How The Digital World Is Changing The Way We Consume And Experience Music

Interactive browser-based environments are adding an extra dimension to music discovery.

Over the years, club music has soundtracked a myriad of digital multi-sensory experiences. Who could forget the ambitious attempts of VNC: The Virtual Nightclub to bring ’90s British rave culture onto compact disc or Ishkur’s Guide to Electronic Music‘s attempt to create  networks where communities, cultures and music intersect?

Another recent attempt at mining this virtual space has come via augmented reality. Perhaps the most exciting and fertile of these developments has been the proliferation of browser-based digital spaces that labels and collectives use as platforms to share, produce and distribute music. Take, for example, Sinjin Hawke and Zora Jones’ Fractal Fantasy, a platform that allows users to interact with beautiful, computer-generated environments. Or NON Worldwide, which serves as a online nexus and meeting point for the African musical diaspora.

Another exemplary and innovative project comes via Quantum Natives. The label and London-based club night has shaped its online presence as an interactive futuristic map that offers intrepid explorers the chance to scroll around imaginative landscapes to discover new music, linking to artists’ Soundclouds and Bandcamps. Merging futuristic aesthetics with music has made uncovering new worlds of music an exciting and immersive experience.

Now, FACT Magazine has collected some of the most impressive online platforms changing the face of music discovery. Investigating the phenomena of Quantum Natives alongside labels like Eco Futurism Corporation and Bio Future Laboratory, it’s necessary reading for all music fans interested in how browsing might look in the not-too-distant future. Read the full feature on the FACT website here.

Read more: The future of virtual reality in the music business