How Is Technology Impacting the Music Industry
When Brian Raupp started making music he began with GarageBand. He was just a kid on a computer playing around, he never expected this would be the start of a professional career.
But with a digital audio workstation like GarageBand, he had endless possibilities.
The technology at his hands was essentially that of a full recording studio, and all he needed was an Apple-compatible device.
“Once production moved over to digital you could do almost anything,” said Raupp, who goes by the stage name Brain Rapp.
Technology has provided countless opportunities to artists. Through digital production, streaming services, or social media marketing, the ability to create, share and advertise music is easier than ever.
But all technology really provides is an accessible first step, it won’t hand out fame and success.
“The amount of exposure that you can get is pretty, in certain ways, invaluable,” said Rapp. “But, at the same time, it’s not a sustainable way to have a career.”
What artists can do on their laptops today used to come with a hefty cost. “When I got my record deal in 1970, if you weren’t on a record label you couldn’t make records because the technology was too expensive and too difficult,” said John Simson, who since his record deal ended, has worked as a music manager, advocate for artists and is now a program director within American University’s business and entertainment department.
Today, digital audio workstations such as GarageBand put an assortment of instruments at artists’ fingertips. All one needs is the workstation to start making beats, no band or sound equipment required.
“This computer has more technology in it than the Beatles had in the studio when they made ‘Sgt. Pepper,’” said Simson.
There used to be “a really big divide, especially financially, where you had to have the money to buy these pieces of hardware to make sounds,” said Kwesi Lee, a Washington musician. Technology has closed that divide. Streaming services, for instance, have given everyone the opportunity to share their creations.
Companies like SoundCloud and BandCamp offer no-cost options to put music up on the internet. Meanwhile, others, including Apple Music and Spotify, are accessible with a small fee through online distributors such as TuneCore.
But turning a stream into a profit isn’t easy. Technology may allow that stream to occur, but it has muddied the waters for artists as well.
In fact, “the mid-level of music, that 15 or 20 years ago, people could earn $100,000 to $300,000 a year has gone away,” said Alan Williams, a professor and chair of the music department at the University of Massachusetts Lowell.
That’s why artists like Rapp find themselves working full-time jobs on the side.
Williams explained that streaming services are typically used as a means to access music people already know they want to listen to. For example, when one of Rapp’s songs ended up on a curated Spotify playlist, which is publicized to subscribers, he got about 10,000 streams, earning him only $40 and a handful of new followers.
“If you do the math,” said Simson, “you don’t get rich on a million streams, you don’t even come close.”
Even with that being the case, Chris Naoum, an attorney and co-founder of Listen Local First DC, an advocacy program for artists, said, “The success on digital streams, unfortunately, is all about the curator.” Without making a curated playlist, artists fall deeper into the already oversaturated crowd that the accessibility of creation and ease of streaming has produced.
It’s nearly impossible to distinguish oneself and requires “a good team behind you, an agency, a manager, all of that, to get you to the next level,” said Sasha Lord, a music promoter from Sasha Lord Presents. With a promotional team, an artist is a step ahead.
Rapp, who doesn’t have a promotional team, discussed the different roles he is forced to play: “These days it’s not just about being an artist, you have to be a branding manager, you have to be a digital marketer, you have to be a lawyer, … you have to be a booking manager, your own manger, a project manager, all these things I’m doing, I’m doing for myself.”
Because of this, said Letitia VanSant, a folk artist, “The people with more money still have a huge advantage.”
So if quality isn’t always the distinguishing force behind an artist’s success, how can they launch their career without big money backing them?
Creating an online portfolio is a first step, but self-promotion isn’t reliable.
“There’s a big gap between a digital like and ‘Yeah I’m gonna be there, yeah I’m gonna spend $15 to go see you,’” said Rapp. “You can have all the comments in the world but if you can’t translate that comment into something of actual value, what can you do?”
You can build personal connections.
People put an emphasis on the numbers of an artist, whether that’s followers or streams. But according to industry professionals, word-of-mouth and email lists are still the most successful strategy for building an audience, getting shows and bringing people in the door. It’s human connections, not access to technology that makes an artist known.
A song can be shared and promoted with just a click of a button, but that doesn’t matter. To find success, artists need engagement from an audience; likes on a Facebook page and streams on SoundCloud don’t give that.
Even when it comes to landing a promotion deal, it pays to know people. Lord discussed the overwhelming number of emails she receives from bands looking for promotion work. “If a band is able to get a hold of my personal email, I always respond,” she said.
Technology does not take the place of face-to-face connections, connections needed throughout the whole industry. Access and exposure is great, but so is the audiences’ control over what they listen to. It may be easier than ever to make it in the industry today without a record label, but it’s harder to make an actual living.
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