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Inside A Rare, Controversial Discussion On The Future Of Technology And The Music Industry

This article is more than 4 years old.

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As the music industry continues to mourn the passing of respected rap recording artist Nipsey Hussle, whose funeral was just mere days ago, many in the industry ponder the impending future of our culture if such a talented and inspiring force for good can be killed with such little thought.  The Hollywood Reporter, Washington Post and many other media outlets are closely following the aftermath of the killing particularly given the fact that the alleged murderer of Hussle is now being defended by attorney of OJ Simpson fame, Christopher Darden. As fans and music industry figures, alike, reflect upon Hussle's multiple acts of social good in the community, influencers also simultaneously recall Hussle's vision around technology and the hip hop world, which now seems to point to important future trends within the music industry.

Indeed, Hussle said in a Los Angeles Times interview last year, “In our culture, there’s a narrative that says, ‘Follow the athletes, follow the entertainers,' ” he said. “And that’s cool, but there should also be something that says, ‘Follow Elon Musk, follow (Mark) Zuckerberg."

Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP

Given the growth of a number of emerging tech platforms, we are beginning to see the early stages of the next wave of massive disruption at the intersection of music and technology that will impact both business and creative sides of this powerful industry. With companies such as The Labz starting to gain buzz as one of the disruptors in the music space, this is a topic of massive interest. However, is one thing for engineers and founders to gather at various tech conferences to discuss such developments, but it is quite another when those who actually create or act as powerful gatekeepers of the music. And the latter is exactly what Hussle would have more than likely supported.

A recent talk event entitled The Future Of Music And Technology was held as part of a larger cocktail series called The Phantom Salon. Providing attendees with special insights, the talk offered a rare and intimate fireside chat with radio personality and artist manager Michael Turkowitz aka HipHop Mike of the leading rap radio station in New York City, Hot 97  and recording artist-on-the-rise Migs 718, born Miguelito Hoffman, whose EP drops late May.

In a private salon of the new gender-empowering and content-driven Playboy Club in Manhattan,  a mix of tech innovators and investors convened as part of efforts to bring various parts of emerging tech ecosystem together in order to network, problem-solve but also particularly to obtain better cultural intelligence to drive products and platforms.

The evening's talk kicked off by recognizing that often times new technology is actually disseminated to the public via various touch-points of the music industry. Yet such actions have simultaneously and consistently rocked this arena as well. Blockchain, poised to impact the music industry for greater transparency around royalty payments and more, will do the same.

Asked what artists thought of the advent of such technology, Migs pointed out, “First, so much of what we have to do to get started on the business side kills your pockets right now." He continued,  "Between fees for everything from Tune Core to ASCAP and more, there is a cost.  But it's also really hard to track, and there's little or no transparency. So I'm really excited about blockchain. It makes nearly all that go away."

Photographer, Mike Rios. Image courtesy Migs 718 and MLM Management

Mike added, “It's clear that the artists will take the lead on these new changes with technology because the industry is slow to adopt to new platforms. They are caught up in the business side

of things and not really looking at new technology." Mike explained that he believes the current gatekeepers in the industry are comfortable generating revenue in previous analog-style approaches. "They would rather keep up the current charades in the business instead of using money to find new technology to evolve, for the most part. The thinking is rarely new and fresh on the executive side," he revealed.

Due to this situation, Mike said that artists are more and more frustrated and more and more money is lost whether one is an established or new artist.  "There is a major disconnect between the old school and new," says Mike. "The  old wants to keep status quo since it gives them the advantage.”

Image courtesy of Hip Hop Mike

Yet beyond blockchain and royalty payments, the two insiders also shared their thoughts on Artificial Intelligence and emerging tech in general as it relates to the music industry.

Hip Hop Mike reflected on hologram performances with which he was impressed and said that he wouldn’t be surprised to see a virtual artist catch fire in the near future. "Many artists are like characters anyway so could see a virtual one or an avatar for sure," he noted.  "But to eliminate artists entirely, never."

Yet current platform offerings were also analyzed during the evening by Migs and Mike.  To that end, Pandora's new podcast-like capabilities that give insights into the creative process for fans from artists was a point of interest. Migs remarked, “Sure something like this gives me a broader spectrum to engage with fans, so that’s good." He then added,  "But this addition is not really a differentiator between Pandora and other platforms that allow me to already do basically the same thing. Also the time-frame for something like this on Pandora is too short. As an artist, I'm always thinking of the best and most unique ways to reach my fanbase, and I'm very selective about how I do it.” Such a philosophy is probably what has contributed to the growing buzz on Migs.

Mike had additional thoughts on the new Pandora moves. “Attempts like this," he said,  "are nice but just aren't robust enough. We in the industry just see such attempts as the company trying to gain more market share rather than something really creatively helps the artist."

And what of the potential impact of digital currency and the music industry? Mike feels that the true advent of such will take time.  "This could really cut out the middlemen," explained Mike. "I think the industry is very scared of crypto. They don’t really understand it just yet, and, therefore don’t know yet how to manipulate it in their favor so until that time comes, I don't see a lot of crypto integration into the music industry from a record label point of view."

He noted, however, that such transactions will be inevitable but that there will be a major tug-of-war before such progress happens. In terms of other elements to watch as a forecast in this provocative arena, the two insiders think that there will be platforms that provide better targeting of fans as well as a new type of platform that provides support for new artists. "This would be something like a platform that is a 360 offering. Like a record label but virtual," said Mike. "Something that provided resources with a killer UX? Now, that would be a game-changer."

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