Music is where innovation lives: from the early reproduction techniques to the digital world. Few thoughts on the progress of music

Abstract

Music has always been subject of study since the beginning of humanity. Great Philosophers like Aristotele, Platone, and Pitagora studied music in any particular aspect of it. To support this hypothesis it is sufficient to quote the thought of Pitagora, who gives prominence to the mathematical aspects of the music defining it as a series of notes, frequencies and chords accurately calculated that create an ordinated and emotional melody. Music accompanied the life of the human over the centuries adapting itself to all the social and historical situations, from the illuminism with Mozart, to the Romanticism with Wagner, and finally with the rock’s rise in the 80s and with the digital world in the modern era. So, it’s undeniable how much music is important for human beings and for the entire society: it has several proposes on the development of the individual and it results indissoluble with our life. Firstly, music transmits emotions and feeling to many people at once, equalizing the emotional state of the group facilitating group cohesion and selection. Secondly, it is a method of communication with phonological and meaning levels, in other world is a language able to generate actions and experiences that enhance the group identity and the group catharsis. Last but not least, it is a process of entrainment in which people use their cognitive and intuitive abilities to organize time, implement actions and resources to reach a specific result. This last aspect it’s crucial for understanding the prominent role played by technology and innovation in music over the years. The recording industry arises from numerous technological innovations, starting from Edison’s phonograph to the latest Mp3 compression algorithms. The impact of technology is strong, new electronic devices and computers technologies have gained the upper hand, replacing old instruments and they have taken the control of the music market. The development of those ‘new things’ change the way of thinking of society: the limits and boundaries between instruments and machines are imperceptible and what counts in a live concert is now complex to explain even for the musicians. A question arises spontaneously: should people still continue to applaud when a performer is a machine? Except for the vinyls that are living a second life, the rest of the world is moving faster towards a more and more digital era, platforms like Amazon Music, Apple Music, and Spotify dominate the current market. Those innovative platforms allow interactions and communications between consumers, the distribution is organized in a specific manner in order to reach the larger numbers of listeners as possible, facilitating singers and musicians to gain more coverage. What seems to emerge is that music has lost its human factor; people are increasingly listening to music on their own, going against the old theories that supported the thoughts concerning group cohesion and selection. Moreover, the progress reached such an advancement that human mental effort no longer appears necessary, since everything, or at least to a large extent it is done by artificial intelligence.The drive for progress has always been the engine for all kinds of innovations, including those in the music industry. However, the current progress state seems to be no more sustainable, as the benefits seem to outweigh the disadvantages. Decisions concerning the future are difficult to predict. Some doubts may crop up, such as: Where this massive increase of digitization will take us? Are we going to abandon ourselves totally to the digital or are we going to take a step back driven by a strong nostalgic feeling for the old music played with ‘real’ instruments? but unfortunately or fortunately the magic sphere has not yet been invited, so any possible prediction leaves the time for the future. So, quoting a very famous phrase… ‘only time will tell’