Wow, YouTube Music basically launched & copied Spotify today. We've officially entered the algorithmic playlisting era of how we discover music. Long live the single & hopefully more meritocratic distribution dismantling the major labels. 
This is also the beginning of "Playlist Discovery Optimization." For example, Spotify has an API that can tell you whether your song is sad, danceable, chill, angry, etc. You can use the labels to figure out how to enter low-competed for playlists to find opps for distribution.
Spotify just released a way to submit to all their playlists which made having to convince their curators (eg the god of EDM playlists: Austin Kramer) be less of a "who knows who" game. Did you know that it literally started out as Google submit form before they prob made it?
Music is going through a golden era right now: (1) better distribution/discovery, (2) very young artists are making huge songs in their bedroom (like software engineers) at very low cost, (3) every instrument is in your computer (you don't have to learn how to play)
I think one of the few remaining pieces right now to solve is just getting artists paid. Unlike Silicon Valley, music doesn't really have an ecosystem where people easily get funded for their endeavors. But being paid quickly would help solve that for young, poor artists.
I can't understate how important it is that artists get paid quickly: If they don't have a means to make money, they have to work at a dead-end job. If they do that, they can't get better at making music. That means you have to be financially supported or their career ends.
The level of quantitative data people now have available to make music more financially viable is becoming astounding. It's approaching money ball levels now that streaming has taken off. In fact, a16z funded a company called United Masters which is doing exactly that.
I cannot understate how much things are improving. I can play a freaking Sitar on my computer. Or an entire 60-person String Ensemble. Or make my own sound from scratch using a saw wave.
Like you'd expect: kids are basically pirating all the software, holing themselves up for the entire day making music, self-teaching & then releasing it & gaining tons of listeners. Does that sound similar to another really important industry?
With music moving to become primarily digital now, you can iterate on the product: (1) frequently release singles, (2) test demand, (3) remove songs that didn't go anywhere to limit the brand impact, (4) repeat process until you find a sound people like, (5) do an album.
You might be thinking: "Yeah but music is hits driven & software is less so." Artists convert their distribution & brand into a biz. Wiz Khalifa is building a weed-company utilizing his persona to help promote the business. He's even releasing an album called "Rolling Papers 2"
Anyway, all of this is to say: Music is just getting started. EDM was just the beginning. Almost every song on the top 50 list is significantly electronically made but most of us can't tell.
Software is eating music.
Software is eating music.
