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Ask HN: Good opportunities in the music industry for a software developer?

8 points by Nevin1901 ↗ HN
I'm a software developer whose been creating developer productivity tools over the past few years (logging platforms and documentation tools), and I was thinking of going into a different niche.

I've been interested in the development side of music (eg: audio plugins for logic pro, or developing websites and services to organize tours).

I was wondering if anyone had some insight into any opportunities there were in the music industry. I feel like there aren't as many tech people in the music industry, so pain points would be easier to solve, while still benefiting from the money + volume.

8 comments

[ 5.3 ms ] story [ 27.8 ms ] thread
brudgers
I feel like there aren't as many tech people in the music industry

My standard assumption about industries is that the market is liquid. That there is approximately a balance between supply and demand. That the market for skills and services is efficient.

In terms of the music businesses, that might be a best case because music is a more appealing thing to be into than most things, and because so much of the ethos of music is do-it-yourself, because the tools facilitate doing it yourself, the domain of music is narrow, and digital music has been mainstream for nearly forty years.

What is your background in music?

ethanzh
I interned at a company called Chartmetric one summer that you may find interesting. Happy to chat if you have any questions!

https://chartmetric.com/

brudgers
Curious if it was a paid internship because unpaid internships are more common in creative fields.
ethanzh
It was paid, I should’ve clarified the role was as a SWE intern
jameshush
I’m friends with Youtubers in the rock/metal audio production space. I jump in every once and a while to help when their websites are having issues. They’ll regularly do 50/50 revenue split deals to white label VSTs and other audio plugins.

If you’re passionate about making plugins, and can actually deliver, reaching out to influencers you like and pitching them a rev share deal is a great opportunity. I spent a Sunday afternoon trying to teach myself how to code a plugin but I’m just not that interested in learning it.

NickC25
If you're interested in plugin development, why not try writing a few modules for VCV Rack to get your feet wet? Once you have done so and if you enjoy the work, why not apply to work at a company like Native Instruments?