When art is open sourced
In the software technology world, we’ve seen a massive trend towards open-source technology.
Before I get into a deeper discussion, I want to define “open-source”, which is code made available globally — that is, for every developer or anyone who knows how to access and use the code. Open source platforms provide a method for collaboration on a global scale.
Some examples include Google’s open-source machine learning library TensorFlow, and the open sourced cloud computing infrastructure as a service platform — OpenStack. While open-source is nothing new, it’s certainly a trend that seems to be continuing.
The result has been rewarding as many companies are building products off the backs of existing technologies. With borderless access and democratization of ideas and information, the rates of progress that we’re seeing are unprecedented.
For the first time in history, every human citizen has a chance to tap into existing systems of thought and borrow code to build entirely new types of technologies and services.
However, while we’ve seen this become popular in the computer software space, this “open-source” phenomenon hasn’t been widely adopted in the mainframe of entirely different disciplines outside of software.
I realized this recently after coming across a video on YouTube last week. In this video, a songwriter sings a song with no background music and has trouble finding the right melody.
What happens next is incredible.
Over 20+ musical instruments from Piano, Bass, Drums Swing, Drums Beat, DoubleBass, Classic Guitar, Keyboard 1, Cymbal, Saxophone, Tuba, Keyboard 2, String, Cello 1, DoubleBass, Keyboard 3 submit their instrumental melodies across the globe via YouTube to support and bring the lyrics and the songwriters’ original song to life called “Give it up”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WoHxoz_0ykI
In this case, what started as a simple song with no instruments turned into a beautiful masterpiece with the contribution of other artists.
Imagine what we could create if the entire world and all disciplines were open-sourced and adopted this model.
For those of us who have half written stories, a canvas that remains partially painted, or a design that could benefit from a global audience — how many new ideas do you think would emerge if we were to open-source our art?
Who knows what possibilities exist?
We might very well find our individual artistic endeavors turn into global symphonies.
