Did you know that patented technologies are essential to the delivery of digital music?  

With the advent of digital audio, patents have become almost as important as copyright royalties in ensuring that great music not only gets written and performed, but also reaches the ears of fans worldwide with sound that’s almost as good as being there.  

In a previous article, we explained the importance of compression technologies that enable streaming video services and digital video conferencing, among other services.  

Today, to help celebrate the focus of this World IP Day (April 26th) on the beat of intellectual property in music, we’ll explain how innovative technologies keep making digital music better and better.  

Good digital sound is engineered

For starters, high-quality digital music on your mobile, television or streaming services is not a given. It is engineered. To convert analogue music into a manageable amount of data was a huge technical challenge. The first compression technologies (think MP3) drastically reduced the size of a ‘pure’ digital recording, allowing people to download songs in minutes rather than hours. But they lost some audio details, and purists said the compression had taken the ‘soul’ out of the music. “Lossless” compressions keep all the audio depth and details but require much larger files and are harder to stream without a very fast Internet connection. Music also needs to sound as good as possible no matter what kind of device you use to play it.  

The latest compression standards, including MPEG-H, enables not only high-quality but downright immersive and interactive digital music experiences. Thanks to innovative technologies contributed by IP Europe members Ericsson, Fraunhofer, Nokia, Orange, Panasonic, Philips, Qualcomm and others, it delivers realistic sound with a soul, as if the listener were in a music venue surrounded by performers. It works on all devices and platforms. Its “bit-rate-efficient” codec adjusts to optimise music quality based on the speed of the Internet connection available. And it allows listeners to control certain aspects of the musical experience, including separating musical instruments from vocals—for example for karaoke, when you only want the instruments.  

Smaller files work wonders

Compression standards have also been instrumental in helping new artists get discovered. Brunei musician Aziz Harun explained in a YouTube video for the World Intellectual Property Organization that not only copyright, but also streaming sites such as Spotify and iTunes are important to helping independent musicians get noticed. He should know: YouTube helped launch his career and catch the attention of big record labels.  

In short, compression standards and the patented technologies that they contain are now almost as essential as copyright to the production and experience of great music. Intellectual property provides not only the financial incentives but also the means for people to create and share music in the digital age. IP rights empower musical and business connections across different industries, enabling creative synergies and innovation that fuel economic growth. And that’s something to celebrate.  

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