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Ilsa von Bulow I expect music will become more interactive and more geared towards the individual. Recent breakthroughs in technology allow virtually anyone to make music and to get it out to the world (for example, through mp3 sites). Programs like ACID allow non-musicians to make songs of professional quality. Auto-tune helps vocalists to sing in tune. I do believe that the best music will rise to the top (or at least the most interesting). While everyone can now get their 15 minutes of fame, it also brings a huge glut of unworthy music to the world that we have to sort through. So there is some bad with the good. Distribution of music is much easier now.
I own an indie label, so it is a boon for us to be able to distribute
ourselves through Amazon.com or to sell CDs directly from our
web site. Traditional distribution companies have always been
a nightmare for us! They are notorious for not paying indie-labels
on time, sometimes at all. The new technology isn't necessarily good for the major-label music industry, unless they find creative ways cash in on it somehow. For now, it's a boon to musicians. Artists with name recognition can dump their labels, sell directly through the internet, and receive 100% profit. Newer bands can post their songs on internet mp3 sites and get thousands of fans instantly! In the long run, however, it may hurt musicians too. I see music sliding out of the public consciousness the same way as poetry or fine art did, or classical music for that matter. These art forms are no longer popular. They're relegated to certain pockets of culture groups who still enjoy and appreciate them. They used to be the mainstream. Sheet music was an art form when classical music was popular. Technology has been changing the course of music very rapidly ever since computers stepped in. For example, video made a huge difference! Usually only attractive bands do well now. Before MTV, the musicians could REALLY play their instruments and REALLY sing and it didn't really matter how they looked. Now looks are crucial. And that's sad. You can take an average singer who looks great and add some studio trickery and you have a hit. Music has had a great run as the popular art form of choice, but I think this is changing because now everyone can do it. Music as we know it today will become a craft like string-art. Experimental music will thrive. Experimental musicians will continue to seek new territories and will harness emerging technolgy. I believe that the new rage will be new types of music incorporating moving images such as holographic video, where you can see the performer in life-sized 3-D singing for you in your own bedroom. With mainstream music, physical attractiveness will be even more important than it is today, but most everyone will be genetically perfect through biotechnology anyhow. Eventually, if your holographic teenage Brittany Spears can't give you a virtual blowjob, you won't be interested. |
Xavier Dietrich II I'll limit my answer to popular Western music. In the short term (10-15 years) I think we'll see a continuation of "the 20 year cycle" that's been occurring the past few decades. The 50's were popular in the 70's, the 60's were popular in the 80's and most recently the 70's were popular in the 90's. We're right on schedule for the return of the early 80's - watch out for synth pop or a Goth revival. In 2005 Big Hair Metal bands will be HUGE. Ratt, Def Leppard and Poison will be selling out arenas all over the country and save those flannel shirts for 2012 when Grunge returns! This is not to say that there's nothing new to be done anymore - amid the recycling of the familiar (not necessarily a bad thing) we do see inventiveness and originality (not necessarily a good thing). In the long term (15+ years) I see music remaining much the same as today, at least harmonically, melodically and rhythmically. Looking back over the past 300 years (since Bach) most music that has been written uses the same 12 tone scale, chords, and meters. Some experiments have been done using other systems but none have dominated like the system with which we are familiar. We'll continue to hear I-IV-V progressions in 4/4 or 3/4 for the next 300 years, too. What will continue to evolve is instrument design and music production. Technological advances will continue to drive
the processes used to create music. The piano was considered
high tech (about 10 years old) when Bach used it to compose "The
Well-Tempered Clavier". Computers were around for a few
decades before Kraftwerk recorded "Computer World".
Biotech will advance sufficiently to allow for new instruments
to be created from genetically altered organisms. Musicians of
the future will create a sound unheard today using instruments
that will truly "sing". Further advances in computer
technology will certainly lead to new music production techniques.
Physical models can already be used to recreate the sound of
"traditional" instruments, including analog synths.
I believe that it will soon be possible to accurately |
model
voices of specific humans so that a composer in the future may
select the "Sinatra" or  |
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