The future of music

I have been a musician for 40 years, a composer and arranger for 30 years, and a public school music teacher for 21 years. Music has changed tremendously over the last couple of decades, and will continue to change for the next few decades. The reason music is changing is because of the digital revolution. What you can do on a laptop today you needed a full symphony orchestra to do in the past. What you can do on a laptop today you needed a full recording studio to do it in the past. What you can do on a laptop today you needed a publishing company and a printing press in the past. It is just amazing what you can do with the laptop and some software and maybe a midi keyboard and a laser printer. Today with a laptop you can create music for just about any kind of ensemble. You can create music in any kind of genre. You can then record it, master it, package it, and sell it in variety of formats. That is what has changed music and what is also going to continue to change music. We are living in the age of the one man orchestra, recording studio, production company, publishing house, and anything else you might want to do in music. I am continually surprised by what is possible to do on a laptop today. And it is just the beginning.

What do you think?

Is the music industry dying?

I would not say that the music industry is dying. What is happening is that it is changing or better yet, being transformed. In the past (before the digital age) large music labels controlled the music industry. In order to make it as an music artist you needed to be "signed" by a music label and your fate was in their hands. In other words, to produce and distribute your music, you needed a label to make it possible. There were few options (if any) for independent artists. Today things are much different. Though we still have the labels with us, you do not need to have them "sign" you to make it. You can produce and distribute your music inexpensively (and free in some cases) and keep all the profit for yourself.

I think what is happening to the music industry is amazing for artists, not so amazing for the corporations that profit from them.

One trend that I think is not so positive though is the advent of digital instruments. You can actually create music for a whole symphony orchestra (or just about any other instrumental group) without any live musicians. Is it as good as a live orchestra (or any other instrumental group)? Surprisingly, it almost is. I can produce some great sounding stuff just with a laptop and some sound samples. Unfortunately that sucks for professional musicians since there is less and less work for them. In fact, it has become difficult to make a good living as a musician. On the other hand, as a composer, it sure is nice to be able to write for any type of instrumental group and not be concerned with the cost of having it performed or produced.

Overall, the music business is not dying, it's just changing.