The future of Music?

[nemesiscd]

I was watching an interview recently and a topic came up that I found quite intriguing, I always tend to ask myself self the same question as well.

Where does Electronic music go from here?...

The development of the synthesizers and technology pertaining to that revolutionized every style of music as we know it and opened up a whole new world of possibilities, Electronic music is the future- but where do you see it going? with endless possibility of sounds etc. never more so then it is now- every mainstream pop/rap star now a days sings with electronic music pumping in the background it's almost become a house hold sound. Mainstream will always die out eventually, but it seems as if EDM will be different and become truly Immortal...

There's always been stages/styles in musics history that come and go, Disco, etc...but with EDM and it's genres now its something that seems to me to be timeless (cause we can't go any further if you think about it, technology wise we've reached it's peak) there's just endless direction and possibilities where you can take it- have we finally reached the peak of Music as we know it?...There is so many different genres of it will it ever be out dated? What do you guys see the next big stage of musics history becoming? I find it extremely fascinating but I can never answer that question.

I do hope you get the point I'm trying to get across, I'm curious what you guys think.

[Izzy Evangelique]

I often view music statically. Despite whatever advance in technology, music has always had the same basic structure. We know what sounds pleasing, and what just sounds awful. We've utilized that in almost every way, with every instrument, in every variation. Electronic music is just the next stage of that. Of course, each variation has opted to change the very definition of music, and electronic is no different. The very idea of what is and isn't an instrument is becoming blurred more and more daily, as LJ's and computer-music become more of the norm.
This doesn't have to be a bad thing...many LJ's could absolutely rip as hard as (if not harder than) any oldschool DJ, they're just acting lazy because technology provides convenience...as it always has. Man invented instruments both out of the intrigue of "found sounds", and because he grew bored of simply using vox. With winds and percussion, came greater variety, even helped to move culture forward. Then it was gut-string instruments, on and on. In many ways, these conveniences allowed man to try less and still yield more. It was wise men, however, TRUE artists who dared not only to take on instruments...but to not be convenienced by them, instead to make them part of himself. To grow and expand from vox to instrument, while compromising neither.
This current trend makes me think that it won't be long until we are just generating the music LITERALLY in our heads. The pieces we ALL have struggled for eons to give to the world, but have always fallen short. We won't even use musical conventia anymore, it'll just be: plug into conscience/subconscience database, download stems, upload stems, play.

[dubstepmastering]

we cant even see the peak never mind reached it , within 5 years you will be able to make music without touching your DAW.

We are on the first step there is much more to come.

[nemesiscd]

Interesting! Thanks for chiming in!

[KillerKraut]

EDM won't die, its lasted a good 20 years and It will keep going. Its too diverse. Issue is, people attempt to take it too far when they have a mainstream status, which kills sub-genres. I'll use house as an example. House is a great sub-genre, it is very upbeat and funky. Now people like Zedd and Deadmau5 have taken it to a high point in mainstream, and now there's artists everywhere that want the glamour life of music like them. Same with Skrillex. The list goes on, but whats different about EDM is you will always find this pattern:

Sub-genre is underground > Sub-genre goes mainstream > Sub-genre peaks its mainstream status > Sub-genre is replaced by newer Sub-genre > Sub-genre dies down, but still has a fanbase > Sub-genre returns to underground status

That is the pattern, and it will never change. Example given, Dubstep is at phase 3.

[yada]

I don't think that potentially personally perceived trend explains anything. Mainstream music becomes mainstream music because of its popularity, not because of a particular identifiable nuance in its make up. Because of its popularity, many more people become involved in the listening and the producing which gives rise to slight differences and variations in the whole genre. One particular variation, by popularity alone, becomes the highest in demand and not necessarily having been taken too far. In truth, it's just production for a large audience. The amount of producers of mainstream genres inevitable leads to slight variations in each genre as each individual pursues their own particular taste, leading to further individual nuances within the particular genre. The numbers alone lead to new genres emerging because of individuality. Those in high demand are mainstream, those not are termed underground (which is a poor term really for such an all encompassing idea as this). The swinging back and forth that you suggest is an illusion that you've developed because you're a pattern seeker. There is only the production of music and varying tastes and flavours due to individuality. Mainstream music also doesn't have to have come out of the underground scene, it can be made for the masses… unless we assume that all electronic music was a development of the underground scene initially; which is absurd because the electronic instruments and components were also destined to be highly sought after in hindsight.

…but i suppose that's just my opinion.

As for the thread, i don't know.

[Pherm B Leeva]

We are only just beginning to realise the true dawn of the DAW and it's true potential, although many of these programmes have been around for a couple of decades or so, very few people could really challenge/ push a conventional recording studio production. Dance music of the eighties from a production craft, stand point, doesn't come even slightly close to what's available and achievable today, I'm not sure if today's dance genres will seem so embryonic 25 years from now, the strength of today's internet has played a pretty integral part in speeding along production evolution, new ideas, innovative techniques and instrument evolutions. One thing which you can bet your house on is that Software technologies of the future will be as important as the electric guitar was to the 60's and equally as influential as Synthesizers were upon 80's synth pop. Today's arsenal of instruments and unusual sounds available to home composers means classical music is far more relevant nowadays, than it has been in any of last fifty years or so. Expect more and more orchestral influence/ fusion within more mainstream genre's.

[roidquaker]

Electronic production is reaching some crazy places. Gear is getting easier to use, cheaper, higher quality etc and it seems really confusing to see it moving further. My thoughts on the whole idea is how right now when you play in a band, you have full capabilities of your acoustic instrument as far as expression and its up to how much you actually practice. There are some amazing controllers out there, but nothing that gets close enough to an acoustic instrument as far as control really goes. The future is going to be fullllll of amazing hands on controllers, getting closer and closer to being able to make everything as expressive as possible. I know there are controllers that people think are so expressive, but just wait. Shits bout to get real weird and people will be performing electronic music in ways never thought of before. check this outtie if anyone has ze time I think this genres for someone out here? FEED4FEED

[LostProfit]

I still don't feel electronic music has nested with classical music and perhaps its time that will fertilise this idea. I feel the future of all music lies within true talent and in imagination. In times of profuse, time is like Noah's Ark in itself and I feel something great needs to come out of this era. The one thing that has come is the openness, the availability of musical equipment and knowledge, the ease of finding music and selling music but the one thing I want to see is a great composer of our time who finds a way to redefine music again and make people study it beyond classical music. I think this new style of music will be a perfect combination of all the things around and it will be accessible to film, to games, to people of all kinds. It has to have a vast enough lifeform that it goes beyond being the craziest dubstep or the most complex hip-hop or the glitchiest pop and becomes something new.

[MFCS]

this is a great topic, I'm actually reading a book related to this "Physics of the Future" by Michio Kaku. It talks about all the possible emerging technologies for the next 100 years, with these predictions being ALL based on current research. with computer chips dropping to the price of paper, I suspect we will be making music in very interesting ways....
right now, we can hook up monkeys to control robotic arms and paralized people can be hooked up to a computer and can surf the net, play video games, and chat with their families.
Just think about the possibilities once these technologies get cheap and mainstream, you will probably load up a virtual instrument in your living room's I-wall by just thinking about it. and yes I believe it will get easier for us artists to produce what we imagined exactly in our subconsious

I know it sounds a bit crazy