Inside the studio with Aoki and Amon: The future of how we’re going to listen to music.

The future of live music changed over the past year. But thanks to high-speed connectivity, we were able to experience new music drops, in-demand DJs and musicians, and live concerts like never before.

We’re giving Snapdragon Insiders behind-the-scenes access to a fireside chat with Grammy-nominated DJ-producer Steve Aoki and Qualcomm President and CEO-elect Cristiano Amon. Snapdragon Insiders get a glimpse at Steve’s epic art-filled home in Las Vegas during their SXSW fireside chat about live music, 5G, and the synergy created at that intersection. For a deeper dive, check out the SXSW chat here, and be sure to watch for Steve’s daring roof jump into his hillside pool.

5G is a game changer for DJs.
Steve Aoki: When the clubs have high-speed connectivity, anyone can DJ any given song at any given place. I play all around the world, and I want to play the music of the country I’m in. I get inspired and I want to play it right there. Now I can download it right here, I can stream it right off the unit because I have 5G. It’s a game changer.

5G connects us to music.
Cristiano Amon: We’re a company that creates the fundamental tech that allows people to invent on top of their platform and create incredible new things. As we transition to 5G, this is going to be an opportunity for a lot of people to create.

SA: I believe not just in the merging of music and technology, but in merging human and technology. With my music, I want to connect with the futurists about where we’re going with tech. I’m all about the future of where we’re going with tech, where we’re going with humanity and music. And of course, all three.

5G helps creatives stay in the flow.
CA: Technology like 5G will make everyone a broadcaster and connect everybody together. [It’s] the ability to have a lot of sharing experience. It’s going to impact arts and creativity, and I think it’s interesting to get your perspective as an artist how you think about that.

SA: The faster it is, [means] you’re not stuck in a bottleneck of creativity. Can we be faster, can we do this quicker? It’s all about being in the flow. I don‘t want to disrupt the flow. When I think about 5G, this is going to make my life more streamlined, more efficient. This is what I need.

Computing on demand, and the power of connection.
CA: A mature 5G world can change the way we do things. One of the things we talk a lot about with the potential of 5G, besides the high speed and the connectivity, is the ability for you to do computing on demand. You are instantly connected to the cloud as if your cloud and computer were connected into a single machine, so you can always get access.

If you need the processing power of your studio, you can do it in the cloud with 5G. With 5G bandwidth, and the speeds we can get out of mmWave - we’re talking about having wireless fiber so people can share their experience, but have that in real time and probably interact among themselves in multiple locations

SA: It’s so great to hear that there’s the possibility of things that just open up and have this instant connectivity. Because that’s what we want in the end. It doesn’t matter if it’s through a phone or through human to human, we want to be connected to each other.

I feel like that’s why I travel so much around the world and do what I do. I have this addiction to connectivity. I want to connect with people constantly. Music is just a tool. Making music is just a tool for me to connect with someone else. The best part for me is I get to see that connection happening.

How our experience with music has evolved from 2G to 5G.
CA: The role of music is interesting. We started to move from 2G to 3G and we all had our flip phones or candy bar phones, and then we started to see music phones. But then as we went from 3G to 4G, and we started to have broadband, the revolution was incredible. All of a sudden you could have music stream to you. I think the 4G smartphone, and how people experienced music, was probably as big a revolution as the Sony Walkman.

Now when we think about 5G, I honestly think it’s going to take this to the next level. Because not only are you going to be able to do that with music, but you’ll be able to do that with music videos. Because video is going to be as easy as [streaming] music, no matter what signal level you have, you’re going to be able to play 4k video resolution. When you think about how people consume music, I think this may help people to share their music moments.

The future of the smartphone and music.
CA: From your perspective, what do you think about the role of the smartphone?

SA: As a producer, you have to know the pulse of what the world is doing. If you want to be relevant, right? How are they listening to music? I have to know where people are going to go with technology and how they’re going to listen to music.

And if they’re going to be listening to music on smartphones, which they do, you have to understand. That’s why, when I produce, I always listen on every different medium.

How we consume music today.
CA: I want to unpack that, about people consuming music on their phones, and [how] music needs to be designed for the technology they have in their phone. We’ll make a prediction that people will continue to consume music in phones. One thing that 5G will do, is it’s going to extend that experience to concerts.

SA: When you think about how you can interact with people, in real time, and that you could do that around the world, that you can engage with people in ways you couldn’t have done before - it’s exciting to see where this is going. I remember hearing about it and thinking I need to have this at my shows.

How technology connects us as human beings.
CA: When you look at what happened in 2020, with the pandemic and when everyone had to go home - but we still wanted to connect. We need to connect with each other. Technology played a key role in keeping everyone connected.

SA: As an artist, at the end of the day, that’s what I want, I want to be able to connect with as many people as possible, and all the different ways that I can. In 2020 we had no choice, we had to use technology to connect with people. Everyone did. It’s how we were able to connect as human beings, as businesses, as musicians, as artists. So being able to amplify that with real time connection together and get all of it - that’s a no brainer for artists like myself.

CA: It’s a win-win.

This conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity. These excerpts are from a conversation held during South by Southwest (SXSW) Online in March 2021.

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