The role of graphics in music industry?

Computers and the digital age have totally transformed the music industry. I'm sure a lot of books have been written about the subject, I'll just touch on some of the issues.

Back in the old days of music artists had a hard time (and still do) trying to get a break in the industry. It took money to book studio time to get a demo that could be sent to record labels in the hopes of making their dreams come true. Because it cost quite a bit to get studio time these demos were hard to come by. Often times artists would have to impress someone with money who would pay to have the demo made for the artist. This is where the "producer" came from. Now, the industry is not like that at all. Anyone with a computer and a mic can record something. Rather than spending thousands of dollars recording a demo, now it can be done by anyone in the privacy of their own home. This is nice, but has meant that record labels are flooded with demos. Back then you needed talent to get a demo made. Now, because anyone can make a demo without any talent at all, labels don't even listen to demos. This makes it harder for talented people to get their shot. It's a double edged sWord. It's great that anyone can creatively express themselves, but most of those people are not talented, and overshadow the few that do have the talent.

On the subject of recording, recording studiOS have also integrated that technology to their recordings. Now instead of recording everything onto big heavy spools of tape, everything can be recorded to a hard drive and easily transported anywhere. The big mixing console is really not needed anymore because it can all be done within a computer. StudiOS still use the consoles but rather than connecting the output to a tape machine, it's all computers. Also, back studiOS would have racks full of processing gear such as compressors, reverb units, delays, etc which now can all be done on a computer. Now software developers are recreating the sounds of old gear. Now you don't have to spend thousands of dollars on that old gear and have to hook it up, now you can get basically the same sounds with software. Instead of having to splice tape to edit a track, you can just click and drag.

The internet and networking has also done some big things to the industry. Now people from all over the world can make music together with just their instruments and the internet. I can record a bass line, send it to my friend in New York to lay a guitar on it, send it to Norway to add percussion, and so on. No one has to leave their home, or studio. A band can also get their album printed without leaving their home and just sending files over the internet to be manufactured into cds.

Social networking sites have given artists a way to promote their music to more people than ever before. If I am looking for new music all I have to do is get online and look.

And finally, downloading. The ability to find and obtain music on the internet has really started to reshape the entire industry. Now a lot is invested into getting to pay for the music they download. Sites like napster, kazaa, and Limewire have all been attacked because of their support of users sharing music. A lot of the industry sees the downloading like this as wrong and damaging to the industry. However other artists see it as a way to promote their music. Rap artist Tech N9ne aired tv commercials telling people to go to his site and download his entire album for free. The result was higher sales.

Personally, when it comes to sound, the analog tape sound is a lot better than the digital music that is created now. But to the average consumer, it all sounds the same. The basic point is that pretty much everything in the music industry has been changed or at least modified due to the digital age. Some will say its bad, some will say its good. Whether we like it or not, it's hear and we all have to deal with it.