Elon Musk acquires Twitter for $44B and 4 things that means for music

Elon Musk official aquired Twitter on Monday for $44 billion promising to “unlock” the platform’s potential by loosening what he sees as unfair restrictions on free speech.

“Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated,” Musk said in the sale announcement.

But what does all this mean for music, musicians and music marketing?

Here are a four educated guesses based on Musk’s previous actions and public statements.

PROS

• He loves music, He’s encouraged that music is played in his factories through an EDM fueled Cyber Rodeo party for 15000 earlier this month, marking the opening of a new Tesla plant in Austin, and had had two children with indie darling Grime.
• He moves fast, so expect the pace of innovation and new features to accelerate.

CONS

• Musk’s vow to unlock free speech on Twitter could lead to more trolling of artists and push them off the platform
• Fans could sour on Twitter too if, as some have predicited, a Musk-led Twitter devolves into too much negaitvy

Bruce Houghton is Founder and Editor of Hypebot and MusicThinkTank and serves as a Senior Advisor to Bandsintown which acquired both publications in 2019. He is the Founder and President of the Skyline Artists Agency and a professor for the Berklee College Of Music.