How 5G technology will impact the entertainment industry

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4G technology impacted the world on a tremendous scale. It’s something that’s used on a daily basis by a large majority of people around the planet. But with 2019 promising to be a year full of technological innovation, many people within the entertainment industry are wondering how 5G technology will impact them and their businesses. During this article, we’re going to discuss what 5G is, practical applications within daily life, and how it can be applied to benefit the entertainment industry. 

Imagine you’re driving to a meeting in the streets of Los Angeles at a crossroads whilst sitting at a red light. Once it turns green, you lift your foot off the brake thinking that it’s safe to proceed so you can be there on time. However, your car senses that an approaching vehicle is about to run a red light, and thus automatically applies the brakes. Instead of using visual detection such as cameras, your car was using 5G technology to seamlessly connect with the other car to avoid a crash. By doing so, it could detect the speed, braking distance, and a variety of other factors to asses the chance of a collision. Thankfully due to the ability & speed of 5G, you managed to make the meeting successfully with the record label executive in Hollywood. 

As the name suggests, 5G is the fifth generation of wireless technology that will allow devices to seamlessly connect with each other at incredible speeds. To give you an idea of the difference, 4G speeds around the world tend to average at about 20mbps. However, with the new 5G technology, download speeds of 1GB per second will allow you to stream 4k movies in the Nevada desert without any buffering issues whatsoever. The impact on humanity is huge.

During the present moment, there are often delays when somebody swipes up to a link on Instagram or clicks on a Facebook ad redirecting them to another website. Although this may only be a few seconds in delay, it can often cause frustration from the user – and thus makes them quit the application. But once 5G technology has been rolled out, this annoying moment shall simply be a memory of the past. Upon clicking your link, users will be able to view the content (even videos) within under a millisecond. Want somebody to check out your song on Soundcloud? It will instantly play – even if they’re on mobile data. Got a new song that you want people to hear on Spotify? Buffering times are a thing of the past. For both producers & consumers alike, 5G will change the landscape of the entire entertainment industry so that it’s much more seamless in communication. So how will 5G technology impact the entertainment industry? Here are several ways in which it will create a meaningful change in the way that we communicate with each other & market new products.

Firstly, the internet will become completely wireless. Although we already have wifi (and other tools that we can utilize), it is about to be taken to another level. Companies around the world are experimenting with launching satellites into orbit so that the internet can be accessed from anywhere around the world for almost zero cost. All of a sudden, the expensive data prices from mobile phone companies are removed, and we can access YouTube or Spotify literally anywhere on the planet. Plus with the speed of 5G technology, everything will be incredibly quick.

Also with 5G technology, buffering will become a thing of the past. No longer will FaceTime be interrupted due to poor connectivity, and we can continue to watch Netflix in peace knowing that it won’t cut out. Plus with live shows, Producers & DJ’s can potentially use video calling to introduce fans to another artist which they collaborated with. For example, Martin Garrix putting Khalid on FaceTime when performing live in front of a giant crowd. Due to the extremely fast download speeds, the performance would be flawless.

Following on from the previous point, augmented reality will become an integral part of the music industry over the next 5-10 years. With incredibly high download speeds needed for it to work well, 5G technology provides the opportunity to integrate it into live shows and performances. Imagine opening Snapchat, and seeing your favourite DJ performing a set in your back yard, or opening an application at a festival and seeing an AR performance. The possibilities are literally endless as to what can be accomplished within the music industry.

Within social media, it is inevitable that video content will become a lot more prevalent over the coming month’s thanks to 5G technology. Currently with fairly low download speeds, buffering on the train or plane is a fairly common scenario. However, bandwidth won’t matter once 5G is implemented due to its ability to stream and download content at an incredibly fast pace.

Also, more countries around the world will have better access to the internet thanks to 5G technology. At the moment, people in developing economies are not on social media sites such as Facebook or Instagram due to the limited access they have. But with the launch of 5G, more people will use the internet, and thus the amount of social media users around the world will increase exponentially. Ultimately, this means that several billion more people have a chance of being able to enjoy your music. We are about to enter a new era of wireless technology that will change the way in which we live & communicate. With the arrival of 5G, it is only a matter of time before the world becomes a lot more connected & integrated.