TIS Weekly (#16): How New Technology Leads To New Music
[September 18th, 2015]
Looking back at the history of pop music, you see new technology leading to new genres. New possibilities make way for new creativity. In this newsletter we don’t focus on the way digitization has influenced distribution and has cut out the middleman, we focus on the the way new technologies have lead to new instruments have lead to new music.
It all started with a guitar
Freddy Fender was an innovator
The electric guitar has changed music. The electric guitar gave music power, gave music energy. Freddy Fender played an important role in that.
It all started with a bassline
The history of the 303
The Roland 303 basscomputer was intended to be a bass accompaniment for guitarists while practicing alone. It became the basis of a whole new genre: house music. Accidental innovation.
It all started with a beat
The world’s most popular drumloop
The sampler made re-using and re-mixing and cutting up easy. One of the most used bits of music is a 6 minute drumloop.
It all started with a bit of code
The story of Blue Monday
New Order’s Blue Monday is a classic in a lot of ways. It is a house and pop classic and the best selling 12 inch of all times. But technology wise it’s a masterpiece as well. New Order was fiddling with binary code to get this track going.
It all started with someone else’s idea
Everything Is A Remix
People have always been inspired by others, have always built on someone else’s ideas. That’s nothing new. The digital age makes it easier. That’s good for creativity. But is it only good? A must see doc about intellectual property.
OK that’s it for this week, friends of innovation. Keep on submitting, keep on voting, keep on innovating. Questions? Remarks? Ideas? hello@tis.tv is the address! From TIS with love, Erwin Blom.
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