Abstract

This review article aims to contextualize the role of technology in music while elucidating its effects on the music industry, music, and artists in the digital age (where online music streaming, online artist promotion via social media, and online music download sites have gained popularity). Since technology has had an impact on music and artists from its inception in the late 19th century to its advancement and structural changes in the traditional music industry over time, this paper examines those effects while attempting to contextualize social media's role in music and present a scenario in which social media acts as a platform for artists. This study is significant because it explores the evolution of musical technologies, the customs and practises of the conventional music industry, and the role that artists played in the pre-digital period and its transition to the digital one. This article explores and makes the case for whether or not the essence of music in the digital age has persisted in the twenty-first century, based on an understanding of the historicity of technological advancement of music. Finally, some closing thoughts on the study done and its relevance to the digital age are included in this paper.