Introduction
In the world, there are so many groups of people each having their cultures and music. The cultures are used to give guidelines on a person interaction with one another and usually determine their way of life. They are a means of conserving the culture of the community and they are usually passed from one generation to the next. There are various ways of passing on this cultures which include music, poems, dances, proverbs and stories among others. Music is used to pass information among people though its performance.
They are used to mark significant people or occasions in the life time of a group of people, educate people as well as pass the cultures to generations to come. People usually engage in the music industry for various reasons such as relaxation and entertainment, hobby and as a source of income. Due to the unification of various people in the world by the different social, economic or political reasons, there have emerged various types of music which has found its audience all over the world.
This paper seeks to consider the impacts of technology in music industry taking into account the role technology plays in popular culture music. It also expounds on sampling, the use of technology in establishing or enhancing an artist’s career, legal issues of copyrights and royalties and issues surrounding downloading of music.
Music
There are so many types of music currently available in the world. This music has their origin cultures and when played anywhere in the world passes the culture. They are used to improve the quality of life, to express feeling as well as pass different messages. They are also sung to mark various activities and phenomena such as earthquakes, floods, drought, wars and political revolution among others.
These phenomena usually have great influence in the social, economic and political life of a given group of people. Music is divided into different types according to the purpose of the song and the culture (Hoffer 1). Due to aspects such as globalization, there has emerged popular music which has found its audience all over the world despite the prevalence of differing cultures.
This music usually addresses various issues that are usually experienced worldwide. The continuous advancement in technology has found its way into the music industry and has resulted into various improvements which have been found to have strengths and weaknesses in differing aspects. These have resulted in the exploration of various fields which were unexplored. Music industry has emerged to be a major source of income to various people such as artists, publisher, producer and editors among others.
Technological Advances and Music
There has been continuous technological advancement in all fields over the years. In the music industry, technology has affected all aspects from song writing, recording and performance, selling and listening of the music by individuals. Music storage has been improved where one is capable of carrying large music files in very small spaces. This has resulted from the use of microchips such as microprocessors which are programmable and have huge capacities.
Due to the improved technology, there have arisen various illegal activities which have cost this field a lot (Johnson 3). An example of these crimes is piracy. The internet has been one of the major challenges in the music industry as people are downloading music instead of buying them from the music shops. Despite all these challenges, the technological improvements have assisted the artists to use efficient tools and equipment in recording as well as in stage performances.
In the past it was a common phenomenon to someone to have stacked recorded music for him to listen to. As times have been passing, there has been downloading of music which also has required space for storage of the music in computers for retrieval at will. Phones are some of the most commonly gargets used in downloading music and in response to the increased quest for the music; some companies have established databases where one is able to access any music from any album.
Music is only accessible on subscription at a fee. This development is gaining its roots slowly among the cell phone users mainly due to poor marketing. The internet is one of the most promising marketing places for the music industry because it is accessed all over the world. Implementation of proper marketing strategies would result in general improvement of the industry. All the persons involved such as artists would be able to earn more income.
When one has written his work in the music industry, he is granted exclusive rights. This is usually known as copyright and is meant to safeguard ones work. There are also legal actions stipulated by the law to punish those in illegal music businesses. The victims can be jailed or asked to pay fines for their crimes.
Due to the increased use of the internet, to avoid increased music downloads, some measure can be implemented. The internet users could be allowed to download the music at a lower charge (Wiechmann 2). All these measures have been used to bring back sanity in the music industry.
Piracy is a problem facing the music industry and is taking away a lot of revenue away. This is sometimes done by borrowing someone his or her compact disk and then making its copy. Some people produce them in mass for economic gain by selling the copies. There are strict rules that are put in place to try and reduce their occurrences.
Some people usually improvise some strategies to protect popular music from piracy. In the case of hard copies digital watermarking while incases of softcopy features like audiolock.net are used to avoid access of the music to unauthorized personnel. On the other hand, to overcome the problem of piracy, the general public should be informed the negative effects of piracy to them, the artist and the economy (Marshall & Frith 4).
There has been the development of various softwares and computer aided production and simulation that has improved the popular music. This has been brought forth by the teaching of music technology in various education institutions. When undertaking these studies, the students are informed on all practical and theoretical aspects of music and the application of technology.
The various institutions should consistently improve their curriculum to ensure the knowledge impacted to the student is usually the most current one. The various aspects of music to which technology has impacted include singing, performing on instruments, Improvising melodies, composing, reading music notation, listening, evaluating music performance and getting proper information on the interaction between music, arts, history and culture.
All these aspects have been developed softwares which eases the critical analysis and implementation of each. The means of communication and channel though which the message or information from the music to the audience has changed. The government and institutions related to the music industry has greatly contributed to the development of the music industry.
In the production of the music technology use is evident. In the production of a song, the various steps usually require different types of technological application. There are diverse musical equipment that have been in the market to assist in production. In the previous years, musicians during performances used to use wire microphone.
The microphones have been replaced by wireless microphones which have given them flexibility in conducting any form of motion on the stage. The disk jockeys are nowadays equipped with modern equipment which are usually with various efficient features. These have ensured that the services they offer are usually very good.
There are various types of sampling such as music and speeches. The technology has enabled the sampling of music to be easy. It usually entails using of various instruments to insert portion of another song in the production of a song. There have been improvements by production of new and up to date sampling machines which are categorized as phrase and studio samplers. It is usually done to improve the song so that it can have a better market.
Doing it without the consent of the original artist is usually against the law. In accessing the music in the legal way, permission is borrowed from the copyright holders (Shaffer 6). The rights of reproducing different parts of the music are usually given at a charge which is dependent on the source person or institution, portion to be used and the way the portion is used.
This is common in popular music and is sometimes very expensive. In case of failure to borrow permission for sampling, the offenders are usually charged at courts. They are mostly fined heavily which usually acts as a blow to the whole band. Despite sampling illegal, it is very rampant in the popular music production (Stapleton 2).
Conclusion
There have been continuous improvements in the musical industry that has been brought forth by the technological improvements. These have yielded positive results in popular music making it find favor in the market. There are various equipment that are used to administer various services and their continuous improvement has ensured efficiency in the provision of the services.
Despite all the positive impacts of technology in the music industry, there are some illegal activities that have resulted. These activities usually remove the sanity in this industry. Although there are laws governing these acts which are punishable by law, the acts still prevail. The various institution involved have played their part in streamlining all the activities in this field but still more effort is required.
Works Cited
Hoffer, Charles. Music Listening Today. Stamford, United Kingdom: Cengage learning, 2009. Print.
Marshall, Lee. & Frith, Simon. Music and copyright. Edinburgh, Scotland: Edinburgh University Press, 2004. Print.
Shaffer, Nevin. Protect your great ideas for free! Free steps for protecting the valuable ideas generated by every business owner, Entreprenuer [sic], inventor, author, and artist. Florida, USA. : Maximum Press, 2006. Print.
Stapleton, Laura. E-copyright law handbook. New York: Aspen Publishers Online, 2002. Print.
Wiechmann, Daniel. The Impact of Online Music Services on the Music Recording Industry: Opportunities and Challenges. Munich, Germany: GRIN Verlag, 2009. Print.