician to take in order to increase the income from the music that they create. The article focuses on a few different key areas, but it centralizes itself on the musician Imogen Heap, who is known for her heavy reliance on electronics in both her music, as well as her live performances. Heap believes that one of the ways to increase artist payout is to stop relying on multiple streaming services and digital locations, and instead, offer a single, centralized location that the music- as well as the related content like album artwork and liner notes- can be reached at. To achieve this highly ambitious goal, Heap has started a company called Mycelia, which focuses on having blockchain technology (the same technology used in cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Litecoin) as the driving force behind ensuring that musical artists get the payments they deserve without having to rely on third parties like record labels and other distributors. Blockchain technology is perfect for this task as it is unable to be manipulated in any way- this “…prevents copying, tampering, fraud, or deletion”. This leaves a clear public record showing every transaction that the information has gone through- who paid for it, the date, the

exact time, what it was used for, etc. This also allows for much faster payment for artists, as it can end up taking multiple months for royalties to be collected in the traditional ways. The benefits of this system are clear- faster payments, permanent records that are able to cut out multiple third parties, and end in bigger payouts for the creatives behind the recordings. The only “true” con to this idea comes down to it being a new and unproven method. Many of the technologies and systems we have in place today all started off the same way, but it does take a lot of time, effort, and money for new methods to become prominent. Luckily, it seems people are already on board with Heap’s ideology- as the article points out, “She has already been contacted by dozens of tech companies small and large who are currently developing services on the blockchain and are prepared to try and build something with her.” Also, as time has shown again and again, people can be quite reluctant to change- just look at the record companies when streaming first came out, and how they went as far as to prosecute the elderly and children. It took a long time for record companies to finally give in to the digital market, so who knows how fast a service like this could take to catch on- especially with how influential platforms like YouTube and Spotify are. With everything talked about in the article, one can definitely come to the conclusion that in its current state, the music industry needs to change. There are just too many cons to the current system, and artists are unable to sustain themselves in the current market. Ideas like Heap’s are what the industry needs- revolutionary ideas and people who are not afraid to take risks, and people who are embrace new technology and can think outside the box for the plethora of uses that it could have. Whether or not Mycelia achieves what it sets out to do, the industry can be sure that more ideas like Heap’s will occur, and keep pushing the limits of the current

system. It will be interesting to see if any of these ideas are able to truly change the industryperhaps not overnight, but change it and shake up the status quo nonetheless....