From the crooning jazz tunes of the 1920s to the hip-hop and punk movements of the 80’s, each era brings with it a unique brand of trends and developments which shape the music world. For modern music, certain trends in music and music distribution are worth noting due to their cultural influence and lasting power. Here, we’ll take a look at some of the top trends in music for 2011.

Female artists are making their voices known. The past few years have been huge for some of the biggest female names in music, including Lady Gaga, Beyoncé, and Katy Perry, as well as Adele and Florence Welch from the UK. As opposed to 2010, when artists like Rihanna and Hayley Williams only served as vocalists for male rappers and bands, pop, hip-hop, and indie have seen their fair share of talented female artists singularly taking center stage in 2011. This trend is expected to continue as new female artists continue to experience increases in popularity thanks to popular singles, such as Nicki Minaj’s “Super Bass” and Katy Perry’s “Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F).”

The convergence of technology. Smart phones, tablets, laptops, iPods, and other high-tech products are making their presence known in our everyday lives, and one of the ways this is happening is through the convergence of technology and social media. Publishing, television, entertainment, and social networking are converging into applications that are finding their ways onto smart phones, iPads, and countless other products in an effort to streamline services for the modern user, a trend which is steadily incorporating music distribution across the globe. Individuals are able to surf the web, Tweet, and listen to music from one device, and this convenience is expected to continue as online music replaces physical CDs. This brings us to our next trend:

The presence of online music. With services like Pandora and SongCast Radio, discovering new bands and accessing music is simply a matter of logging into a website and turning on your computer’s speakers. For this reason, music distribution is expected to shift its focus away from CDs in favor of online albums and singles. Free listening options like online radio and YouTube provide a sort of preview of certain songs and bands, but in regards to purchases, iTunes continues to be the leader in digital music sales and music distribution. This opens up an incredible array of possibilities for new bands because reaching a wider audience becomes a reality thanks to the Internet. This reality can be facilitated with the help of music distribution services with a mind for digital music like SongCast.

Tell us what you think. What other trends do you expect to see in the upcoming year? Let us know in the comments!

The SongCast Crew