A Tech, Legal and Societal Breakdown of The World's First "Codable"​ Music Video

Girls Who Code is a non-profit organisation that is dedicated to closing the gender gap in technology and computer science. Their mission is to inspire more girls to become computer scientists and engineers. On the opposite side of the sphere, but reppin' a similar message of female empowerment, is Doja Cat. Amala Ratna Zandile Dlamini who goes by her stage name Doja Cat is an American Rapper, who rocketed through fame through SoundCloud, with her hits “So High”, and by 2021 eclipsed Drake as the rapper with the most monthly listeners on Spotify. Doja accumulated 300k more listeners than Drake with a monthly total of 63.6 million, with Drake falling short at 63.3m, according to the Spotify app. I'm making an assumption here that I do not need to go into who Drake is, in order to emphasise the magnitude of such an achievement by a female rapper, but all you need to know is that this was a really big deal. 

Back in December 2021, Girls Who Coded and Doja Cat partnered up to create the world's first "codable" music video. Essentially, you click the link, it takes you to a game-like space, and it is composed of the programs CCS, Javascript and Phyton, which you use throughout the experience. Once you press play, the music video plays, then it will stop and different points and allow you to enter in different lines of code. This code then alters to change different visuals in the music video, such as the colour of Doja Cat’s nails, triggering a flower shower, activating her superpowers and much more. You essentially are transported to a fully interactive, and immersive space, which put candidly, was super cool. Before you give it a go, which I highly recommend, I think it’s important to highlight the similarities between the music and coding sphere by delving into the technical, legal and social elements of both coding and music production. 

The Technical element

Buttons, layers, keys, and in the heart of both, forms of state management. When you listen to a melody, there will be notes discerning from others, creating a specific feeling. You have hype up songs for the gym, maybe a first interview, you have the music that gets you through document reviewing, and you have your go-to-cry song, for example the Foreigner’s "I Want to Know What Love is", for me personally. 

This change in “state” rings a bell to programmers who work a lot in React components and Reduc stores. When we talk about "state", the term originated in the Computer Sciences, from concrete examples to more abstract ones. One helpful way to think of state conceptually is by defining it as; 

(1) What happens inside our heads when we conceive of an input, 

(2) How our brains digest and perform that input using logic, and

(3) What comes out at the end which is the output. 

From a technical perspective therefore, both coding and music use similar language, and they both include layers, precision, and a lot of trial and error. 

For example, they both must be executed correctly for them to have their desired effect, as opposed to being stable in space, like a painting. They're both stored and repeated for later use, and both are inseparably tied to the technology available to them at the time. Most importantly it seems that both coding and music production are representative of something “bigger” than its intrinsic substance, and for a greater purpose. 

The Legal Element 

Copyright, copyright, copyright! Intellectual Property rights protects a copyrighted work and stops others from using it without your permission. It arises automatically and it's free, and both music and coding are full of copyright. I’m going to get specific here, the relevant section of the act for both music and coding is; s.1(1)(a) of the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988. This covers original literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works. 

A source of code would be considered as a literary work under s.3(1)(b) a computer program and (c) preparatory design material for a computer program. The CDPA implements the EU’s Software Directive, which is great as this indicates the Directive is expansive and inclusive of new age technology. Melodies and lyrics are the key components of music production, whilst arrangement of a program lets say its chain of operations, functions, and interfaces, are the concerns of coding. Both coders and artists put a lot of labour, time and craftsmanship into producing their work, which make them both applicable to the CDPA. 

Additionally, both apply the same rules when assessing if a copyright has been infringed, which is firstly proving a copyright subsists meaning the work has to be original (s.1(1)(a)), it must be fixed (in writing or recorded) (s.3(2)), you must be able to identify who is the author of the copyright (s.9(1)),  and you have to be able to determine if has the copyright expired, (s.12). Then if these all pass, you go onto look at the ownership of the copyright, before dealing with the elements of infringement which include copying (s.17), adaptation (s.21), performing the work in public s.19 and issuing copies of the work to the public (s.18). 

But most relatably, both industries will need to fully equip themselves on Copyright law in order to make sure they remain credited and in control of the work that they produce, which is why I think good relationships, transparency and collaboration between the tech, legal and creative community is so important. 

The Social Element

Other than getting you through the London commute, music has been a powerful tool in highlighting real world issues from minority communities, and it’s also a clear indication of how technologically advanced we have become. Coding is similar in that sense, as you can measure how advanced and developed a society is, from their accessibility of the internet, and rates of innovation. Coding created online streaming platforms, which arguably helped artists whilst also the being bane of an artist's ability to make real revenue. So what can we expect to see in the future? 

Artificial Intelligence will shape all the aspects of the Music Industry. As the ability and accessibility of coding increases, the likelihood of more and more artists being programmed by A.I to create music will also increase and democratise the music industry. For example, songs written by Taylor Swift but rapped in the voice and style of Kanye West have currently been circling (if you know you know), which marks a monumental shift into how we will consume music, and a dangerous risk of losing the appreciation of what makes an artist's work, theirs. 

Contrastingly, music could also made be a lot more personal, artists can use "codable" music videos to make their audience feel more connected to them, and essentially create a lot more streams of revenue and allow for more creative freedom in how they want their music to "feel" to the listeners. 

Coding will continue to transform modern industries and the ability to create applications, programs and websites by coding will open up many doors for job seekers, more specifically software developer jobs are expected to grow 21% through 2028, and this is not including the use of software engineers than could possibly be used in the music industry. 

More importantly, will this mean that education in schools on music production and coding be more integrated? Will this mean that we could see schools implementing a more serious approach to the arts, and a more creative approach to the sciences?