Chapter 11: Technology
Preview Questions
Introduction
As we began to see in Chapter 10, the evolution of the music business has been driven by advances in technology. Today music is distributed via the Internet, which consumers have gravitated to since 2000, forever changing the way the music business works. Justin Bieber got his start as a breakthrough YouTube star, and Chance the Rapper won three Grammys for a mixtape he gave away for free through SoundCloud. This book has Spotify and YouTube baked into it, otherwise it would not have been possible to embed recordings of songs that in the past would have required paying licensing fees.
In this chapter we will look at the technology that impacted the distribution of the music covered in this book during the last half of the 20th century.
Review Questions
- What technology has changed the music business in the last 75 years?
- What technology is involved producing and distributing the music you listen to?
- Do you or anyone you know record music at home? What equipment do you/they use?
- How has the move from public listening systems like TVs and stereo systems in the living room to personal listening systems like cell phones changed the way you and your friends listen to and share music?
- In what year did smart phones become available?
- How much radio do you listen to?
- What sort of system(s) did you listen to music in the past that you no longer use?
- How do you find out about new music? What do you use to listen to it?
Introduction
As we began to see in Chapter 10, the evolution of the music business has been driven by advances in technology. Today music is distributed via the Internet, which consumers have gravitated to since 2000, forever changing the way the music business works. Justin Bieber got his start as a breakthrough YouTube star, and Chance the Rapper won three Grammys for a mixtape he gave away for free through SoundCloud. This book has Spotify and YouTube baked into it, otherwise it would not have been possible to embed recordings of songs that in the past would have required paying licensing fees.
In this chapter we will look at the technology that impacted the distribution of the music covered in this book during the last half of the 20th century.
Review Questions
- List as many technological advances from the last 75 years as you can that changed how music is made, transmitted, and listened to. Which would you say was the most important?
- In what year did smart phones become available? What makes them “smart” compared to regular telephones?
- In what way does technology make the experience of music less human? What do you think has been lost in the last 20 years? What has been gained?