How digital music prompted a bizarre statistic
More music is being released per day in 2024 than in the entire calendar year of 1989, according to ex Spotify head Will Page.
Page said the explosion in output is thanks to the digital revolution of music production in an interview with Music Radar.
Grassroots musicians can craft symphonies in their bedrooms, leaving behind the old need for analogue equipment.
Bassist from Glasgow band The Invaines, Joe McGlone said: “I can create the structure of a song through garage band and just keep working until a song is complete.
“Then from that I can bring it to the rest of the band; we can have a mess around with it; tweak it; see what we can improve and then once we’re happy with a song we’ll start looking at doing a live debut at a show or taking it through to the studio in Edinburgh.”
“The we’ll get the scratch recording and give it some more tweaks and then we’ll give it to our distributor and that puts it onto all platforms: Spotify, apple music and even on Instagram for people to clip it on their stories.”
Nothing’s Perfect
This ease of use isn’t all positive for bands like the Invaines.
With programs like Garage Band so readily available, the level of quality of music lags far behind that of quantity.
So when listeners are looking for new music, they might be missing out on what they love while something low effort finds its way into the world’s ears.
Joe added: “There are pros and cons to it.
“It’s easier than ever to put music out there but it’s easier than ever for everyone else and that brings a lot of competition.
“A lot of people using the same tools as you do to put their music out there and it becomes a saturated market in that sense.
“But it’s also such a benefit being able to do it so easily.”
Old Habits die Hard
Despite this migration to digital platforms, the old ways continue to thrive alongside their cyberspace counterparts.
The BBC found that, in 2023, vinyl sales hit their highest level since the 90s.
Joe knows there will always be a place for the old school: “I think that, like anything, trends will come and go.
“People are back into buying vinyl, I’d love to see that continue.
“As for what the future holds, I couldn’t give you an answer. I just hope it’s bright.”
