Technology Changing the Music Industry

You hear it all the time, but imagine living in today’s world without technology. What are the biggest changes you can think of that you would’ve never thought twice about 5 or 10 years ago? The music industry was a completely different world, and we’re weighing out the good and bad.

A production music library was an over packed room filled with tapes, records, and CD’s that had to be physically sorted. Today, we pack our hard drives and websites with countless gigabytes of tracks available at the click of a button. Life has definitely become more convenient thanks to technology, but potential clients are figuring that out on their own. With countless programs and applications designed to make your own music, some people decide it’s easier to teach themselves instead of pay someone else. The obvious downside is the lack of quality, increased acceptance of mediocracy, and lack of industry (music) knowledge.

The music making computer programs allow freedom for people to make music without a record label. Musicians are able to distribute their music through web 2.0 platforms, and interested listeners are able to easily access their songs. Many years ago, you had to be extraordinarily talented to be a musician. Now that word about music spreads so quickly, mediocre artists can get by with just 1 or 2 big hits.

File sharing and illegal downloads are the primary negative downside to evolving technology in the music industry. Artists are taking massive hits to their sales because people can’t resist the easy access to free music. As regulated as their music is, there will always be hackers and other outlets to get music. Artists need to get creative in order to sell copies or make money another way. A new trend we’re seeing repeat itself are vinyl record sales. They’re back by popular demand, and true music lovers will wait until their vinyl comes in before listening to the album.

Though technology has had an irreversible impact on the music industry, it’s time to embrace and grow with it. We love being able to communicate with and satisfy our clients from around the world. Our production music library grows faster, enabling us to enhance the quality of your production with technology… Here at the Chicago Music Library, we have learned to accept and evolve with technology - coming up with new and innovative ways to deliver material and communicate with clients.  All in all, technology has been asset to our production music library and will continue to be as such.