There is a lot of talk about innovation in all industries, whether you are a Silicon Valley startup or a marketing agency trying to find new ways to engage consumers. And I’m pretty sure you know this: the music industry is well connected to innovation and tends to evolve quicker than expected due to the current context. So this raises the question: what exactly does innovation look like in this sector?
Some might argue that streaming services and algorithms are the actual future of the music industry. Others might suggest that AI will disrupt the music industry down the line, while others might consider the rise of the musictech movement in general to be proof of innovation. Let’s examine innovation in music and figure out concrete examples in the music industry.
What Is Innovation?
First off, let’s set on what we mean by innovation. By its very nature, an innovation is an invention that allows to create news services, technologies, artistic creations… Basically, it becomes an innovation when it has been implemented in society, has a use for an industry or helping common good.
More people listen to music than ever before, and musictech now allows individuals to listen to a nearly endless library of music while doing many other activities. When music was being released on vinyl, the main innovation was the development of CDs. Now, streaming platforms are the latest innovative support for music listening. There is a well-known cycle.
The Rise of MusicTech
MusicTech is a movement that has been around for some time now. One could easily argue that the iPod was a definitive moment in musictech history, as it finally gave consumers the ability to listen to more music in a mobile and more convenient way than ever before possible. While the Walkman had existed prior, the truth remains that the iPod was the portable media player that truly changed the way that many consumers thought about media. For the first time in history, technology allowed music listeners to live their lives while choosing their soundtrack in the background.
Now, millions of consumers worldwide are paying a flat fee every month for subscribers to do so. Innovation in music isn’t just about introducing new algorithms and playlists in the music industry, it also means musictech companies acquiring other smaller companies to gain leverage in the markets. Another competitor, Spotify, is a significant musictech player itself. In June 2020, the Swedish-based musictech company reached a $50 billion valuation. Of course, innovation in music also means new and innovative problems, such as fraud.
How are label services involved?
Record labels have to adapt at every step of the way. Label services need to be the main support for these music industry actors, to help them focus on their core activities and ensure their artists to get engagement from fans, payments and room for evolution. This is the trend we, at Reprtoir, are currently part of. We understand first hand the need to have the best tools to manage music catalogs, royalties, musical works and even private playlists. Innovation in music also means having the best partners to get the work done.
The MusicTech movement is here to stay: the digitalization of the music industry has accelerated lately, and all music industry players are impacted. The pandemic has already cost the concert industry billions of dollars, all livestream performances raise many rights management issues and emerging artists are struggling to get attention (to name a few of the challenges we face today). Music publishers and record labels have all the interest to rely on a SaaS solution built by and for music professionals.
Embracing innovation in music
Changing habits can’t be easy for an industry like music. But we are forced to realize that the tech industry is involved in all parts of it, and it needs to be acknowledged by the actors. The MusicTech sector will keep growing, in livestream experiences, blockchain, VR/AR… And in artist and label services.
Reprtoir understands that this transformation is already occurring, which is why we created this software solution for music professionals everywhere. We believe that offering an all-in-one music business platform is the kind of innovation in music that the industry needs right now.
Whether it be managing audio files with the right metadata, managing musical works or managing royalty accounting, we have a solution for you. Book a call now with our team and we will be glad to guide you through what we can do to help.
