How The Internet Changed Music Forever

I am currently an Arts Leadership major at Iona College. I study the way that business and art interact within the music industry. When one is planning to work in the music industry, it is impossible to ignore the effect that digital media and technology has had on the world.

When I was growing up, you had to either buy an artist’s CD, hear them on the radio, or purchase their song on iTunes to consume their work. In 2019, streaming services are the main way people consume music. In 2016, Spotify’s number of paid subscribers globally was 30 million. By 2019 it had more than tripled to 100 million. Likewise, Apple Music sports 60 million paid users globally. The consumer’s mindset has completely changed. People want their music right away. It’s as simple as opening Spotify and turning on a playlist.

This shift has changed the way artists work as well. Streaming has made it very hard for artists to make money outside of touring and merchandise. The music holder receives about $.006 to $.0084 for each streamed song. People are no longer going to the store and buying their CD. Their money goes to Spotify which then pays artists that small amount for each stream. It would take millions of streams for someone to receive a reasonable amount of money compared to Spotify’s profits.

Artists realize that listeners have a short attention span. Songs have become shorter and albums have become longer to mimic playlists. Artists try to grab your attention within the first 30 seconds. Some even feel that playlist culture has caused the “death of genre” because listeners have such a wide variety of tastes and preferences within just one playlist. Traditional albums have around 12 to 14 tracks, but artists like Drake have started to make albums with over 20 tracks. Travis Scott’s Astroworld has 17 tracks with only three songs being over four minutes long.

I think digital media will continue to have great change on the music industry over the next decade. I think streaming services will stay the most popular way to consume music. I think artists will continually adapt and join new social media platforms that arise to always keep their fans and listeners updated and engaged. Today, if an artist isn’t willing to accept the standards created by digital media, they most likely will fail. I think this expectation will only heighten over the next decade.

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