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thereport ISSUE 403 | 05 APRIL 2017 Hardware Be!er Faster Stronger Our pick of 2017’s most exciting music devices and hardware startups 1 ISSUE 403 05.04.17 COVER FEATURE Hardware Be!er Faster Stronger Our pick of 2017’s most exciting music devices and hardware startups The history of popular music consumption is intertwined with hardware – from the frst gramophones, through Sony’s Walkman, Apple’s iPod and today Amazon’s Echo. Plus, hardware’s role in modern music creation, from iconic turntables to genre-starting samplers and drum machines. In 2017, there’s a renewed excitement in the music industry around hardware of all kinds, from technology giants and nimble startups alike. Whether it’s creating music, listening to it or learning to play it, new gadgets and tech developments are creating new possibilities for musicians, rightsholders and fans. This issue, we ofer our take on these trends, as well as highlighting some of the startups we think are worth following. DAVIDS AND GOLIATHS giants are punting their own devices. hit. Snapchat makes spectacles while assistant space, which Google has since Two trends worth picking up on as Google has its own-brand Pixel Facebook liked the Oculus Rift headset so also entered – but they don’t have this field background are the hardware efforts of smartphones and tablets, its Daydream much it bought the company, while also to themselves. technology giants, as well as the launch View VR headset and its Google Assistant exploring the potential for other hardware Hardware startups are using pad provided by crowdfunding platforms to smart speaker. in its labs. crowdfunding platforms to not just raise hardware startups. Amazon defined a category with its The investment of these mega- money, but amass their groups of early- report Apple has always made hardware, of Kindle e-reader, then moved into tablets, corporations is helping to create new adopter guinea pigs to test their products. course, but in 2017 even the traditionally a short-lived smartphone, and now the hardware categories – see Echo’s ignition It’s no coincidence that a number of the software/service-focused technology Echo, which has been a considerable of the smart speaker + voice-powered startups we feature in this report came the 2 ISSUE 403 headphones with built-in capacitive touch 05.04.17 COVER FEATURE features, allowing you to control music by swiping and tapping rather than pressing to prominence first on Kickstarter or buttons or digging your smartphone out of Indiegogo. Crowdfunding is increasingly your pocket. a proving ground for later institutional There are headphones that can record funding. 360-degree audio out in the field; that Sometimes, these startups risk being use AI to learn their wearer’s musical squashed when a big player enters their preferences and adapt accordingly; that market. However, a common scenario may personalise their EQ settings to the ‘earprint’ be for them to be acquired by one of the of the individual listener; and so on. bigger fish and put their talents to work If audio science appeals to headphone within that company. The R&D for the buyers even at a fraction of the rate that future of music consumption can be widely booming bass and clever branding did for dispersed, even if it ends up in the hands of Beats, there could be knock-on effects for a smaller number of large players. the products coming out of Apple and others. SPEAKERS GET SMART INSTRUMENTS Amazon’s Echo is a fascinating case study GET CONNECTED in new music hardware. For starters, it’s a rare example of a cutting-edge technology We can’t lie: there is an awful lot of – voice control and smart assistants – nonsense around the ‘Internet Of Things’ being rolled out in a product that is being 1989’ or ‘Play me Lady Gaga’s last album’. Beats Electronics and Beats Music in 2014, category right now, with products that marketed to a massively mainstream But it has the opportunity to evolve into a much of the coverage focused on the latter make headlines – smart forks, smart socks, audience in Amazon customers. conversation,” he said. “It’s an opportunity service and what it meant for Apple’s then- smart condom rings, even – but have the The Echo is also sparking thoughts to get into a dialogue, to be a discovery nascent streaming ambitions. air of technology solutions to problems about new ways to consume music, with experience driven by dialogue.” Yet Beats Electronics was just as that don’t exist. Amazon having to teach its Alexa assistant The Echo has also shown how devices interesting in its way: albeit headphones The emergence of smart musical how to understand what “Alexa, play