Music nowadays exists predominantly digitally on files stored on electronic devices, which has significant ramifications for how music is created and consumed.
Digital distribution companies promote your music on Apple Music, Spotify, Tidal and other online music stores in exchange for royalties from them.
Audio File Formats
When it comes to audio file formats, there are various choices available to you. Your selection will depend on whether storage or sound quality is of primary concern as well as which devices will be used for playback. It is wise to avoid lossy formats as these compress data and may reduce sound quality.
Uncompressed PCM audio files such as WAV and AIFF offer superior sound quality but tend to be larger in file size, making them primarily suitable for professional music editing and high-fidelity playback. Furthermore, these formats can store metadata including artist name, track number and lyrics for easy retrieval.
AAC (Advanced Audio Coding) is an increasingly popular compressed audio format, boasting smaller file sizes while maintaining comparable audio quality to MP3. AAC files are supported on most platforms and mobile devices – making it ideal for streaming or storing music while on-the-go – such as those used by Spotify and Apple Music streaming services.
FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec) is an open-source audio file format with superior compression efficiency over AAC while retaining original sound quality, making it the ideal solution for those prioritizing sound quality or who require compatibility across different devices and software applications.
OGG Vorbis (not Hi-Res) is an open-source and patent-free alternative to MP3 and AAC that enables more effective compression with reduced file sizes; making it the choice of many podcasters and wiki editors.
WMA (Windows Media Audio) is a lossy audio file format designed for Windows-based systems and supporting Digital Rights Management (DRM). While WMA files can be played by most devices, their sound quality may not match up as well to those offered here; thus it should be avoided for general music purposes.
ALAC (Apple Lossless Audio Codec) is an Apple Lossless file format designed for their devices and software, offering similar audio quality and compression efficiency as FLAC while seamlessly integrating into their ecosystem.
MIDI File Formats
The Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) protocol allows computers, electronic musical instruments and related equipment to communicate with one another. The specification provides real-time messaging formats for events like note on/off events, velocity changes, tempo data and other musical control elements. SMF (Standard Midi File) files store these messages logically on one or more tracks at the exact time it was recorded for playback at any later point in time.
A MIDI file begins with a header chunk and one or more track chunks that define a logical track. The header chunk contains information specific to this overall file such as its format, length indicator, and file name; these pieces of information help the computer detect how best to process it.
Each MIDI event is represented by two bytes that may include a status byte that indicates its type and a sequence number identifying where in its track it belongs; an event marked “track cue” requires being played at the beginning of its corresponding track.
An MTrk chunk contains all of the midi data (with timing bytes) and non-midi data for one track, including timing bytes. Additionally, its header includes an identification byte that represents how many tracks exist and a Length byte to display how many data bytes make up that track; its length byte can change depending on its complexity.
An MTrk event starts by specifying its status byte to indicate “track start”, followed by its length in data bytes – which typically range from variable to static length – so that its sequencer can determine where exactly in a file it should start playing the track.
MIDI files can be saved in various formats, including WAVE and MIDI. To convert a MIDI to WAV format, simply load it into your digital audio recording program and record as any other audio file would.
Control Data Formats
Music can be stored digitally in different forms; from pure audio formats such as CDs to hybrid formats which store both data and audio simultaneously. While physical medium was once the main way musicians stored and shared recordings with one another, digital technology has changed how we access musical media – most musical creation and consumption now happens through streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music with increasing focus on context-sensitive features and services for maximum relevance to users.
Spotify and the rapid expansion of online music services is evidence of traditional publishing methods being overtaken in the marketplace, leading to a significant decrease in song value and an abundance of audio content flooding the industry. Music industry players are struggling to develop revenue streams that can offset this saturation; as a result, they’ve had difficulty maintaining audience loyalty despite this increase.
At the start of this decade, major record labels created new services to combat online piracy by not directly competing with physical sales. Unfortunately, this failed to provide enough value for consumers, quickly losing its popularity; consequently resulting in music industry revenues shrinking since 1999.
Although physical music sales revenues have seen a decrease, people across the world still listen to more recorded music than ever. This trend can be partly attributed to access-based services which provide almost an unlimited catalogue at a relatively low cost. These services have completely altered how people access and engage with music, transforming how listeners enjoy and interact with it. Many are opting to stream any song at any time over having physical records stored away in a closet. Services such as this one often integrate seamlessly with social network services, allowing the user to constantly inform friends what tracks they are listening to – providing advertisers with valuable data that enables them to target specific advertisements at specific audience members.
Computer Music Data
Computer music data formats are used to store digital representations of analog signals such as audio files. Compression methods may be applied in order to reduce file sizes as storing raw audio data can take up a great deal of storage space. Common digital music file formats include WAV, MP3, FLAC and OGG – the right format may depend on how it will be used; for instance if multiple devices need accessing your music simultaneously then lossy compression formats like MP3 may be more suitable while lossless formats like FLAC may offer closer fidelity than MP3.
Early 1970s saw the creation of computer-based music composition software programs, which allowed musicians to complete various compositional tasks using digitalized data from synthesizers or other signal sources. For example, these systems allowed composers to read conventional notated scores, read MIDI file data to control external synthesizers/synthesisers, generate acoustic waveforms for output through loudspeakers, as well as read MIDI file data to control them all – initially these computers were large and costly but since microprocessor revolution smaller, less expensive computers such as Apple IIs were making this possible and giving musicians access to computer music composition software programs.
In the 1980s, several computer music centers were established globally – M.I.T, The University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, Stanford’s Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics and Paris’ Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Music (IRCAM). All four organizations continue to develop new software while researching computerized synthesis and composition techniques.
Users today often need multiple devices in which to play music on their computers, and so it is vital that they understand all of the digital music file formats available so that they can make informed choices regarding which ones will best serve their needs. Furthermore, it is wise to organize your digital music files using folders, subfolders and consistent naming conventions so you can quickly locate what you need when needed – using folders, subfolders and metadata gives basic details about each file within file browsers.