Popular Music: The Impact of New Technology, Continued
Think about how you listen to music today. Before the invention of the phonograph, people had limited ways to hear live music. The average person might hear music at church, or in a local concert. The wealthy could support a composer by becoming a patron and commissioning new works. If you could afford an instrument or printed music, you could play the popular songs of the day in your own home. During the time of Schumann and Beethoven, people hosted parties where they would gather around the piano and listen to each other play. One consequence of the phonograph’s popularity was that piano sales fell! Instead of gathering to play music together, they gathered around their Victrolas (phonographs) to listen to the newest recordings.
As technology has evolved, it has changed how people create, listen to, and acquire music. It also changed the financial realities of recording and distributing music. Below is a timeline of advances in music technology.
1900: Phonographs become popular
1920: Electrical recording introduces microphones to the recording process
1945: Tape recording is developed, changing the length of recording. A long-format record is developed. FM radio is developed.
1960s: 8-track tapes become popular.
1970s: Cassette tapes become popular; Sony Walkman is introduced in 1979, which allows music to be portable. VHS tape is developed.
1990s: Compact Disk (CD) is developed. The first Internet web sites are created.
2000s: MP3 players introduce digital recordings for the first time. Music can be hosted on the internet and downloaded digitally. Computer software allows for home recording studios.
The evolution of recording technology and the internet has made it easier for musicians to create and distribute their music, managing their careers on their own. Previously, musicians had to use expensive recording studios to record albums, which could cost thousands or hundreds of thousands of dollars. They were dependent on record labels to create and distribute their music, promote them through concert tours and advertising, and get their new music out to radio stations. Today, musicians can take advantage of the internet to bolster their careers. Social media can help spread the word about concerts and allow artists to speak directly to their fans. You no longer have to visit a physical “brick and mortar” record or music store to purchase a new album, as it can be downloaded from the internet within minutes or streamed on a music site. Today’s audiences can hear new artists from around the world just by searching the internet.
The recording industry and, the digital age has impacted the livelihood of musicians. In the age of digital downloads, some people use illegal download sites to acquire the music for free, which means that the musician and songwriter nothing for their work. Over the past few years, artists have had to learn how to make a living and support themselves in a sometimes unfriendly online environment. One way they have dealt with this is by allowing their music to be shown on streaming sites, which are often accompanied by advertising. When you watch a music video on a site such as YouTube or Vevo, the musicians earn money not for how many times you listen to their song, but for each time you view an advertisement before or after their video. While these may seem annoying to some, remember that your favorite musicians can’t continue to create new music if they don’t have some way to make a living. You can help support your favorite artists by purchasing their new music, following them on social media, and looking for chances to see them perform live. The most successful musicians today take advantage of these new methods to communicate with their fans and use the internet and other web-based tools to successfully inform them about and share new music or news.
There is an entire industry devoted to protecting the legal rights of musicians and songwriters over their own creations. You can learn more about this at The American Society of Composers Authors and Publishers.
