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First Gramophone
Emile Berliner invents the gramophone. It uses a disk rather than a cylinder, like the phonograph. -
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History of the Music Industry
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Columbia Phonograph Company
The Columbia Phonograph Company achieves little success until it begins to record music to send to fairgrounds to accompany its leased graphophones. The popularity of the fairground jukeboxes allows the CPC to survive and be the only graphophone leasing company to make a profit. -
Technologies Improve and Music Business Takes Off
The developments in the materials and the production techniques of the both the disc and the cylinder give recordings a more clear and dynamic sound. Along with the graphophone and the gramophone, the piano also becomes one of the most popular businesses of the time. -
First Commercial Radio Station
The radio corporation of America begins mass producing commercial radios. KDKA in Pittsburgh becomes the first commercial radio station to receive call letters and begins regular broadcasts by announcing the returns of the presidential election -
First Electronically Recorded Discs Go On Sale
Bell Telephone Laboratories introduces electrical amplification and the first electronically recorded discs go on sale. -
Free Radio Presence Declines
Tape recording cartridges are developed in this time, but remain largely behind the scenes during the Depression and into the 1950s. The presence of free radio broadcasts during the Depression leads to a decline. -
New Material for Record Production
The fragile nature of discs made from shellac is revealed when RCA Victor ships the first 'V-Discs' to entertain troops abroad in 1943 and polyvinyl chloride known as PVC or vinyl is adopted as the new material for record production. Vinyl survives as the record industry's material of choice long after WW2 ends. -
Cassette Tapes First Breakthrough
Cassette tapes have their first commercial breakthrough, when Phillips introduces its own 30 minute format for the tape cartridge and allows other manufacturers to duplicate the specifications. -
Cassette Tapes Hit The Big Time, Again!
Cassette Tapes hit the big time with the decline of 8-tracks players and the introduction of Sony Walkman in 1979. The Walkman revolution coincides with improvement in cassette sound quality and the cassette tape suddenly becomes the only format that you could have in your home, in your camera and in your pocket. -
Philips and Sony Collaboration
Philips and Sony announce plans to work together to come up with a uniform standard for Compact Disc in 1978. In 1982, record companies announce a worldwide standard that ensures that all CDs will play on all CD players. -
The Combination of Digital Audio
The combination of digital audio and the internet create a combustible phenomenon upon the invention of the MP3. It compresses digital audio files that can be easily sent from computer to computer. -
Albums Available via Internet
Artist Prince announces that his next album will only be available via the internet. He sells 100,000 albums without the aid of his record label. -
Apple Launches Successful Online Music Store
Apple computer launches the most successful online music store to date. In its first year, apple sells 70 million songs at $0.99 per song, creating nearly $70 million in legal internet music sales. -
YouTube is Created
In February 2005, Jawed Karim, Steve Chen and Chad Hurley created YouTube; a website in which people go to upload and to watch music videos -
Google Buys YouTube
A year and a half after former PayPal emplyees create YouTube, Google bought the site for $1.65 billion. YouTube now operates as one of Google's subsidiaries. -
Spotify Launches
In autumn 2008, music and podcast streaming service was launched. It was a huge success and as of July 2017, it had 140 million active listeners per month, with 60 million of those being paying subscribers.