Where Is Music Headed: What to Listen to On Your Pro Audio Equipment

Music was considered by the Romantic artists of the 19th century to be the highest form of art - above sculpture, painting and writing. And after more than fifty years of a soundtrack of popular music inscribed into our cultural unconscious, it is easy to see why. Today certain trends have left the musical boom of the 20th century floundering. What is the future of modern music? How will it be sold and distributed, and most interestingly, what will home audio speakers and pro audio equipment play ten years from now? Let's find out.

Part of what contributed to the musical renaissance of last century was recording technology. Music could be bought, shared and played at will in home audio, car audio and anywhere else with home audio speakers. This led to artists like Elvis, The Beatles, and Michael Jackson changing the way music functions in a society. Instead of having a specific social import, such as a military march being played before wartime, music became more entertainment-based and out of context than ever before.

Thanks to the internet and more advanced recording technology, musicians now have more distribution power than in the 20th century. This is something of a double-edged sword, however. Along with the proliferation of artists online at sites like Myspace.com, pirating music means that many artists no longer make most of their money from album sales. Performing is their primary means of generating revenue and the purchase of physical records is a largely a thing of the past. While many connoisseurs enjoy the authentic sound of vinyl, most people listen to music downloaded from the internet. As a result, big record labels are going under and smaller ones are thriving.

And technology isn't only influencing the economics of music - it's changing the sound of it too. Electronic music has a variety of subgenres that are becoming more diverse. The influence of synthesizers in other musical genres, such as hip hop, pop and indie music signals that this trend will only continue over the next decade.

Listening to music will also become easier. With greater variety to choose from as well as improvements in technology that allow you to store thousands of songs on your phone, the listener has greater potential to enjoy and expand his musical horizons. Even pro audio equipment has become much less expensive over recent years. All of this points towards greater musical individualism and freedom. There may be more saturation in the music market, but there is more potential for a small band from the middle of nowhere to get noticed and become world famous.