On Wednesday 17th of February I met with Andrew to discuss my potential thesis questions, how did audio streaming platforms change the behavior of the society and how to give a piece of music that lives online a tangible form?

I’ve expressed my concern about narrowing my field of research and Andrew gave me a great process reference called ERRC grid, which stands for Eliminate, Raise, Reduce, Create. This tool helped me to identify the positive competences of the audio streaming platforms which enabled many artists to publish their work and eventually earn a living especially in the time of pandemic because they can’t perform live in front of their audiences. This positive effect on music industry has brought a new problem where artists earn a smaller piece of the revenue compared to record labels and streaming platforms. Centralized distribution of music through audio streaming platforms which accounts for 79% of music industry in the U.S. is not giving the power in the hands of content creators and has an issue of piracy of digital records and improper rights management. The technology of blockchain could be a solution for those issues and create an opportunity for independent artists to challenge the traditional gatekeepers of the industry and decentralize the power.

The shift from CD’s to audio streaming has had a negative impact on many of the record stores around the globe. Andrew recommended me to watch a documentary called Other Music, and it talks about an influential record store in New York which had to be shut down due to increase of rental costs and the shift in cultural approach to consuming music. They were positioned across the street from one of the mainstream record shops and it enabled them to attract customers interested in music to check out their offer of a curated underground, and experimental music. Their musical dedication and constant research of new releases has been in the core of creating a cultural landmark, where people could ask for music recommendations as well as form new relationships and community between like-minded people. I am afraid that due to the shift in music industry towards consuming music online is going to slowly change the cultural approach to music and this makes me wonder how will society adapt to those changes and what kind of musical communities can we expect in the future?