Dagfinn Bach, a Norwegian developer who worked on the very first MP3 player in 1993, is currently working on the successor to the humble MP3, which he calls MusicDNA. A MusicDNA file will contain not just the song, but could also contain lyrics, videos and blog posts, all of which is dynamically updateable. It’s strange to think that we make one day look at MP3s with the same wistful regard we have for eight-tracks or the seven-inch – ignoring for a moment that at least some part of the storehouse of affection we have for physical storage media is its quality of sound – but time marches on, and it would appear that a more interconnected musical experience is in store for us in the future.
I have to admit, this appeals to the part of me that wishes ‘the future’ – and yes, I do mean a nebulous collection of futurism and sci-fi nerdery – would hurry up and arrive already; but at the same time, I can see how this might prompt concerns that the relationship that young people have with music is being irrevocably altered. The kind of peripheral content that MusicDNA would include has always been part of being a music fan, but by including it with the song itself, it ceases to be an organic process of accumulation, and becomes just another media channel. On the other hand, if end users could make MusicDNA files, it would be an amazing avenue for sharing user-generated content and for new bands to make their presence felt.
However, MusicDNA means that the amount of content needed to get an album together – provided that the concept of the album survives – suddenly shoots up. This is unlikely to be a problem for artists on big labels, although as yet, no major label has signed up to MusicDNA, but for the aforementioned new band, it requires a significant amount of extra work. Bach is quoting up to 32GB of extra content on MusicDNA files – although I’d assume that it isn’t actually on the file itself, not unless that’s some particularly impressive compression – but when your first single can hold all the content on your band website hundreds of times over, that first single might suddenly seem very daunting.
It’s refreshing to see however, that at least someone is looking forward rather than back when it comes to music, even if it’s a Norwegian computer engineer.
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