Design for the Music Industry: When the Gap is an Opportunity

Abstract

Between the academic world, which often represents new expectations and disseminates the latest frontiers of design research, and the sphere of industry, where they are filtered and introduced into the market, there is a relationship of mutual exchange and influence. In the music industry, this relationship seems to have remained at an embryonic stage: companies are researching and investing in new products, effectively applying many of the contemporary topics of design research (usability, interaction, ergonomics, technology, user-centred) without the academic world, literature, and design exhibitions have truly become aware of the enormous potential of this area, in which the economic interests are strong (the users of music include all the people on the planet) and generate a close competition between companies. The analysis of case-studies of innovative musical instruments and the project for a new speaker stand thus become an opportunity to demonstrate the advantage of a design approach in this important area.