Pop & Tech

Pop has been influenced by technological development over the time.
If there wasn't an innovation of recording techniques, pop music
would not exist at all.
I want to introduce you about the very first stage of music
recording industry.
It takes us back to early 2oth century, when the wax cylinders
were used in recording process.



(www.tinfoil.com/cylinder.htm)


These little things could record about 2-4 minutes length of music.
Then, they would be played in the devices like :

(www.tinfoil.com/cylinder.htm)

This technique was extremely costly. If an artist wanted to make
10 copies of his recording, he would have to record it for 10 times.
He would be lucky if he could record it for 10 times,
because he would have to record more than that if he made any mistakes.
Let's think about the case of the Beatles.

In 1960s, their album, "I Want to Hold Your Hand," sold nearly
5 million in the U.S.
Now, let's imagine that the Beatles used wax cylinders to record their music.
The running time of the album is probably about an hour.
If they wanted to make 5 million copies, they would have to spend
5 million hours singing at the studio. That's 570 years without sleeping.
If they made mistakes... let's not think about that.

The point I want to make here is that it would be impossible for us
to have pop music without technological developments.
If it cannot be spread to the people, it is not "pop" anymore.
After wax cylinders, magnetic tapes were invented, and LPs and
CDs came to us.

Now, we don't even have to go to the stores to buy the music we like.
As a result, music can be spread faster than ever before,
and therefore, creat the POP music.