INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Image caption
Imogen Heap, who says technology could help us become "more human"
Technology may have
brought the music industry to its knees 20 years ago, but these days pop stars and record labels are using computing power to find new
audiences and take fresh creative decisions.The benefits and pitfalls of this new technology are being debated at The Great Escape music
festival in Brighton, in a day-long conference.Here are some of the things we learned.Your favourite pop stars can come to your houseVirtual
reality could allow fans to experience Glastonbury from the comfort of their sofa, simply by plugging in a headset.In fact, Melody VR - a
London-based tech start-up - launched earlier this month, offering concerts by stars like The Who, Royal Blood and Rag'N'Bone Man through VR
sets like Oculus Go and Samsung's Gear VR.Some feel it could turn music into a passive experience, like watching TV, but musician Imogen
Heap thinks there are huge social implications too."I'm imagining my daughter being in space… and me not being able to see her for years -
but I can go down the cinema or to a music concert and see her and be with her," she says."A lot of these technologies are going to help us
be more human, more creative," she added.Your watch could choose music to fit your moodImage copyrightGetty ImagesStreaming services offer
hundreds of mood-based playlists - for chilling out, exercising or even a break-up.But what if the streaming service could "read" your mood
by monitoring the data on your watch or fitness tracker If you're stressed, it will trigger a relaxing playlist, for example."I'd also like
a 'drunk friend mode' for Alexa,'" says Stuart Dredge, editor at Music Ally, "that would go, 'Mate, you have to listen to this band! You'd
love them.'"Streaming services will get even more intuitiveAt the moment, the algorithms that power Spotify and Apple are complicated - but
they still end up churning out thousands of streams for Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift.The problem, said Manan Vohra from digital music
provider 7Digital, is that "we still rely on the idea of global popularity"."Something that's considered heavy metal in the UK might not be
that heavy in Denmark," he explains; while a relaxation playlist that consists of 100 tracks might not be relaxing for every user.In the
future, Artificial Intelligence will learn more about the nuances of different users, and cultures, to provide ever more personalised
playlists.Go behind the scenes of your favourite songImage copyrightGetty ImagesImage caption
Could streaming stats help
determine gig locations
Augmented reality - which projects computer-generated content onto a user's view of the real world -
could give us greater access to music's inner workings.Fine artists are already using it to expand and illustrate the different layers in a
painting, said Stef Pascual of Crown Talent, which represents artists like Ella Henderson and Becky Hill."Imagine you could tap into a song,
and hear all the demos and everything," she said.Stars will book tours based on where they're popularImage copyrightGetty ImagesImage
caption
Lucy Rose realised she was popular in South America
This is already happening
Folk singer Lucy Rose recently booked a tour of South America after studying her Spotify statistics and realising her music was particularly
popular there.It's a model that's being followed by Danish company WARM, which allows bands to find out which radio stations are playing
their music; so they can directly target those cities.Other musicians can then use that data to find out which cities are interested in
certain genres of music, taking a lot of the guess-work out of breaking a band."Nowadays, music gets distributed quicker than anyone can
understand," says CEO Jesper Skibsby
"It is very, very easy for people to discover new music anywhere in the world."Ticket websites will let you know other bands you might
likeTicketmaster's Andrew Parsons said the site was using predictive intelligence software to keep fans informed about upcoming gigs."We
send out 10 million unique emails every Thursday," he revealed, with the idea of removing the element of chance in finding out about gigs
before they sell out."There's so much touring out there - and I'd like to be able to find out new things."The ultimate aim is that the front
page of the Ticketmaster store will be unique to each user.Imogen Heap said personalisation could be harnessed even further to help the fan
"discover more about the artist they're going to see" by providing photographs, new releases, videos and biographies
The data could also help "support the circle of people around that artist" too - so if there's a guitarist you particularly like, you could
follow them from band to band as their career changes.Will computers compose chart hitsComputers can be creative, argued Margaret Boden of
Sussex University, who's been studying Artificial Intelligence since the 1950s.She cited the example of a deep learning system that was
trained to play the ancient Chinese game Go
In 2016, the AI program defeated world champion Ke Jie, by coming up with two new moves "that seemed absolutely crazy", says Boden
But those moves have subsequently been adopted by professional players."If that doesn't count as creativity, I don't know what
does."Software "can certainly imitate Mozart and Beethoven", said Marcus O'Dair from Sussex University
And they can do it so convincingly that, "at least initially", experts are convinced they're hearing the real thing.A more likely scenario
is that pop stars will use AI technology to spur creativity
"They'll say, 'OK, I don't know where I'm going with this song - but I want something in the style of this, or in the style of my own
compositions,'" says Pascual, "and they'll use that to get inspired."Follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @TheIndianSubcontinentNewsEnts, or on
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