Is Auto-Tune Hitting The Right Pitch?
Auto-Tune’s Impact on Revenue in The Music Industry In 1990 the technology that would change music forever was invented. Oddly enough that invention was first developed as a software to interpret seismic data for the oil company Halliburton (Ives). As soon as the software was implemented into the company, it took internal production in the U.S. from 30 to 60 percent, netting the company about $1 billion a year (Prisco). However, the creator of the software, Andy Hildebrand, soon realized that it had the power to manipulate the pitch of an audio file. With the softwares economic success in the oil industry, Hildebrand decided to implement this technology into the music industry, and thus auto-tune was …show more content…
However, once auto-tune came around, this method could be achieved by simply clicking a button. Auto-Tune manipulates a recorded audio files pitch by bending each note that is recorded to the actual key that the note belongs in (Ives). With the obvious potential use in the music industry, the question remained; could autotune yield the same economic results in the music industry as it did in the oil industry? Today autotune has become one of the most infamous pieces of technology in any industry. Traditional musicians arguing that it stips away talent, and businessmen arguing that it is essential to generating revenue to support the world's musicians. While many music fans argue that auto-tune is tarnishing the music business, research supports that auto-tune is having a positive effect on revenue in the music industry through its ability to create music quicker, its use as a creative …show more content…
While many argue that autotune hurts the music industry by blurring the lines between what is and what is not talent, auto-tune can be used as a creative tool that allows artist who cannot sing to expand their audience through melody. This creative use of auto-tune is best exemplified through Kanye West's 808s and Heartbreak. The album was the first of its kind, incorporating auto-tune ballads with rap instrumentals. In a CNN article titled “The Invention That Changed Music Forever”, author Jacopo Prisco emphasized, “Kanye west first used auto-tune in his 2008 album 808s and Heartbreak, which was included in the Rolling Stone’s list of the 40 most groundbreaking records of all time.” 808s and Heartbreak marked a new period for rap music. It was a time when rappers, specifically Kanye, wanted to blur the lines between genres. This auto-tune ballad of an album paved the way for new artists to enter the music industry. Many credit this album as the influence behind Drake’s revolutionary sound that further blurred the lines between Rap and Pop music (Greene). An article titled “The Coldest Story Ever Told: The Influence of Kanye West’s 808s & Heartbreak” described the following when dissecting the impact auto-tune had on Kanyes music at the time. “Looking back, it’s easy to see how many point-of-no-return qualities the album had. West was required to
Auto-Tune’s Impact on Revenue in The Music Industry In 1990 the technology that would change music forever was invented. Oddly enough that invention was first developed as a software to interpret seismic data for the oil company Halliburton (Ives). As soon as the software was implemented into the company, it took internal production in the U.S. from 30 to 60 percent, netting the company about $1 billion a year (Prisco). However, the creator of the software, Andy Hildebrand, soon realized that it had the power to manipulate the pitch of an audio file. With the softwares economic success in the oil industry, Hildebrand decided to implement this technology into the music industry, and thus auto-tune was …show more content…
However, once auto-tune came around, this method could be achieved by simply clicking a button. Auto-Tune manipulates a recorded audio files pitch by bending each note that is recorded to the actual key that the note belongs in (Ives). With the obvious potential use in the music industry, the question remained; could autotune yield the same economic results in the music industry as it did in the oil industry? Today autotune has become one of the most infamous pieces of technology in any industry. Traditional musicians arguing that it stips away talent, and businessmen arguing that it is essential to generating revenue to support the world's musicians. While many music fans argue that auto-tune is tarnishing the music business, research supports that auto-tune is having a positive effect on revenue in the music industry through its ability to create music quicker, its use as a creative …show more content…
While many argue that autotune hurts the music industry by blurring the lines between what is and what is not talent, auto-tune can be used as a creative tool that allows artist who cannot sing to expand their audience through melody. This creative use of auto-tune is best exemplified through Kanye West's 808s and Heartbreak. The album was the first of its kind, incorporating auto-tune ballads with rap instrumentals. In a CNN article titled “The Invention That Changed Music Forever”, author Jacopo Prisco emphasized, “Kanye west first used auto-tune in his 2008 album 808s and Heartbreak, which was included in the Rolling Stone’s list of the 40 most groundbreaking records of all time.” 808s and Heartbreak marked a new period for rap music. It was a time when rappers, specifically Kanye, wanted to blur the lines between genres. This auto-tune ballad of an album paved the way for new artists to enter the music industry. Many credit this album as the influence behind Drake’s revolutionary sound that further blurred the lines between Rap and Pop music (Greene). An article titled “The Coldest Story Ever Told: The Influence of Kanye West’s 808s & Heartbreak” described the following when dissecting the impact auto-tune had on Kanyes music at the time. “Looking back, it’s easy to see how many point-of-no-return qualities the album had. West was required to