How Has Technology Influenced The Music Industry

Some believe that about 30,000 to 60,000 years ago, music was first discovered. The love of a song back then could only be heard live or if you learned to play it yourself. Since then, there have been many inventions for you to listen to your favorite genres, songs, and artists anytime you like.

Music has been widely popular throughout America since the nation’s creation, but ever since the 1920’s, it has become a daily part of our culture. Over the decades, new genres have been created, each as equally popular. Some examples would be jazz, blues, many kinds of rock, surf music, folk, soul, country, funk, disco, electronic, and hip-hop. Without music, today’s world would be very different. That’s why it’s safe to say that music has heavily influenced American society over the years.

Technology and music have always been interlinked. As technology improves ways of recording and distributing music improves. Over history we have gone from scratchy records to clear and portable MP3s. New and innovative technology have helped to shape America’s culture as a nation.

Throughout the many years of time, music has been associated with the lives of humans. Ranging from the oldest recorded music in 1888, The Lost Chord, to Motherese, or the way that mothers “sing” to their babies to communicate to them, to our modern music of radio stations blaring our favourite song while we drive from place to place. Music has found its place within human lives, intertwining its existence with ours. Incredibly enough, humans have found a way to harness music with our very hands and create elegant melodies from tools. Beginning with instruments that look like a guitar, instruments that look like a flute and instruments that look like a drum, we began making controlled music with rhythms and harmonies. As years passed and civilization began to grow, musicians came to be. These ancient musicians played music for others on the instruments that they would make and performed for many.

Over time, change has been something that has always occurred in our society. Music is one of the things that has changed drastically over the decades. From its instruments, the use of technology, the purpose and the reason of the music. One of the things that makes music so different is the instruments and technology. In the 1920’s, jazz was popular.

from the first audio recording on a cylinder in 1877, to development of radio in the 1920s and 1930s introduced tens of thousands of people to blues and country, and jazz music. The transistor radio and the record player enabled Over the next four decades, the music and the technology continued to evolve hand in hand, from the people to play their choice in music anywhere that they went. This technological growth only continued with the long-playing record and the eight-track tape to the Walkman and the MP3 player. Today we have the luxuries of satellite radios and music that can virtually stream naturally through our phones and computers. We can play any song in any order on demand, and with those kind of innovations it is safe to say that not only are we spoiled rotten, we have come a long way in a seemingly short period of time. Location especially for certain genres of music was huge for the growth of that genre and its social standing, the places that music stemmed from were the voice behind the voices, Harlem, Memphis, Seattle all hold a certain sound, and they are all very much in representation of the people that stem from

Music has probably been around since the beginning of times. Before instruments, sounds were considered music. People started to make instruments, which mimic nature’s sounds.

The ever-changing landscape of music distribution, due to constant advancements in technology, is sometimes hard to keep up with for artist, producer, and consumer alike. New editions of textbooks in Music Business classes are issued each year, and changes are made in the industry before the semester is even over. Because of this, it is vital for the industry to not only not only be aware of what is currently going happening, but also be able to foresee the direction that the music business is heading in. In this aspect, it seems that we are at a turning point where consumers and artists are taking

Music has played a vital role in human culture and evidence based on archaeological sites can date it back to prehistoric times. It can be traced through almost all civilizations in one form or another. As time has progressed so has the music and the influences it has on people. Music is an important part of popular culture throughout the world, but it is especially popular in the United States. The music industry here is, and has been, a multi-million dollar business that continues to play an important role in American popular culture. This is also a art form and business that is forever changing as the times and more importantly, technology changes. Technology has changed the way music is made as well as how it is produced,

No one can deny that technology is actively changing the music industry. Production, distribution and sales of music have been affected dramatically within the last 10 years along with artists, composers, and technicians. Most of the changes have been great for consumers, but vastly negative for professionals in the music industry, however a few artists have found ways to adapt to the changing atmosphere of digitally downloaded music and use it to their advantage. We’ve seen music change form from physical, tangible products like records and CD’s to electronic single tracks stored in an invisible cloud. Two major factors in this sudden revolution are online music stores (specifically iTunes) and file sharing websites that allow music to be downloaded illegally.

Nowadays, teenagers are living constantly surrounded by technology. Even if the younger generation may not see it, technology has had an impact on different factors. The widespread use of digital technology in the music industry has allowed consumers to reproduce digital versions of copyrighted songs inexpensively, with the help of many software and websites. There has been an increase in digital copying activities and those are most of the time claimed responsible for producers’ loss in revenues. While some people claim that the increase of digital technology has killed the music industry, in fact it has lead to innovation and new ways of consuming and sharing music, such as

In the midst of the United States’ “dot com bubble” (years 1997-2000), there was a surge in technology that brought about file sharing and digital downloads. Threatening the survival of the music industry and introducing a unique set of challenges for the industry to overcome. To remain relevant in the new global market of digital music online, the music industry would have to evolve and change with the introduction of each new facet technology had to offer. The introduction of digitally compressed music files, so easily attainable for a small fee or downloaded legally (pirated) for free, made the music industry reevaluate how to make a profit and protect copyrights. Social media created a visible opportunity for both consumers and artists to maintain digital relationships while providing a platform for consumers to follow and discover new musicians and bands, naturally, making the internet a promotional medium for artists. As the corner record shops closed to make way for virtual storefronts and instant downloads; the internet, digital downloading, and social media made an enormous impact on the music industry that has changed the way consumers purchase, source, listen to, and produce music today.

The creation of musical works has always been culminated by several different processes and usually involves many people. The process takes a lot of time delaying the release of music. Advancement in technology has played a significant role in the music production by lowering the length of time it takes to produce recorded material. Artists usually sign a contract with a recording company that markets their music products. The internet and low-cost recording technologies have created a “do-it-yourself” music movement. New artists have gained worldwide recognition without landing a recording contract with a major record label.

phonograph in 1877, people have felt the need to create and record music. People have different

While music has kept a steady definition through time, modern music has been re-invented and re-made to be distant from that of an older age. Music has always been around, just remixed as time goes on. We know that it has been around for a while because geologists have found cave paintings dating back to prehistoric ages where they are depicting people dancing, proving to a presence of some interpretation of music. Music was