Music Innovation and the Impact of COVID-19 on the Way We Experience Music

Abstract

Innovation in music has led to the development of new musical genres, instruments, media, and creation tools. In recent decades, the Internet and mobile devices have revolutionized the field, shifting music consumption to digital media, making music available anywhere and anytime. Recent technological advances are enabling applications to be taken to the next level through generating music or playlists and personalizing musical experiences. Innovative business and monetization models are being developed to change the distribution of funds in the music industry in a manner advantageous to artists. Researchers continue exploring additional benefits of music in fields like sports, health, and well-being. Despite these developments, the structure of the music industry and the ways in which we consume and teach music have changed little for decades and even centuries. The media have changed, but the experience of listening to a song remains the same, and the prevalent method of learning music is still in a face-to-face lesson.

COVID-19 has dramatically shaken up the music scene: while music consumption increased, live concerts were cancelled, music lessons moved online, and playing in ensembles became unfeasible. In this chapter we discuss how the pandemic spearheaded innovation in music, driving people to create and experience music in new ways. These changes presented opportunities for music startups to harness technology, develop innovative musical experiences, and disrupt the music industry. This chapter discovers changes in music innovation and how it was affected by the pandemic. We focus on the case of the Israeli music startup ecosystem.