9781422277386

Tech 2.0

World-Changing Entertainment Companies

Spotify ® , Pandora ® , and Streaming Music

by Michael Burgan

Tech 2.0 World-Changing Entertainment Companies

ESports: A Billion Eyeballs and Growing GoPro ® , Garmin ® , and Camera Drones Netflix ® , Amazon ® , Hulu ® , and Streaming Video Pixar ® , Disney ® , DreamWorks ® , and Digital Animation Spotify ® , Pandora ® , and Streaming Music YouTube ® and Videos of Everything!

Tech 2.0 World-Changing Entertainment Companies

Spotify ® , Pandora ® , and Streaming Music

by Michael Burgan

Mason Crest

Mason Crest 450 Parkway Drive, Suite D Broomall, PA 19008 www.masoncrest.com © 2019 by Mason Crest, an imprint of National Highlights, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission from the publisher. Printed and bound in the United States of America. Series ISBN: 978-1-4222-4053-3 Hardback ISBN: 978-1-4222-4058-8 EBook ISBN: 978-1-4222-7738-6 First printing 1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2 Produced by Shoreline Publishing Group LLC Santa Barbara, California Editorial Director: James Buckley Jr. Designer: Patty Kelley www.shorelinepublishing.com Cover photograph by Antonio Diaz/Dreamstime.com Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Burgan, Michael, author. Title: Spotify, Pandora, and streaming music / by Michael Burgan. Description: Broomall, PA : Mason Crest, 2018. | Series: TECH 2.0: world changing-entertainment companies | Includes index. Identifiers: LCCN 2018006656| ISBN 9781422240588 (hardback) | ISBN 9781422240533 (series) | ISBN 9781422277386 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: Music and the Internet--Juvenile literature. | Sound recording industry--Juvenile literature. Classification: LCC ML74.4 .B87 2018 | DDC 004.67/8078--dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018006656 You may gain access to certain third party content (“Third-Party Sites”) by scanning and using the QR Codes that appear in this publication (the “QR Codes”). We do not oper- ate or control in any respect any information, products, or services on such Third-Party Sites linked to by us via the QR Codes included in this publication, and we assume no responsibility for any materials you may access using the QR Codes. Your use of the QR Codes may be subject to terms, limitations, or restrictions set forth in the applicable terms of use or otherwise established by the owners of the Third-Party Sites. Our linking to such Third-Party Sites via the QR Codes does not imply an endorsement or sponsorship of such Third-Party Sites, or the information, products, or services offered on or through the Third-Party Sites, nor does it imply an endorsement or sponsorship of this publication by the owners of such Third-Party Sites. QR Codes disclaimer:

CONTENTS

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Chapter 1: The Growth of Digital Music . 10 Chapter 2: The First Major Players . 22 Chapter 3: The Competition Grows . 36 Chapter 4: Challenges and Opportunities . 50 Find Out More. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 Series Glossary of Key Terms. . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 Index. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 Educational Videos: Readers can view videos by scanning our QR codes, providing them with additional educational content to supplement the text. Examples include news coverage, moments in history, speeches, iconic moments, and much more! Text-Dependent Questions: These questions send the reader back to the text for more careful attention to the evidence presented here. Sidebars: This boxed material within the main text allows readers to build knowledge, gain insights, explore possibilities, and broaden their perspectives by weaving together additional information to provide realistic and holistic perspectives. Words to Understand: These words with their easy-to-understand definitions will increase the reader’s understanding of the text, while building vocabulary skills. KEY ICONS TO LOOK FOR Research Projects: Readers are pointed toward areas of further inquiry connected to each chapter. Suggestions are provided for projects that encourage deeper research and analysis.

Series Glossary of Key Terms: This back-of-the-book glossary contains terminology used throughout this series. Words found here increase the reader’s ability to read and comprehend higher-level books and articles in this field.

Tech 2.0 Introduction

7 D ecades ago, music lovers had only two options for hearing music without going to see performers play live. They could listen to the radio, not knowing what song would be played when. Or they could buy recordings, first on vinyl records, and then on cassette tapes. By the 1960s, smaller, battery-powered radios meant people could take music with them wherever they went, but they still did not have the choice to hear a favorite song when they wanted. Some cas- sette players and, later, CD players were also portable, but in many cases listeners could not share the music with other people since they listened through headphones. Today, people around the world streammusic through a variety of devices con- nected to the internet. Companies have created services that let users choose from huge libraries of songs and hear the tunes they want when they want. Having this choice is called on-demand streaming. In some cases, consumers also have the option of downloading songs they purchase onto their own computer or other devices. Or they can simply pay a monthly fee to access a musical service’s offerings. They also can listen to streaming radio stations. Users might not know the exact song they will hear at any moment, but their musical tastes shape what kind of songs they’re likely to hear. While CDs, records, and cassettes still exist, more people now access their music through streaming services. The technology that makes streaming music possible has been around for less than 30 years. At the heart of it is the internet, which since the 1970s has helped peo- ple use their computers to share information around the world. But it took many de- velopments to go from sending emails or small amounts of data through the network to be able to stream music with high-quality sound. The development of the World

