In his exceedingly sagacious book, FutureHit.DNA, author and CMT senior VP of music and strategy Jay Frank stakes a seemingly peculiar and strikingly true claim: "Technology dictates music creativity, not the other way around." His book outlines how today's music industry machine has been strategically assembled over time - its integral components either set in motion or replaced by the emergence of advanced digital technology. As the artist tries to maneuver this ever-changing contraption, he or she finds that in order to achieve hit song status, creativity must expand within the boundaries of new-age technology, a phenomenon that has and will continue to set the standard for music production in the years to come.
FutureHit.DNA gives an eye-widening account of the many twists and turns in hit song history and dissects its cause-and-effect relationship with the consistent advent of new technology. But more than that, it arms aspiring artists with 15 new trends present in the chart-topping songs of today and unfolds the mystery of how these songs are born from the careful infusion of talent and technological development.
Frank takes his readers on a tour through popular hits of the past, highlighting the fluctuation of hit song standards to the steady beat of rising innovations such as jukeboxes, record changers, FM radio and pioneering studio equipment. Frank explains, "This rush of new technologies happened virtually all at once. Without these, the musical innovators of that time would not have flourished as they did." So too do the innovators of today thrive with a mirrored increase of modern digital revolutions like internet radio, file trading, online streaming and iPods.
"I belong to a small group of music business gatekeepers who move the needle based on actual music listener activity. Most people would rather respond to insider information and "gut instinct" than what a consumer actually did.."
One of the music gatekeepers himself, Frank oversees CMT's Music and Talent division and all of the major network's on-air and digital music programs across multiple platforms, such as films, games, touring and other enterprise businesses. Prior to CMT, he was VP of Music Programming and Label Relations at Yahoo! Music. A highly respected industry thought leader, Frank speaks regularly at the music industry's most prestigious conferences and seminars and his audience for FutureHit.DNA is sure to widen as his ideas become change agents for the way digital music is discovered and consumed.
No comments:
Post a Comment