Music in the Digital Age

As is so often said, what if music really isn’t what it used to be? With algorithms, streaming platforms, social media, and the rise of artificial intelligence, the digital age has transformed the production, distribution, performance, and the very way we consume music. What exactly has changed?

This is what “Music in the Digital Age,” an undergraduate class taught by postdoctoral fellow Lucy March at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania, explored last semester, all while connecting students to Penn’s music scene and teaching them to conduct ethnographic research — fittingly, on the internet.

“Digital technologies have changed music itself, but they’ve also changed the ways people form identities, communities, and relationships through music,” said March. “The class gave students space to think critically about the platforms and tools they engage with every day.”

Among the many topics they explored, from digital music celebrity and genres to identity and platformization, was the way artificial intelligence is affecting the music industry and our relationship to it.

“Learning how people have become so successful by using fully AI and AI-assisted production tools sparks a lot of interesting conversations about whether or not this is fair, even if it's done 'ethically,’ but also what this means for the future of music,” said Cesar Murillo, a second-year Communication major who took the course.

While AI use was prohibited for assignments, students were encouraged to experiment with Suno, an AI-powered music generator, with mixed results, sparking conversations about originality and artistry, as well as copyright and ownership.

“Sure, AI can do some things, but it can’t do mixing and mastering well. At the end of the day, it’s a tool, but if you don’t know how to use it, if at all, it doesn’t mean much,” said undeclared freshman Sarah Parmet, who recently interned at Philadelphia-based recording studio Milkboy the Studio and brought her experiences to class.

The class also featured a guest lecture by doctoral student and teaching fellow Bianca Zamora Perez, examining Spotify’s “AI DJ.” Her lecture traced the history of electronic music from Detroit to Berlin before turning to rave culture and digital-era trends, such as Boiler Room's livestreamed DJ sets.

“Techno music is explicitly communal,” said Zamora Perez. “I want to argue that technologies like the ‘AI DJ’ are a perfect inversion of musical culture … It makes the whole experience of embodiment — of being queer, of being trans — all those lived experiences become secondary to capital extraction.”

Artificial intelligence was just one of the ways students explored how identities and communities are formed through music.

“One of the questions that kept coming up was how does the digital age complicate how we think about social identity, music, celebrity, and persona,” said March. “This notion of an AI-generated celebrity — what does that mean?”

Musical communities, conversations, and even events are increasingly playing out online. For one assignment, a digital ethnography, March had students immerse themselves in an online interactive musical moment or event and write a paper about it reflecting on their experience. Crucially, the platforms that often mediate these events were critically examined by the class.

“We talked about different platforms from major players like Spotify to more indie platforms like Bandcamp and looked at how the different features and affordances of the platforms shaped the experience for the user as well as the musician,” said March.

“Algorithms do push certain creators over others. And these platforms are run by real people who choose how much to pay artists for their work,” said Parmet.

Students, many of them musicians themselves, had an opportunity to take their analysis offline with a visit to the Gabe Donnay Memorial Studio in Penn Live Arts on campus. There, students met with Audio Supervisor Garrett Burke, who provided a live demonstration on how to use the tools available in the studio.

“These students are so impressive, and I just wanted to be able to connect them with someone who can maybe get them involved in more opportunities to engage with music at Penn,” said March.

While music may not be what it used to be, the students from “Music in the Digital Age” are thinking critically about what comes next. Through conversations about AI, streaming platforms, online communities, and the evolving relationship between artists and audiences, they are engaging with the forces reshaping music today, and imagining what its future could become — and could very well play a role in how it unfolds.