Essay-1- Music- Internet and everyday life

In the past music had roots in culture and tradition and was regarded as harmonious and
pleasant, today music is much more commercial and has become a powerful tool in that it
can control people’s moods, feelings, actions and values, especially through one of the
most powerful communication tools, the internet. The internet has changed the music
industry, the way we listen to music, the way we buy music and most importantly it has
become more of a commodity.

Music has a history dating back to prehistoric times, as far back as 5000 BC, to the single
in the 1950’s, the album in the 1960’s, the cassette in the 1970’s, the compact disc in the
1980’s, to the recent phenomenon of CD’s, the internet and the MP3 and MP4 in the 1990’s
and 21st century respectively. (Future Hit, 2010)

Dating back to the 9th century, music was a form of life. It entailed aspects of culture and
tradition, and brought people together for joyous and memorable occasions. In Ancient
Greece, mixed-gender choruses performed for entertainment, celebration and spiritual
ceremonies (West, 1994). Music was an important part of cultural and social life which
illustrates the purpose of music as an instrument of social engagement and cultural
activities. In the pre-war era the use of gramophones or records was very common in
households and clubs and it was a symbolic gesture of appreciation of good music which
entailed dancing and singing. (West, 1994).

Commercial inclinations started to arise when the radio started broadcasting in the 1920’s
and 30’s. The initial aim was to convey messages in public places and to spread
advertisements and music as well (Reimer, 1995). During this period music was a part of
life, people listened to it at home for comfort and pleasure and they danced to it in social
clubs and parties for entertainment. Live music also came into the frame, which grew in
popularity as it brought people together, and added that collectivist cultural aspect to
society as friends, families, and couples alike were brought together to have fun and
celebrate. The degree to which music was bonded with everyday life was more tranquil and
was an essential ingredient to the positive components of the 20th century.

Into the end of the 1980’s and the 1990’s came two major explosions onto this planet, the
CD and the internet. The internet revolutionized aspects of life such as business and work,
books, games, and the entertainment industry in particular music. The internet broadened
the horizon and depths of music to heights that created avenues of opportunities and
threats, albeit it can be said that on general terms the internet has done wonders for music.
The compact disc (CD) digitized music, by storing digital data either sourced from other
CD’s and the internet (BBC News, 2007). This is where the internet came in; it created a
wider range of corridors to access music. This was followed by the Mp3, which is a digital
audio format for consumer audio storage (Eckhart, 2000). Mp3’s were introduced in 1995,
and created the first use of internet usage to access and acquire music (Eckhart, 2000).

The use of the internet to obtain Mp3 music was taking to the next level in technology and
music.

MP3 files began to spread on the Internet. The popularity of MP3s began to rise rapidly
with the arrival of audio players like Winamp which would play files in these formats. The
small size of MP3 files facilitated widespread file sharing of music which was ripped from
CDs, using software from the internet (Anderson, 2006). The first large peer-to-peer file
sharing network was Napster was launched in 1999, using the internet to download and
share music files.. (Anderson, 2006)

The internet also led to some negative issues such as copyright infringements and music
piracy. The widespread reach of music through peer-to-peer sites led to illegal downloads
of music which created major panic and distortion in the music industry. It reduced sales of
CD’s, which led to artists receiving fewer royalties, and prompted label companies to sue
Napster which was eventually shut down. (Anderson, 2006)

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We have already witnessed one use of the internet; the next big thing was the MP3 player.
In 1998, the first portable digital audio player MPMan, developed in Seoul, South Korea,
was released to the public (Ruth, 1999). Shortly after came the next string of players such
as the Dell Pocket DJ, Sony Walkman and the Apple IPod. Again these players required
the use of software from the internet and songs downloaded from the internet, albeit legal
issues, the volumes of download only increased. Music Piracy, led companies to realize the
potential for online access to music, and thus started selling music online in different
formats for a small fee. Then came file hosting sites such as Rapidshare and Hotfile, these
allowed people to download files such as movies and music at faster speeds, which again
gives people a reason to download music off the internet.

In a nutshell, music via the internet is free or cheap, convenient and easy to access; these
characteristics were the new trends going into the 20th century in comparison to the past
especially among the youth. The internet was a catalyst in building the base for availability
and access to music. (Laughley, 2006)

According to my father, the only way he could listen to music was from the radio which was
not always cheap, or at live shows. The accessibility factor was not present, live shows had
issues such as cost and location involved and not everyone could afford a radio at the time.
Today children are exposed to the wonders of the internet; they can download albums and
listen to music from streaming sites such as Youtube, which shows that the youth of today
is more tangled in the world of music than the youth of the past.

The internet has not only garnered the use of music on devices, but also spread music like
a wildfire plague. Broadcasting sites like Youtube and megavideo allowed people to stream
music and videos all over the world, and social networking sites like Myspace and
Facebook have been used to as cheaper and more effective alternative by new and
upcoming artists to promote themselves. In the past people had only heard of artists and
music they heard from the radio, today because of the internet people can search for new
artists, songs and billboard hits via search engines.

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The wave of the internets influence on music has made music more powerful and
commercial. With the rise of music due to the internet, there has been an increase in
demand and other opportunities, this has led the world of business to enter a crack in the
hole and intertwine commercial interests with music. With each artist or band comes a
string of elements such as an agent, Personal Assistant, Public relations, media,
advertising, contracts and sponsors. This illustrates how complex and diverse the internet
has made the music industry today.

An example of the power of music is the way we listen to music. Listening to music has
become addictive, because of the internet and music devices the accessibility has allowed
us to listen to much more music than in the past. This has led to a hypothetical overload
that influence ones mind. Some negative aspects are when the youth or disturbed take the
lyrics as they are and not for their meaning, which leads them to engage in unwanted and
unforgiveable acts like performing dangerous stunts or injuring people. Another issue is
obsession, where fans are obsessed with artists and use the internet to stalk them, write on
their Myspace and Facebook pages and even create videos of how fanatic they and post
them online. On the other hand music has positive influences in relation to moods and
feelings. A person having a bad day can listen to their favorite songs and with the
combination of the lyrics and tunes it has the ability to lift their spirits. Some songs can also
be inspirational and affect a person’s decisions and choices.

The internet has had a very deep and tremendous impact on music; it has caused the
realm of music to branch out into numerous avenues of all shapes and sizes. Music has
transformed from an element of life into a commodity of life. By becoming a commodity, it
doesn’t mean that music has lost its soul or meaning, it merely states that evolution of
culture, values and technology has made the music more intricate like a single plant
growing into a forest. However the question remains of when and where the line has to be
drawn. Both the internet and music are growing and evolving side by side. Will it ever stop?
The universe is the limit.

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References

Anderson, C (2006). The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business Is Selling Less of More.
New York: Hyperion

‘Compact Disc Hits 25th birthday". BBC News. (17 February 2007). Retrieved 2009-12-01.

Eckhart, Roger (2008). Digitalisation in the 21st century. London.Atlantic

Future Hit. (2009). Retrieved January 21, <http://www.futurehitdna.com/>

Laughley,D(2006), Music and Youth Culture, Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press

Schubert, R (1999). "Tech-savvy Getting Music For A Song; Industry Frustrated That
Internet Makes Free Music Simple". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Retrieved 19 January 2011

West, Martin Litchfield (1994). Ancient Greek music. Oxford University Press

Reimer,B.(1995),’The media in Public and Private Spheres’, youth culture in Late