Every generation of music has had technologies that changed what was possible. Electric guitars transformed popular music. Synthesizers introduced sounds that had never existed before. Drum machines made rhythm programmable. Digital recording eventually put capabilities once reserved for expensive studios onto a laptop.
Today, we’re experiencing another major shift in the relationship between music and technology. But this one feels different, largely because technology isn’t only changing what experienced musicians can create. It is also changing who has access to the creative process in the first place.
I recently sat down with Kevin Goldsmith, Chief Technology Officer at DistroKid, for A Nerd’s Point of View to talk about this evolving relationship. Kevin has spent more than 30 years working in technology, but his connection to music and technology began long before it became his career.
As a teenager in the 1980s, Kevin was simultaneously interested in music, photography, computers, synthesizers and electronic music. He remembers being fascinated by artists who could use technology to create arrangements and sounds that previously would have required an entire band. As he put it during our conversation, “I loved the idea of taking technology and combining it with image making and music making.” Nerd POV Kevin Goldsmith (2)
It can be tempting to talk about emerging technology as something happening to the arts. History suggests something more complicated. Technology has repeatedly become part of the creative process itself.
Synthesizers and drum machines didn’t simply make existing instruments easier to play. They introduced entirely new creative possibilities. Musicians could construct sounds that weren’t possible with traditional instruments and build increasingly complex compositions in different ways.
Kevin sees today’s creative tools as part of that continuum. During our conversation, he looked back at technologies such as synthesizers and drum machines as examples of tools that expanded what creative people could use to express themselves. Today’s technology may be significantly more capable, but the relationship between technological innovation and artistic experimentation isn’t new. Nerd POV Kevin Goldsmith (2)
What may be different this time is the scale of access.
Historically, wanting to make music and being capable of producing the music you imagined were two very different things. Learning an instrument requires time and practice. Producing, arranging, recording and mixing music introduce entirely different skill sets. For someone without those skills, the distance between an idea and a finished piece of music could be enormous.
New creative tools are shrinking that distance.
Kevin talked about people who have always wanted to express themselves through music but were never able to develop the skills necessary to do it. He sees value in technology giving those people another path to creative expression and helping them move beyond limitations that previously prevented them from turning an idea into something tangible. Nerd POV Kevin Goldsmith (2)
That changes the conversation. We aren’t simply witnessing new ways of making music. We may be seeing a significant expansion in the number of people who can participate in making it.
For creators, that could mean several things at once:
The result could be a much larger and more diverse creative ecosystem.
Lowering barriers to creativity doesn’t mean that craft suddenly becomes irrelevant. In fact, Kevin made an important distinction during our conversation between making creative expression more accessible and diminishing the skills people have spent years developing.
He pointed out that people who have invested significant time, energy and practice into their craft still possess valuable skills. Technology doesn’t erase the ability of a musician to walk onto a stage and create something from silence, or an artist to begin with a blank canvas and create something that didn’t exist before. He believes those abilities will continue to resonate with people. Nerd POV Kevin Goldsmith (2)
I think this is where conversations about technology and creativity sometimes become unnecessarily binary. We frame the question as traditional creativity versus technology, when the more interesting possibility is that both continue to evolve alongside one another.
Access and mastery don’t have to be opposing forces. One allows more people to begin creating. The other represents what can happen through years of practice, experimentation and refinement.
One of the ideas I shared with Kevin during our conversation was my belief that we could see a spike in live music as creative technology becomes more prevalent. The easier it becomes to create and consume digital experiences, the more I think people may crave experiences that feel unmistakably human.
Kevin immediately connected with that idea. He described some of the most transformative and vivid musical experiences of his life as moments spent standing in front of a band, watching musicians perform music he loved. Nerd POV Kevin Goldsmith (2)
He also shared stories about discovering musicians simply because he happened to see them perform as an opening act. One of those performances happened roughly 30 years ago, yet the experience stayed with him decades later. That kind of discovery is fundamentally different from encountering a recommended track on a streaming platform.
Technology can help us discover music. It can distribute a song around the world almost instantly. It can provide creators with new ways to make that song in the first place. But none of those things necessarily replace the experience of sharing a physical space with an artist and an audience.
If anything, increasingly digital creative experiences may make those moments more distinctive.
Technology isn’t only changing how music gets made. It has also fundamentally changed how artists find audiences.
DistroKid distributes music from independent musicians to more than 150 stores and streaming providers around the world. But distribution alone doesn’t guarantee discovery. Kevin pointed out that artists now have many potential paths for getting their music in front of people, including streaming, social media, video, karaoke and traditional live performance. His advice to musicians asking how to get their music played is essentially to pursue whatever avenues help them reach their particular audience. Nerd POV Kevin Goldsmith (2) Nerd POV Kevin Goldsmith (2)
That creates both opportunity and complexity. There is more music competing for attention, but there are also more places where discovery can happen. The next independent artist someone falls in love with might be discovered through a playlist, a TikTok video, a karaoke catalog, a live show or somewhere we haven’t traditionally thought of as a music discovery platform.
The challenge for artists is increasingly not simply “How do I distribute my music?” but “Where does my audience discover music, and how do I meet them there?”
Toward the end of our conversation, I asked Kevin where he sees the intersection of technology and the arts heading. His outlook for the next few years was notably optimistic.
Kevin believes we’ll continue to see a creative explosion over the next few years as people who already possess creative skills gain access to new tools while entirely new groups of people gain ways to express ideas they previously couldn’t. Nerd POV Kevin Goldsmith (2)
He described these technologies as additional tools available to creators rather than replacements for creativity itself. His conclusion captured the larger theme of our conversation particularly well: “I think it’s going to mean more art and not less.” Nerd POV Kevin Goldsmith (2)
I think that is one of the more interesting ways to look at this moment.
Every major technological shift in music has forced us to reconsider what an instrument can be, how music can be made and how artists can reach an audience. This time, we may also be reconsidering who gets to participate in the creative process.
The future of music doesn’t necessarily have to be framed as technology versus humanity. The much more interesting question is what happens when technology gives more humans more ways to create, while the distinctly human experiences of mastery, performance and connection remain valuable.
If Kevin is right, we won’t have to wait decades to find out. The next few years could be among the most creatively prolific we’ve experienced yet.
For more of my conversation with DistroKid CTO Kevin Goldsmith, listen to “The Evolving World of Music & Technology” on A Nerd’s Point of View. We explore the changing music industry, creative technology, independent artists, discovery, live performance and where the intersection of music and technology may be heading next.