Ed intended for the living room, kitchen or as a brand and lifestyle choice, rather than instruments, though, is more interesting, Sheeran’s new song” means in a world bedroom could be the route into the home any particular technological wizardry. particularly when it relates to music where all Ed Sheeran’s new songs are for music; but it has also disrupted some In 2017, this product category is getting education. Much of the action in that released on the same day to streaming of the companies we’ve seen as music interesting, as some of the companies sector is around guitars, with devices services. Or the ability to whip up a playlist hardware disrupters themselves. we profile in this issue show. There are geared towards teaching novices to play. on the fly in response to a conversational Witness the changes afoot within Sonos, From light-up frets to built-in catalogues request like “Alexa, play happy indie music which is retooling its business with more of songs to play along to, there’s frenetic from the 1990s”. of a focus on voice – but also as a bridge and inventive activity going on here. When music:)ally talked to Universal between the different flavours offered by There are also opportunities for Music CTO Ty Roberts in December, he the technology giants. music rightsholders. As instruments proved to be an example of how industry get smart, so music publishers in executives are mulling the potential of HEADPHONES particular will find new partners in report Alexa and similarly voice-driven interfaces. that hardware sector. Sheet music “Today it’s a command-and-fetch robot: Another key area to watch in 2017 is and guitar tabs have been finding ‘Tell me what the number one song was in headphones. When Apple paid $3bn for digital expressions for a long time now, the 3 ISSUE 403 Daydream View, Oculus Rift, HTC Vive and But each reflects an interesting trend 05.04.17 COVER FEATURE PlayStation VR on the VR side, and the or a creative approach that we think the HoloLens or whatever Magic Leap comes music industry could be thinking about but instruments with that kind of content up with on the AR side. as it evolves its own strategy for working at their core represent a new revenue We always twitch when someone on a better – and, yes, faster and stronger too – stream that could grow quickly. conference stage trumpets that “content is with the hardware world. Another aspect to this is the fact that king”, but the cliché does apply to VR and AR. modern music hardware doesn’t exist in These headsets need creative, immersive and MIGHTY AUDIO a void. Pretty much all the music-making inventive experiences if they’re to take off www.bemighty.com devices covered in this report are designed – and music could play an important part in The premise of this is simple: take your to work with smartphones and tablets providing those experiences. music-streaming anywhere without the via companion apps: a combination of A label (with its artists) and a VR/AR need for a smartphone. Mighty raised hardware and software. ROLI’s Blocks are hardware firm (with its technology) has $300k on Kickstarter in early 2016 for its just one example of this where musicians powerful partnership potential, and in a iPod Shuffle-like clip-on device. Users pair – via downloadable ‘soundpacks’ – have a way that delivers value to both the player with their smartphone, log in to role to play too. sides, in contrast to the Spotify, then sync playlists wirelessly music industry’s grumbles for offline play when the phone is left FEELING MIGHTY REAL about the ultimate value at home. exchange of the iPod all The device can store up to 4GB Virtual reality isn’t the focus for this report, those years ago. of music and offers up to 48 hours although you can read our take on the So, this is music:) of playback time, with its marketing VR market in our recent primer, which ally’s hardware issue, materials focusing on joggers and was published in March. But VR and the with an emphasis on the hikers. Mighty claims that it believes related world of augmented reality (AR) – startups rather than the a screen to be “unnecessary”, so the represented by Magic Leap and others here big-tech players. We don’t player’s controls consist of audio- – has its own hardware story to tell. think every company here regulator buttons plus a headphone Even for the biggest technology is certain to be a winner. socket. Users can also toggle firms, VR and AR are a challenging sell Indeed, we see flaws in a between playlists, thanks to software to consumers beyond the early adopters number of their technologies that ‘reads’ out their names to get who’ll snap up headsets like the Gear VR, and/or business models.