The article I read was called “The Shazam Effect” and it was about the concept of the music industry taking advantage of music-related services like Spotify and Shazam to analyze popular music trends and how it has actually allowed them to decipher what could become a big hit months before most people have even heard of the song. Many record labels, such as Republic Records, take advantage of this technology to form the basis of many of their business decisions regarding new talent, and what music to promote in what area. These new services allow the industry to check what songs are gaining traction, among what demographics, and in what areas of the world. This allows maximum efficiency when it comes down to promoting and marketing new music.

Personally, I find this to be a very conflicting idea. While I like the idea that you can promote to people who are more invested in your style of music than others, I dislike the idea that it severely limits what music can do for people’s interests. One of the important aspects of music as a whole is to provide a concept that can interest people of all walks of life, creating a cohesive fan-base, and building a community off of that. I have always found music to be about community and creativity, and the idea that this could put an end to that worries many people. If the industry can gauge what works like that, they can invest all of their money in decidedly “safe” music, contributing to the idea of pop music, where it is largely homogeneous, with many songs indistinguishable from others. This limits and denounces creativity, and creates a large void between financially backed superstars, who create the same music over and over, creating a comfort zone, and those who wish to experiment and create something that may be new to many people. New can sometimes be a scary concept, but in art, new can create new doors to enter, and as a result, push the industry forward. Looking at many groundbreaking artists in history, who changed the world of music in their stead, it is clear that there was a considerable amount of experimentation and creativity that is brought to the fold.

The article “How Streaming is Changing The Music Industry” from American University talks about the effects that streaming may have on the music industry, as streaming is becoming another popular facet of the music world. Like Shazam, it gives instant access to music at the click of a button, however, unlike Shazam, apps like Spotify and Apple Music allow you to stream full songs, and even albums, for very little money. This means that artists are paid very little for their work, and I believe this devalues the worth of art as a whole. While it can be argued that it allows people to hear an artist’s work before deciding to spend their hard earned money on the music, what’s to stop people from just continuing to stream the music for little to no money, preventing the artist in question from being paid for their services. While music is an art form, and art is an important part of life, it also costs money to make, and is at the end of the day, a product. I believe this is very important to keeping the industry in working condition.