EOTO #1

 

    

    For this assignment, I researched how music streaming is so prominent in today's society and I feel like I learned a lot from what I found about how streaming music has taken the world by storm. 

    To start at the beginning of how we got to this point, we need to realize how we got to listening to sounds from a physical standpoint. Records. Not just LPs (Long Plays), but actual record disks which were invented in 1857 by a French inventor named Edouard-Leon Scott who created the first "record player" Then in 1878, Thomas Edison made this concept even better and hence the gramophone was made. From that point on the gramophone became better and better and in 1948 the technology was advanced enough that we could create disks and produce music through them through tiny grooves that were actually soundwaves. Long plays were then introduced at this time thanks to CBS and the recording of the NewYork Philharmonics performance that year. A majority of this information was found on Discmanufacturingservices.com. From this point on music was on the rise and records were a huge hit. The only issue with records is they weren't portable, you needed a heavy record player for it and you needed a power source. This is where cassette tapes were introduced and compact discs (CDs). These products put the record industry under and portable physical music is on the rise. However, in 1993, the IUMA (Internet Underground of Music Artists) took off. This website gave underground artists the chance to rise up and have a chance in the spotlight. Then about 12 years later Pandora music hit the ground running for streaming all types of music. This is where streaming started, in 2005. 

    In the 2000s Spotify was just an idea by a Swedish man that went by the name of Daniel Ek. He was an entrepreneur who wanted to create a music app for mobile devices, and on October 7th 2008, Spotify was out for all to use. After three years on the market, it became direct competition with Pandora and iTunes. With its monthly subscription or its free version, it was cheaper than buying music through the iTunes store or having to deal with ads on Pandora. All this information was provided by the website HistoryBiography.com. Now Spotify is the most used out of all the music streaming apps, on about 31% of people's phones. Now, how did this impact the other forms of music? 

    Without the need for physical music, the record, CD, and cassette industries plummeted. There wasn't a need for them and America and the rest of the world evolved past them. Now physical music makes up all of 7% of the music industry revenues (TechCrunch). However, vinyl records are back on the rise, the only issue with them in today's day and age is they're pricier than usual records

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    Spotify has changed the game with communication in the sense that it's not just an individual app where only one person can enjoy it. You can create playlists with friends, have live sessions with friends, and all together it really brings people together. Music is the way people can express themselves in multiple ways. Between all the different types of genres and artists, the sky is the limit to how you can express yourself and communicate to others how you feel. Music is super important to me and without it, I really don't think I'd be the same person I am today.