Music is a highly competitive industry that is forever evolving. The different mediums of music, as well as how they are presented to listeners, have came and went throughout it’s history. The presence of digital music has been the hottest trend in music in the past decade; the medium of choice: music streaming services. The rise of streaming services has changed the “typical” framework of how music is accessed/presented to the listeners.
Before the age of digital music, the availability of music was only present in the physical form. These physical mediums include cd’s, lp records, etc. This system benefits the artists/songwriters financially, and gives listeners the satisfaction of physically owning a product put out by the artist. While it has it’s benefits, the physical mediums do have their negative elements. Some of the issues of physical mediums of music include only having access to a certain amount of music at a given, production costs, transportation issues, and being restricted to only one music player.
The dawn of digital music and music streaming services were the answer to most of the issues that were present in the past mediums of music. Digital music changed the rules of the music industry; breaking down the barriers that once existed before. This system allows listeners to have instant and unlimited access to a vast catalog of songs at any given moment on any handheld device. Instead of having to go out and physically purchase the music, it is delivered straight to your device at the click of a button. Any and all content of music can be accessed much easier through digital media than it would be to go out and collect all of it physically. Digital music is a concept that a couple of decades ago was only a dream. It’s vast popularity goes to show that the idea of physically owning music is that of the past.
