Breaking Racial Sound Barriers

By Christopher John Farley, novelist, pop music critic and author of a forthcoming biography of Bob Marley.

Music is eternal, but the form it takes is temporary, and the way we listen to it is affected not only by technology, but by who we are and how we live. Recorded music has been around for only about 100 years, and it revolutionized the experience because it allowed people to listen as individuals, away from concert halls and other public places. Every metamorphosis since then, from records to digital downloading, has come more quickly. The way in which music is produced, transmitted and enjoyed will make another radical shift in the next 25 years as our population grows, spreads and diversifies.

By 2030, digital media will increasingly allow communities once relegated to the side streams of American culture into the mainstream. In the past -- the late 20th century -- you usually had to have a significant amount of monetary support to publish a book, make a movie, or drop a record. By 2030, a growing number of authentic ethnic voices will be able to make themselves heard globally via the Net (or high-capacity information discs) without big money muffling their sound.

Because releasing songs digitally is easier and cheaper than printing up a disc, niche and ethnic musicians will thrive. America will still be the musical melting pot it is today, but specific genres associated with particular cultural groups will have a chance to flourish because of the Web -- reggaeton is just the start.

At the same time, by 2030 more members of America's increasingly mixed population will accept the fact that race is a cultural contrivance, and that it makes little sense to keep forcing members of an increasing hyphenated population into tiny racial boxes.

In the 20th century, relations between African Americans and Caucasian Americans were placed at the center of virtually every racial debate and discussion. In the 21st century, the color line will fracture. By 2030, cultural interchanges will increasingly bypass the black/white dichotomy. We will see more films, books and musical works that deal with Black Asian relations, Indian Latino relations and other ethnic combinations that have nothing to do with how non-ethnic people think or feel. These cultures will mix to create new genres of art.

Racism will continue to be a problem in American society for the foreseeable future. It will manifest itself in many ways -- including through technology. In the next few years, digital rights management will become more Orwellian. The line between digital rights and civil rights will blur. Entertainment companies already spike their products with codes that prevent them from being used in unauthorized ways. In the near future, corporate interests will insert even more restrictive programs into their wares -- ones that shut down computers, spy on users, erase files, and even automatically siphon off private bank accounts when corporate music interests are infringed. Lower-income groups -- mostly made up of people of color -- will be the least able to resist these attacks on their virtual civil rights. Digital revolutionaries will have more fighting to do.

Enraged by restrictive digital rights management, music fans will increasingly clamor for live concert experiences, in person and on the Net. Touring will emerge as a way for truly talented artists to stand out -- and profit from their talent.

In the glory days of rock, great artists proved their worth by putting out double albums. In the future, instead of the album form dying out and being replaced by singles, ambitious artists will use new technology (discs that hold more data, high-speed connections that allow users to download many tracks quickly) to put out mega-albums -- releases that feature 100 songs or more.

New technologies may kill the music industry as we know it. But in our mixed-up new America of 2030, music will do just fine.