Essay- Evolution of Consuming Music

During our fall course of learning about the different media mediums and how they relate to American life, I took a particular interest in the week of music. We learned about how music was consumed over the years and how much of an actual business it is now. Music is very important to me and I have a very strong appreciation for the evolution of it. From strictly live music, to being on the radio, next to be recorded and put on records and cassettes, to eventually ending up on my computer on an app while I write this essay. I’m appreciative the love for music has not died out, or obviously it wouldn’t be as easy to access today. Music on apps for me, really takes away from the authenticity of raw recording. Don’t get me wrong, I love having almost everything I could ever want to listen to at my fingertips, but I kind of wish I went through the hassle of saving up change to run to a record store to get the newest album before it was sold out. I think by still having music on the radio, having records, CD’s and cassettes preserves not only the true sound of a song, but the time period it came from. It allows the listener to get the most realistic listening experience. It gives them the power to imagine more about the song and when it was made. It inspires its listeners or takes them to a feeling of deep nostalgia, if they were lucky enough to experience the music in its natural time. So, by still having the radio around, records and CD’s being produced, music from the past wouldn’t have as much of an influence on the music that is popular today. Old music would not be relevant and would be forgotten if people didn’t express a need for different mediums to consume it.

A few CDs to put you in the right state of mind.

First I’d like to say a big thank you to the Indie-Kid epidemic. To the kids that would go to the record store to take pictures and not buy anything, the people that wear band t-shirts yet know zero songs by the band/who they even are, and to the people that swear they were born in the wrong time period. As much as I despise that being a “trend” these people in my generation, along with the influence of my parents, made me get into old music. This isn’t a brag, or me trying to be one of those people, but I definitely resonate more with music from the 60s, 70s and 90s than today’s music. Of course EDM and rap are incredible and I do love both, but I find classic rock to be where it’s at. I wouldn’t be aware of the bands I love now if it wasn’t for cringey pictures on Tumblr or my sister pretending to love The Grateful Dead. People that made getting into old music a trend I think is a big reason why it’s still around today as big as ever. Our parents however, had the biggest influence on our generation to get into it. In an article written by Crystal Ligori, Jenn Chávez and Donald Orr titled “From TikTok To ’80s Rock: Teens Walk Us Through What They’re Listening To”, Maddie DeWeese said, “When I was growing up, my dad has always been super into music, and he’s always had a ton of records and CDs. They’re always playing in the background. My mom made specific CDs or playlists for car rides with the kids. My parents influence, I think, a lot of what I listen to”. I can definitely relate to this because my parents still have CD’s in their car with everything from their childhood to present. My dad has passed down his record collection filled with Bruce Springsteen, Bob Segar, The Doors, The Searchers, The Cars, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and plenty more. So I was lucky enough to have parents who passed down their passion for music to me, and I still listen to all of those records my dad gave me with my own record player. It’s a full circle, sentimental thing listening to those records because I know when my parents were listening to them, everything was different but the love for the tune stays the same.

The passion and love for consuming music through another way like records and CDs really hasn’t gone anywhere, either. In fact, in a Business Insider article “Americans spending more on vinyl records then CDs for the first time since the 1980’s” says “LP and EP sales totalled $232.1 million in the first half of 2020 — almost 80% more than the total revenue for CD sales, which stood at $129.9 million, according to estimates from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA)”. This proves that people are taking advantage of records still being produced and really capitalizing on it. However, according to the article, “The plunging popularity of CDs, rather than a surge in vinyl buying, caused the change: Revenues from record sales only increased by 3.6% over six months, but CD sales plummeted by 47.6%”. It is understandable that if CD sales went down another way of consumption, records would be increased. I do know that people still love CD’s and use them, but it would make sense if they listened to older music or even very new music, records would be the way to do it. I don’t know that many people with a boombox still.

This is my favorite record store, it is in Laguna Beach, California. It is STOCKED with records and CDs, even band merchandise and art work.

Consuming older music over the radio also keeps its spirit alive. It’s nice to know people still listen to music over the radio, because what you listen to is in your control up to a certain point. Live performances used to be very popular over the radio as well. In Chapter 7: Radio of the book Understanding Media and Culture it says, “Although recording technology had also emerged several decades before radio, music played live over the radio sounded better than it did on a record played in the home. Live music performances thus became a staple of early radio”. My dad has memories of turning on the radio and listening to the live music, and I know those specific songs he listened to trigger very happy memories in him. I’m lucky enough to be able to view live performances online like MTV’s Unplugged versions. Live music does sound very different, but can be appreciated in its own way depending on how you take it in. It would’ve been very interesting listening to Nirvana’s Unplugged on a radio though. Not bad, just different. That’s why it is important to keep consuming music from not only the past but present music, through different mediums other than our phones. It keeps the spirit of the music alive, because that’s how the music came into this world.