History of Music Production

For as long as people have had ears, there has been a live music industry.  As long as there is an audience, there is an industry.  Playing music and receiving something of value in return for a listen, has been happening for centuries.  But when did music production actually start?

 

In 1857 Leon Scott invented a clever gadget which could record sound onto a piece of paper.  This discover led to Thomas Edison, in 1877, creating the phonograph.  This clever machine could record and play back sound.

 

There were developments continually made around this discovery for the next 36 years.  By 1903 this had become a 12 inch record, made from shellac, a resin from the female lac bug of India. This record could play 78 revolutions per minute and could take around 4 ½ minutes of music recorded through ribbon microphones.

 

In 1948 Les Paul recorded the first sound-on-sound overdubbed, or multi-track recording, with a  track called ‘Lover (When You’re Near Me)’. This meant music performances no longer needed to be live. It did mean, however, record labels needed to bring composers and musicians together.  Thus creating a real industry, complete with talent scouts or Artist & Repertoire Representatives (or A&R reps).

 

During the Second World War, communication was greatly improved.  Whilst this was used to be successful in war, the music industry realized it could be used to further itself.  The machine used for Morse code, become an early synthesizer – something able to change tone.  By 1960 (and in time for Elvis Presley) the music industry was really taking off (they even discovered electric guitars).

 

The 1970s saw the introduction of the compact tape cassette.  Over the next 20 years, we would move from medium from vinyl long-playing (LP) records through to compact disks in the 1990s.  Alongside side this was the up and coming computer revolution. This would shape the way we make, listen to and buy music, as personal computers to become widely available to the public.

 

In reaction to the Cold War, this strange new thing was created. It was to be called the WorldWideWeb  - the Internet.  Although it could not be commercially used until 1995, when Amazon and eBay were established, its potential was being recognised.   People realized you could now share files.

This marked the removal of geographical restriction on distribution of recorded music: you did not need to go to your local store to collect your favourite record any more (providing the online store had what you wanted).

 

1999 saw the end of the 90s and the birth of Napster.  This was a public portal which allowed access to music, via MP3.

 

Now look where we are: you hear a song you like, you google the lyrics, then you listen to it.  Nowadays, you don’t even have to buy the song.