That great new pop song on the radio…did a human write it?
It is becoming increasingly difficult to know whether music is made by humans or machines. AI-powered music production apps allow users to input simple audio ideas or words, change a few settings, and the AI music maker creates an amazingly polished song recording. This highlights the strong interaction between technology and music listening.
Psychologists are interested in how people process music, how music is associated with memories, or why a certain piece of music makes us angry. Researchers have confirmed that listening to music activates different brain systems music psychology gives an understanding of to know, memoryand emotions. Evidence-based music therapy used to improve alertness, speech, movement, pain, or even change mood. There is evidence that listening to music engages key neurological reward circuits and contributes to the formation of our personality. person. Research shows that the music we listen to when we’re young helps shape our personal feelings. (1 – 4)
But without technology It allows us to listen to music without the mind-music connection. Technology changes and with it changes the way we access music that has influenced us for decades.
How does technology shape music? First, the technology of musical instruments. Each instrument is crafted with wood, brass, leather and strings to produce the unique timbres that musicians use to create music. For thousands of years, music has had to be experienced live. We could only listen to music created by musicians, bands and orchestras live, or we performed ourselves. From ballrooms to churches and theaters, performance venues are state-of-the-art, designed to bring live music to audiences at its best.
About 100 years ago, electricity entered our homes, offering significant technological leaps in how we access and interact with music. Recorded music made it possible for people to enjoy it in our homes. From wax cylinders to gramophones, from vinyl and tape to digital streaming formats, we now listen to our personal playlists at any time. Similarly, with the widespread introduction of radio broadcasting, technology has allowed us to listen to a wide range of music and take it with us wherever we go. Music has become the sustaining soundtrack of our lives and identities.
Today’s digital delivery platforms provide an almost limitless variety of music styles and artists to stream. Digital audio is now streamed 24/7 to our devices offering virtually unlimited global media content. In 2024, there will be more than 200 million music tracks on streaming services, growing at a rate of 10% per year. The amount of online music choices available today is far greater than what was available to previous generations, and there is more music than anyone can listen to in a lifetime! (5 – 7)
What does music mean to you? What were the most influential songs in your life? Perhaps some of the most meaningful songs were the ones you heard when you were young coming of age and adulthood. (3 – 4) Many songs became central to what we call our “sense of self” and influenced how we thought about ourselves.
According to the psychology of music research, adults listen to music for three main reasons: 1) To arousal and mood regulation2) to achieve self awarenessand this is due to the fact that music is part of our personal identity and 3) as an expression social connection. (8) Thus, music not only influences the development of individual identity, but also acts as a vehicle for social identity and group cohesion. Whether we identify with classical or jazz, punk, rock, rap or heavy metal, these choices are a sign of our individual as well as group and cultural identity.
What’s next for music technology? Robot musicians who sing and dance? Converting direct music into a music-brain interface? Maybe eventually a musical skill like playing the violin Matrix-style will be downloaded directly into our brains? These achievements remain science fiction for now, but not for long. Technology will continue to change and influence the way people put together music, and will continue to shape our lives and identities.
