Communication is the sharing and exchanging of information from one person or group to another. There needs to be a sender, a recipient, and a message to communicate. Communication can be affected by many factors. Some factors include the sender, recipient, emotion, culture, and medium. Music is a medium that people use to communicate. It is an effective tool to tell a story, convey messages, and inspire thought.
Sender
The sender is the person who starts the communication by transmitting the message. The composer of the music is the sender of a message. After encoding the message by selecting the appropriate beat, lyrics, and melodies, the composer sends the message through the streaming app, microphone, or instrument, depending on the setting where the recipient is acquiring the music.
Encoding
Encoding is a process that converts information from one system to another. In music, the composer or sender takes their ideas and converts them into the layers of a song (Ie. beats, lyrics, melodies, instruments, etc.). The encoding process paired with a message creates meaningful music.
Message
The message is the subject of the communication. The sender will craft a narrative using the encoding process to tell a story, convey an idea, or inspire ideas. The message can be subtle or explicit and is subject to the organization of the lyrics or notes. The messages in music are often open to interpretation but usually have a central theme. Without a message in the music, the music becomes baseless and vain.
Channel
The channel is the mode that the message flows through. At a high level, the music itself is the channel. However, a step further would be the means of distribution. Music is distributed in different ways, including live sets or streaming apps. Distribution in open or closed venues, phones, or car speakers also affects how the listener interprets the music. For this reason, composers often assemble their songs using a method called the Upstream Creation Model.
Receiver
The listener concerning music is the receiver. The receiver is the person, group, or community for whom the message is intended. The listener must comprehend the music to understand the message's meaning through decoding.
Decoding
Decoding is the process of taking the message and converting it into an intelligible language. This means the listener or receiver takes the music and processes the song elements into emotions. The emotions associated with the song elements allow the listener to receive a message. However, the idea of the music's message changes depending on who the receiver is. The song's components are decoded differently among listeners, and thus the central meaning of the song may only be known by the sender or delicate students of the music.
Feedback
Feedback is the last step of the communication process before the cycle restarts. It is the response of the receiver after taking in the message. Feedback is necessary to ensure the message has been successfully encoded, sent, and decoded. Feedback can be either positive or negative. Positive feedback affirms the current music. Negative feedback seeks corrective action for future music. The number of purchased concert tickets, streams, and music shares are a few indicators of positive or negative feedback that listeners offer.
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