How the Internet has Impacted Music Consumption
Earlier I talked about how the Internet has changed the world of newspapers and news media. Today, I am going to talk about how the Internet and social media platforms has changed the way we either listen to our music or how we download our music.
Listening to music has always been an important part of people's lives. In the very early years, and I am talking in the 1800's, families would sit around the phonograph (the precursor to the record player) and listen to music. This was time when they could forget about the challenges of the world and enjoy each other's company.
My mom still cannot quite figure out what to do with all of my Dad's vinyl records. While, we do not actually sit down and listen to them, they are important to him because they bring back childhood memories. He even has a big record of his high school marching band playing at Disney World. During the time of vinyl records, it was almost as important for the album cover to as good as they music on it.
Music became much more portable in the 70's and 80's with the invention of cassette tapes and boom boxes. Kids used to carry their big old boom boxes around so they could listen to their cassette tapes. It was like a social status symbol. The 80's brought about the Sony Walkman. It was small, compact cassette tape player with headphones. It was much more convenient to walk around with a Walkman than a boom box. However, you still had to buy cassette tapes, fast forward through the songs you did not like, carry lots of double A batteries, and flip the cassette over (pretty inconvenient)
Technology is a wonderful thing. The next big thing was the Apple Ipod and the ability to download individual songs and/or albums on the Ipod. This soon progressed into being able to purchase and download songs from Itunes to your smartphone. I rarely ever use the user radio in my car for a couple of reasons: (1) I hate commercials and (2) you have to keep flipping the stations to find a song you like unless you pay for XM Radio. I plug my phone into the car and listen to my playlist.
Other internet sources allows us to have more access to music and also gives us access to new artists that are trying to get their voices heard. YouTube is a convenient way to find new artists and to listen to music. With the invention of Smart TVs, you can now stream your favorite movie via the internet on your TV. National singing contests like "The Voice" will find a lot of their contestants by finding and listening to their You Tube channel.
Music is an important outlet for people and the evolution of the Internet and the concept of streaming makes it more convenient and available to both the artist and the listener.
Listening to music has always been an important part of people's lives. In the very early years, and I am talking in the 1800's, families would sit around the phonograph (the precursor to the record player) and listen to music. This was time when they could forget about the challenges of the world and enjoy each other's company.
My mom still cannot quite figure out what to do with all of my Dad's vinyl records. While, we do not actually sit down and listen to them, they are important to him because they bring back childhood memories. He even has a big record of his high school marching band playing at Disney World. During the time of vinyl records, it was almost as important for the album cover to as good as they music on it.
Music became much more portable in the 70's and 80's with the invention of cassette tapes and boom boxes. Kids used to carry their big old boom boxes around so they could listen to their cassette tapes. It was like a social status symbol. The 80's brought about the Sony Walkman. It was small, compact cassette tape player with headphones. It was much more convenient to walk around with a Walkman than a boom box. However, you still had to buy cassette tapes, fast forward through the songs you did not like, carry lots of double A batteries, and flip the cassette over (pretty inconvenient)
Technology is a wonderful thing. The next big thing was the Apple Ipod and the ability to download individual songs and/or albums on the Ipod. This soon progressed into being able to purchase and download songs from Itunes to your smartphone. I rarely ever use the user radio in my car for a couple of reasons: (1) I hate commercials and (2) you have to keep flipping the stations to find a song you like unless you pay for XM Radio. I plug my phone into the car and listen to my playlist.
Other internet sources allows us to have more access to music and also gives us access to new artists that are trying to get their voices heard. YouTube is a convenient way to find new artists and to listen to music. With the invention of Smart TVs, you can now stream your favorite movie via the internet on your TV. National singing contests like "The Voice" will find a lot of their contestants by finding and listening to their You Tube channel.
Music is an important outlet for people and the evolution of the Internet and the concept of streaming makes it more convenient and available to both the artist and the listener.
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