Music and technology intertwined

• Innovation in Technology
  • Records are created
    • Allow for individuals to own music
  • CD’s
    • Easier to use
  • Development of the internet
    • No more physical copies of music
    • Allows artists to bypass Record labels and produce their own music
      • Diversifies music industry
      • Companies (iTunes) attempt to hold on to industry through digital copies
        • Which limits the ownership of music to people who buy them.
      • Limits how much artists get paid for their work
    • Music Rental Services (Spotify)
      • Allows for the use of many different genres of music without direct purchase
        • No single ownership (company or person)

Music has been around for as long mankind has been able to distinguish between different rhythms, pitches (which is what creates harmonies and melodies), and dynamics. Archeologists have discovered flutes created from bones of different animals that date back nearly 40,000 years. However, music was something that someone who was skilled had to perform and it was not thought to be able to be bought or sold by any individual until the the year 1898 when the record was first created. These records and their record players were made popular in the early 1900’s and were solidly established by 1950. In the 1970’s companies began to experiment with cheaper and more convenient ways to put music out to the public. In 1982, the companies Phillips and Sony collaborated to form the first ever compact disc and it’s associated player. Throughout these years if one wanted to compose music it was the same as it is today, to sit down and write whatever piece of music that was the object of your imagination. Getting one’s music produced was something else entirely and it meant working with people who had the money, the means, and the taste to take one’s music and get it out to the public. It was entirely up to the record company, or record label, whether or not to produce someone’s music. As time went on people invented computers and smaller devices with which someone could burn a CD with their individual music. Regardless of the improvement of technology, an individual could not mass produce nor advertise fully to the public about their music without the aid of a company that specialized in doing so. Eventually the internet, which was established as the ARPAnet in 1969, began to expand. Eventually it became public space in the late 1990’s. This enabled musicians to not only produce their own music but to put it out to the public with relative ease. Companies attempted to retain their power over the market by creating online services which required one to purchase digital copies of the music, such as iTunes. This meant artists who had already been established had their music out to a much wider audience, but again left those who were unheard of in the background. As the internet developed further it allowed users to post photos, videos, and music and made them available to the public eye. Eventually companies were unable to maintain a hold on the music industry because artists could simply bypass the “middle man” and garner public support for their music. This meant that music taste was solely in the hands of public which allowed for a more diverse field of music. Eventually new companies created music rental and/or sharing services in which artists could post their music to (such as spotify or soundcloud). These revolutionary companies made sure that no single company could hold back the development of music. There would now be a “natural selection” process in which the public would choose what is quality music and what is not.