How has technology changed music throughout the years?

How technology has changed music

For a complete answer to this question, check out "Capturing Sound: How Technology Has Changed Music" by Mark Katz, an excellent text which discusses this topic clearly and in great depth.

While there is no simple answer to this question, arguments can be made that technology has significantly changed music both for the positive and the negative.

The limitations of new technology can define how musicians and producers are structure their work. In the era of 78rpm records, the maximum running time per side was about 4 minutes 20 seconds, ideal for shorter marches and other popular songs but poorly suited to opera or long-form classical music.

Early recording sessions were very intimidating for vocalists, even the most seasoned divas; for novice musicians, they remain scary places for singers even today. In the early 20th centure, recording studios housed enormous horns into which singers and players were required essentially to yell to overcome the surface noice of early discs. The tonal quality of certain performers, most notibly Italian tenor Enrico Caruso, translated well onto the new medium, and as a result his albums sold extremely well world-wide.

Later on, 33 1/3 rpm long-play albums (LPs) allowed much longer durations, allowing symphonies to be released on 1 or 2 discs instead of 8 or more.

For musicians, recording brought with it the opportunity for listeners to scrutinize their performances more closely than ever before, especially any mistakes in their timing and intonation: this had the consequence of instilling doubt into some performer's heads. In Katz's book, he argues that recording may have inspired violinists to begin using more vibrato on recordings, both to demonstrate passion or drama (since the visual cues from a live performance were not available on record) as well as to help conceal any tuning issues.

In hip hop, the turntable is used as musical instrument, ushering in the notion of quoting or "sampling" the works of other artists, both as homage and criticism. And the digital revolution changed music (and the music business) enormously: compact discs, with no surface noise and an extended run time of 80 minutes, revitalized record sales. Later on, however, digital technology inspired the process of file sharing, allowing users to share mp3 files for free.

"The future is unwritten." Whatever lies ahead for listeners and musicians is unknown; the only guarantee is that, however you listen to music now, it will likely be vastly different in the near future.

First answer by ID1199428201. Last edit by JohnMerchant. Contributor trust: 61 [recommend contributor]. Question popularity: 75 [recommend question]