The digital revolution is still proceeding and affecting nearly every aspect of our everyday life. Talking about music industry, we consider streaming, podcasting concerts and interviews, social media campaigns and online music magazines. The majority of our generation is used to Spotify, Youtube, Instagram and Snapchat.

But what is the impact of digitalisation on classical and contemporary music? One may think that the classical music domain is archaic, old fashioned and still follows old standards. It is undoubtedly a big challenge to apply new technologies to an established sector. Then again, we should consider that new technologies might also bring new opportunities and even encourage the creativity.

Streaming

Music streaming is immediately overtaking downloading as the favoured method of accessing music digitally. Streaming has changed the way the majority of people now listens to music but also the way musicians, agents and companies deliver music to their recipients. Nowadays one can find a big amount of classical and contemporary music on platforms like Spotify and Apple Music. On the other hand there are also services that specialise in classical music streaming only, including Primephonic.

The main challenge in classical music streaming is the correct use of metadata. This field of music industry has some of the most complex metadata regulations. The rules are sometimes not clearly defined. Although, the information tagged to each file, is important for searching, matching and allocating music.

Networking

We are facing diverse and connecting times. Internet and peer-to-peer technology is essential in sharing ideas and creating more perspectives. Everyone is talking about communities and peer-to-peer. Networking on this new level connects different types of music genres and also encourages collaborations between different types of musicians on an international level.

There are several networking platforms for musicians like Hello Stage and Reverbnation to help musicians to collaborate and unfold their potential and creativity.

Podcasting

One more way to reach an auditory is podcasting. Podcasting is a digital recording of music, news or other media that can be downloaded from the Internet to a portable media player.

A popular synonym for podcasting is audio-videoblogging. Spotify, Google Play and some major labels are already benefiting from music podcasts. Classical and other musicians are using podcasts to transmit concerts, interviews and music sessions to their auditory. The advantage of podcasting is building a closer relationship to recipients, appearing more personal providing a face-to-face connection. A popular classical music podcast is Sticky Notes.

There are many ways digitalisation affects classical music. Also disciplines like archiving, composing, teaching etc. are driven by computer-based methods nowadays. Increasing number of musicians is using iPads instead of music sheets and musicologists are digitally combining early editions and manuscripts to get to the bottom of composer’s intentions. Some of the tools can help musicians, teachers, researchers or agents to work more dynamic and efficient. Any other may confuse some people or even slow down the creative process. Nonetheless, it’s necessary to acknowledge that the world is different from even 20 years ago. The digital age is networked, global, and constantly changing. Digitalisation has a huge impact on society, culture and music culture in particular and the utilisation of digital tools and computer-based methods in classical music may bring challenges but also benefits for all the participants.

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See some our clients using digital tools in their creative process:

Corre (a marriage of sounds and visuals)

Inclusive Creativity (performance and composition for less able musicians through the development of new technologies and methodologies)