Digital Futures of Music: a DMRN x DFI panel

Music is a prominent part of every culture throughout the world and has been so across the history of humanity. It is no exaggeration to call music a defining feature of what it is to be human.

We live in a rapidly changing world, with those changes driven – for better and worse (sic) – by digital forces. Naturally, the music so central to our lives is no stranger to this.

Music has a long history in relation to tech. There are de facto algorithms going back hundreds of years; Ada Lovelace’s notes on the Analytical Engine (arguably the start of modern computing) include a prominent mention of musical composition; and unequivocally computational systems for music have been around since the 1950s.

Recent developments have had a significant effect on the working practices and legal status of musicians and their works. This panel brings together experts from across academia, creative practice (composition and performance), and the technology and legal worlds to consider deeply intertwined questions around digital changes to how we might best make, enjoy, share, and protect music(ians) in the digital age.

The DFI’s central question is “How can we live well with technology?” It seems clear that “living well” as a human involves music; how can we best “live well with the technology that now surrounds music”?  

(Text by Mark Gotham)

Please note: This panel is the final session part of the annual DMRN conference for which separate (also free) registration is required. Click here for more information on DMRN and to register.

The panel will begin at 6:00pm and is expected to finish at approximately 7:00pm. Following the event, we invite you to join us for a drinks reception.

Speakers' Info:

• Mark Gotham, Senior Lecturer in Cultural Computation at King’s College London
• Hayleigh Bosher, Reader in Intellectual Property Law at Brunel University London, and Creative Industries Law and Policy Expert
• Zubin Kanga, pianist, composer, technologist, and academic
• Ed Newton-Rex, composer, former tech executive, TIME100 AI 2025 Honouree, and Visiting Fellow at King's College London
• Lizzie Wilson, interdisciplinary artist and researcher at University of the Arts London
• Robert Laidlow, AI+ Academic Senior Fellow in Music at King’s College London

Chaired by Mark Gotham