What Can Today’s Patents Tell about Music of the Future?
With the SXSW Music Festival descending on Austin, my hometown, I wondered about technology innovation in the music industry.
We often hear about innovative music genres but what about the equipment musicians use to make those awesome sound tracks? And who is banking on inventions as music evolves?
A deep dive into Patent Analytics shows that it’s Yamaha by a hefty margin, with more than twice as much patent activity as the closest assignee, Sony.
Apple and Samsung made the list too, of course, with Apple slightly edging Samsung in activity. (I used PSG Patent Analytics to reveal U.S. patent-related activity for musical instruments and devices over the past 12 months.)
What about the technologies behind these inventions in the works?
I wasn’t surprised that the most frequent technology class was for transmitting or directing sound, but look how high patent activity for string or wind instruments registered.
What can be on the technical horizon for these traditional music-makers? For perspective, I’m taking a closer look at the evolution of the guitar for a future column.
Oh, and what about the most ignored instrument? That would be the organ — so far down the list that it didn’t make the chart.
Do these results surprise you? Do they reflect the advancements shown or discussed at SXSW?
And is there an innovator poised to capitalize on the organ opportunity that everyone else is overlooking?
More about Patent Analytics
Patent Analytics provides a high-level overview of a technology segment, allowing a numerical analysis not easily duplicated by other means.
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Photo credit: maxoidos (dollarphotoclub)
Please get in touch with me. I have been an innovator in music industry since 1972, and recently received a patent on a signal analysis/processing/synthesis/ambient feedback system that I have been working on for years.
There are many potential embodiments of this patent, some more academic and some maybe more commercial.
I want to find somebody interested in participating with me in developing systems of different types according to the patent, commercializing the systems or the patent itself.
Yours is the first comment I have seen on this group that seems to have a direct bearing on my interest in developing the invention.
Thanks
Mike Beigel
In case you read the article “Bob Moog’s Beautifully Intricate Drawings of Synth Circuits” at
http://www.wired.com/2015/03/moog-schematics/, I wanted to share that Moog is a well-recognized name across the music industry but they have had basically no patenting activity since 2000 or so. This makes them a great example of how you don’t need lots of expensive patenting activities to survive in today’s business world.
I thought Michelle Starr’s article “Yamaha’s motorcycle and instrument designers trade jobs” at http://www.cnet.com/news/yamahas-motorcycle-and-instrument-designers-trade-jobs/ was timely since it discusses the most inventive company revealed by the research done for this post. Be sure to click on the picture gallery as the instruments are fascinating.