The Innovation and Evolution of Vinyl Records to Streaming
Throughout history music has been enjoyed by all whether it was live or like today and we can enjoy it in our own home. Have you ever wondered how we got to being able to play music from our phones? The first time music was able to played at home was when Thomas Edison invented the phonograph. In 1877 we got the first machine that could play back audio after inscribing it. It went through a couple different stages of being recorded on tin foil and cardboard to wax, and then in 1887 the gramophone was made of hard rubber and shellac before being constructed with vinyl (Electrohome Blog).
This video gives a brief history of the phonograph and plays one of the very first things ever recorded. Fast forward a little in history and we get to 1960 and 1970, while radios took mainstream and record players were still being sold, this was considered the Golden age of record players and vinyl. Higher quality of playback was happening and turn-tables were starting to be used in other recordings to create a rhythmic instrument of sorts. It was widely used in DJ mixing even today.
After vinyl entered homes, technology continued to advance. Cassettes were released, Walkman's, CDs, and people were able to buy music and travel with it in cars, around the block, and more widespread in homes. After the invention of CD's it provided better sound quality and durability compared to vinyl and cassettes. They quickly overtook vinyl in sales, leading to a decline in record stores but an increase in music sales overall (EW).
In the early 2000's , there was another evolution of MP3 players. This allowed the storing of thousands of songs on a single device possible. This provided a new store front online to purchase music and download it legally (Medium). With iTunes store opening, this led to our finale, streaming services. In the mid-2000's streaming services started popping up like Pandora, Spotify, and Apple Music. This made music listening at an all time easy. No more purchasing physical copies of music or having to buy and download it. This had a large impact on album sales and they had to shift to streaming royalties.
I chose to do further research into the innovation and evolution of vinyl to todays streaming services as society has had a resurgence of vinyl sales. As streaming has stayed pretty static, a lot of people are looking back at "retro" music. "Modern records feature better sound quality than their predecessors, and the retro aesthetic and history of record players and vinyl albums appeal to many music lovers (Printyourvinyl)."
The vinyl above is something that was recorded and made in 1913, at this point in time everyone who created this, has all passed yet we can still hear them today. As vinyl have resurged, I have fallen into buying and collecting records myself, while they are not like the older records, I do have records from music I listen to today. The most recent record I got was a gift from a friend but it is from a TV show we both watch "Yellowjackets Season 2." While my collection is small right now, it is fun to go to antique stores and purchase older LPs to grow my collection.
“The History of the Record Player.” Electrohome Blog, 16 Nov. 2023, blog.electrohome.com/history-record-player/#:~:text=Thomas%20Edison%20invented%20the%20phonograph,cardboard%20cylinder%20for%20subsequent%20playback.
Browne, David. “Bidding Farewell to Vinyl.” EW.Com, Entertainment Weekly, 4 Oct. 1991, ew.com/article/1991/10/04/bidding-farewell-vinyl/.
Updates, Music Industry. “From Vinyl to Streaming: The Evolution of Music Listening Devices.” Medium, Medium, 3 Aug. 2024, medium.com/@seo1.delivermytune/from-vinyl-to-streaming-the-evolution-of-music-listening-devices-3eff31868b7b.
“When Were Vinyl Records Invented? A Look at the History of Vinyl Records.” PrintYourVinyl, www.printyourvinyl.com/blogs/guides/when-were-vinyl-records-invented-a-look-at-the-history-of-vinyl-records.
Super interesting! I've always wondered the evolution process of vinyls. I'm still confused on how the music comes out of the vinyls - I guess that will be a mystery. I have noticed, though we have moved onto different types of streaming, vinyls will always be popular. You can go to your local bookstore and pick one up. They are timeless.
ReplyDeleteI liked reading this because I never thought much about music evolving from vinyls to streaming services. I always wanted to collect vinyls but only modern music were available at stores I visited.
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