Professor’s podcast explores technological, social innovation in music industry
Gigi Johnson, alumna and professor in the UCLA Herb Alpert School of music presents "Innovating Music," a podcast inspired by her travels and the diverse sounds of music. Johnson is also teaching a special topics course at UCLA focusing on how the business of music has changed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the ways in which her Music Industry course is preparing students for this significant industry shift. Watch a short video about Johnson's course on youtube and find her podcast wherever you get your podcasts.
"Professor Gigi Johnson is interweaving the diverse sounds of music with her podcast, “Innovating Music.”
Professor Gigi Johnson created her podcast, “Innovating Music,” four years ago. She said each guest shares how they stylistically innovate their own music and how they plan to improve the industry through new musical compositions and artificial intelligence technologies. (Ashley Kenney/Daily Bruin) The alumna said her podcast was inspired by traveling around the world meeting different types of creatives in the industry, such as DJs and composers. She said the conversations she recorded at the time led to the inception of her podcast, with the first episode airing four years ago.
“I’d bring out a recorder and record a half-hour to 45-minute interview with them while I was traveling,” Johnson said. “It let people have a space to talk about change, and really talk about innovation – but everyone has a different lens.”
Since then, the podcast has featured more than 70 guests, Johnson said, including musical industry talents such as composer Siddhartha Khosla and co-founder and CEO of Bandsintown Fabrice Sergent. She said her guests share how they stylistically innovate their own work and their plans to improve the industry through new business strategies, musical compositions and artificial intelligence technologies.
Each podcast provides a different perspective from each guest that speaks to how they are changing the music industry through technological and social change, Johnson said. These “innovators,” as the podcast’s title alludes to, have worked in a variety of mediums, which was key to their success, Johnson said. The mediums vary from public policy and sound diplomacy to technologies that help support artists virtually, and Johnson said her guests often are working to connect the dots between these fields."— May 14, 2020, Noor Ghatala
This post is an excerpt. Read the full article on the Daily Bruin website.
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