Online Music Education – A Turning Point or a Dissapointment?

Online music education is defined as a development in the field of music education consisting of the practices and methods that are related to distance learning and online education for the purpose of teaching and learning music in an online environment which is facilitated by electronic devices.

INDUSTRY SCENARIO

Music training is one of an essential component of education in student life as it helps the student to build life skills, inculcates better perception of sounds, improves cognition and aids the student in developing a deeper understanding of different cultures around the world. The addition of extra skills and co-curricular makes the student stand out from the crowd. Which is going to fuel the growth of the market over the forecast period. Music training from preschool through post-secondary education is common because involvement with music is considered a fundamental component of human culture and behavior. Cultures from around the world have different approaches to music education, largely due to the varying histories and politics

Moreover, online music education can be used to supplement face-to-face learning methods and practices in classroom settings. Online music education offers a wide variety of programs that can be completed depending upon either the user’s pace, which is self-paced or paced methods. In conjunction, short-term courses, as well as full degrees, are also offered. Some of the leading institutions like Boston University College of Fine Arts, University of Florida College of the Arts, University of Georgia and Ohio University provide these courses, which will further bolster the growth of the online music education market over the forecast period.

Some of the biggest advantages of online music education are that it can be used to take lessons online at the user's own pace or at a paced mode. Also, it leads to time and cost savings as compared to face-to-face lessons and the student can attend a class whenever the student can find time making it easier as well as convenient for the student. The student can learn in a more comfortable environment as choose the subjects the student has interests in thus paying for only those sets of subjects. In addition, as the technology is advancing and the penetration of internet is growing, music education is able to reach more students globally. Mediums like digital whiteboarding, video conferencing, instant messaging and file sharing are paving the way for the online music education market. Digital music tools like YouTube, Sheet Music and other app and cloud-based solutions are transforming the industry. These factors will continue to drive the growth of the market throughout the forecast period.

SEGMENT ANALYSIS

By type, Musicology is expected to hold a significant amount of share in the market, which is attributable to the fact that there has been an increase in the number of students who take the music as a subject and want to form a career out of it. In conjunction, there are many students interested in going into research and scholarly activities in music education in order to gain a much deeper insight into it as musicology is a lucrative field. Music history also holds a considerable amount of share in the market and holds the potential to increase its share over the forecast period, which is attributable to the fact that music history gives a deeper understanding of the origin of music, and how different forms of music came into being. By geography, North America is expected to hold a notable amount of share in the online music education market during the forecast period owing to the digitalization of the music industry and the well-developed education system. In addition, Asia Pacific is also expected to hold a significant amount of a share in the market which is attributable to the fact that there is the growing penetration of the internet. According to World Bank statistics, the number of internet user grew from 17% users to 34% users of the population from 2015 to 2017 in India, 50.3% users to 54.3% users of the population in China from 2015 to 2017 and 25.44% users to 39.78% users of the population in Indonesia. In conjunction, the increasing number of investments into online education portals, information technology and communication (ICT) industry coupled with more students enrolling for online courses is going to boost the market growth.

COMPETITIVE STRATEGIES

Key players in the online music education market are focusing more on strategic mergers and acquisitions, technology partnerships, continuous innovation, and more advanced offerings, as a part of their growth strategies to provide better services to their customers worldwide. There are pieces of evidence from the recent past in the field of online music education, which in the form of partnerships, patent grants, and funding is promoting the extensive use of online music courses, promoting its market growth at present and in the upcoming years. Some of the examples included are listed below:

• In October 2019, Inspired, which is a leading global network of 53 premium schools announced that they had agreed to form a partnership with the Berklee School of Music, in order to introduce an innovative curriculum and a special program that will improve the state of art and music education in children. This program known as Inspired by Berklee, will also include an online music education platform to ensure the provision of materials and inspiration to students to help advance their music education and creativity.
• In August 2019, Media-Tech Ventures, which is music technology venture capital, incubation and education firm based in Austin, Texas announced that they have planned to acquire a musician's desk r3rernce, which is an online music education and career development platform that was launched in 2013. This acquisition will boost the growth of the company as well as the reach of the online music education platform.
• Recently, The start-up Musiculus based in Canada launched an application that would aid the people in learning how to play instruments. The app is an online music learning tool that helps the user to approach music systematically understand, learn without being limited by sheet music or tablature. They currently are offering three apps, which include Ear Trainer, Instrument Trainer, and Song Trainer. The app also contains a catalog of licensed songs that the users can refer to while they practice and learn.

FUTURE PROSPECTS:

Currently, online music education is revolutionizing the Information Technology and Communication (ICT). The increasing investment in research and development by market players coupled with growing government support and initiatives is expected to drive the growth of the online music education market. Also due to the rapid adoption of online education platforms and services by various students who re not able to attend normal classes and want to study through distance learning programs as the quality of education offered in their country is not up to the mark or working professionals who want improve their skillset. The continuous improvements and additions to the content offered for different music courses offered would fuel the growth of the market in the coming years. The market is anticipated to grow at an astounding rate of 16.62% during the forecast period.

Knowledge Sourcing Intelligence is a market research and consulting firm based out of India. Steered by some of the industry experts, the company provides syndicated reports, custom research, and consulting services.