Tech 2.0

Wide Web made it easier for people not familiar with computers to ac- cess the internet. Then internet providers began to increase the band- width of their systems—the amount of data that can be sent at any one time and how fast it travels. Data sent over the internet is measured in electrical signals called bits, and the speed at which the information travels is measured in millions of bits per second (mbps). Before the rise of the World Wide Web in the 1990s, most people accessed the in- ternet over a telephone line. The speed of the data was then measured in thousands of bits per second. The use of cable TV systems to trans- mit data enabled the greater speeds common today—and opened the door to on-demand streaming video.

Who needs a record player when you’ve got your phone (and your phones)?

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Improvements in cell-phone technology and the ability to send computer data wirelessly also shaped the streaming music revolution. With an app on their phone, people can hear the music they want any- where they go. Streaming music has also changed the music business. Musicians use social media sites such as Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram to build direct relationships with their fans. Meanwhile, the streaming music companies have sometimes battled with record companies and musicians over how everyone can make money off the new technolo- gy. At times, certain recording artists have refused to release their mu- sic online or only streamed through certain sites. But any bumps in the road while expanding streaming music services have not slowed its growth. Today, several companies offer streaming music, giving consumers great choice. Listeners can choose free services, but then they must listen to ads. People can pay more to get rid of the ads or to receive better-quality sound. And they can share their favorite bands and songs with friends, or learn about new music from total strang- ers. Streaming music technology and the companies behind it have changed how the world appreciates music of all kinds. Here’s a closer look at the business and technology of streaming music.

Introduction

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1 The Growth of Digital Music

T he technology for recording music and playing it back later dates to the 1870s. The great inventor Thomas Edison built the first phonograph in 1877. For the recording process, sound waves produced by a voice or instrument moved a needle over a piece of tin wrapped around revolving cylinder. The needle cut grooves into the tin. A second needle then “read” the grooves and produced a copy of the original sound waves. Later phonographs recorded the sound on wax cylinders, and then on discs made of such materials as shellac and vinyl. These early recordings and later ones made on tape are referred to as analog . The recording devices and materials recreate the sound waves generated when music is made. WORDS TO UNDERSTAND analog  referring to sound waves duplicated by making grooves in a disc or turning them into magnetic signals recorded on tape commercial  in business to make money compression  the process of removing some digital information from a music file to make it smaller rip  take sound off a digital disc, similar to recording on tape with analog music upload  transfer digital files to a network

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Tech 2.0

By the early 1900s, an industry arose around recording the work of popularmusicians and selling the records to consumers. They could play the music in their homes whenever they wanted. Then ra- dio technology, first used to transmit signals in Morse code, began to improve. The new technology allowed for voices to be broadcast for miles. The first commercial radio station in the United States went on the air in 1920. In the years that followed, stations began to play both live and recorded music. By the 1930s, people who could afford them could buy radios for their cars, giving them music on the go. Over the decades, radios became smaller and ran on batteries, mak- ing it possible to hear music wherever a radio signal could reach. As radio technology changed, so did the way music companies

The advent of portable radios helped people carry their music with them.

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recorded music. Starting in the 1970s, technology companies began to create digital recordings. Instead of trying to reproduce the sound waves on tape or vinyl, they turned the sound waves into bits, which a computer interprets as an electrical signal going on or off. Digi- tal recording eliminated some of the noise that was picked up during analog recordings. At first, some companies recorded music digitally but then transferred the music to analog tape. By the 1980s, the recording and playback could both be done digitally. The first common digital recordings were sold on compact discs (CDs). A laser in the player read the digital information that made up the music. Unlike records and tapes, the discs were hard to damage. They also could hold more music than a record. The CD introduced people around the world to the idea of digital music. And portable players let them take the music wherever they went. Compression Revolution B y the early 1990s, several technology companies had developed a format to record digital sound in smaller files. MP3 eliminated some data in a digital recording that contained sounds beyond what humans can hear. This compression meant that a song recorded in MP3 took up much less space on a computer than an original record-

CDs were a revolution . . . until they, too, were replaced.

1: The Growth of Digital Music

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Tech 2.0

ing on a CD. MP3 recording technology helped make music a common form of content on the internet. People could record songs using MP3 devices and then upload the files. Shortly after MP3 technology was introduced, several compa- nies began to stream live audio over the internet. The first content was concerts, followed by sporting events. In 1995, the Real Audio Player was introduced. It used its own technology, not MP3, to stream music over the internet. Within two years, consumers could listen to hundreds of radio stations over the internet using Real Audio.

MP3 players were the bridge between CDs and smartphones.

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