Listening to Music: Treble Makers

About this episode

For nearly all of history, hearing music required someone physically making it nearby and the only music humans ever heard was whistling or singing. Even when instruments became widespread, music was rare. The idea that people could hear any music they wanted at the push of a button was undreamed of. Listen along with Virginia, Charles, and special guest musician/historian/engineer John Hardin as they play the chords of the great transformation of music from dearth to digital, from scarcity to Spotify. Podcast website: http://abundance.institute/EverydayAbundance One of the most popular books published in the 19th century was Looking Backward (1888), Edward Bellamy’s science-fiction novel about the fantastic, faraway world of A.D. 2000. Characters listen to music in their homes through cable “telephones.” Bellamy correctly predicted that future listeners would have near-instant access to music from anywhere. But he missed the crucial breakthrough: recording. Instead, Looking Backward portrayed live musicians playing over the wires. And that made all the difference. The ability to capture, reproduce, duplicate, store, transmit, remix, and stream sound transformed music