The Effect of Technology on Live Music


As the consumer desire for technology grows, it is putting increasing pressure on many of the traditional ways of life. The way we communicate, gather information, shop and entertain our selves have changed dramatically in an incredibly short span of time. To expect it to have no effect on live music would be short sighted and dangerous to the well being of music as a culture.


"We need to accept that we're already in the digital era. You can't just wish it hadn't happened and hope the world doesn't change.” Kate Nash

While this quote may be referring to the sale of music online, it also holds true for the live music industry. Without taking note of the changes that technology is having on both industrial and social worlds would be harmful to live music than to embrace it.

The need for gigs and club nights for people to socialise seems to diminishing in the wake of Internet social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace. Even devoted music fans have specialised means of interacting on the Internet, with websites such last.fm and MOG.com, offering people the chance to discover new music without having to leave their homes. Where once people would discover new bands through going to gigs and interacting with their social peers, this has now been replaced with an online equivalent of the experience. This also means that a music culture is being created where people may be less willing to see a band perform live that they are unfamiliar with.

While certain negative effects are often the main focus when discussing technology in association with music, further advancements frequently offer more positives. With cheaper and more effective advertising for small bands to communicate with their fans (with music hosting sites, such as MySpace alongside industry based promotional sites like Sonicbids.com and video sites such as YouTube) and the potential for instant global release of any music digitally recorded, modern advances could be a potential saviour of live music, along with the music industry as a whole. As with venues, the bands that embrace current technology will have an improved chance of success compared to their devotedly analogue brethren.

Where the embracement of technology is proving to be a legitimate and successful means of business are Silent Discos. By using wireless headphones to transmit the music (mainly DJ’s, but logistical there is no reason it couldn’t be applied to a live band) as opposed to a large speaker set-up, it allows live shows to go ahead in venues that would potentially have noise pollution issues. Although it’s considered a rather gimmicky way around certain problems that plague live music, it could prove to be a very useful commodity.

A similar use of technology to offer a new way to experience live music is by selling tickets to gigs that can then be watched via live streaming on a website . Similar schemes have been tried in the past with pay per view televised concerts on satellite channels, but failed to capture the same market that pay per view sports events garner. The most logical reasoning behind this is that audiences are after more than just live music, but are also after the accompanying experiences that only a live gig can deliver.

Technology has been of great importance to musical cultures, often allowing those who previously had limited access to music new, more accessible mediums. As cassette tapes began to arrive in India, it allowed people to access various forms of music which were previously unavailable due to the control of the governments record label, the GCI (Gramophone Company of India), the only records commonly available where the standardised love songs performed by approved artists. This vanished as the cassette tapes meant that small labels and individuals could now record and produce their own music . This shows how technology can be revolutionary to how people obtain music and how music is created.