Tapes also fit in a more affordable, compact package. 1963: Compact CassetteĬompact Cassettes, or tapes, were invented by the Philips company and introduced to Europe at the Berlin Radio Show - Europe’s oldest tech convention with a rich history of its own.Įarly cassettes featured reverse housing with a max play time of 45 minutes of stereo audio per side - significantly longer than a vinyl LP’s playtime. Eventually the music industry sought to find a solution and developed new formats that people could easily bring with them to work, parties, etc.ĭespite the numerous physical formats that have been created since vinyl records, the market for them is still strong: according to the mid-year 2017 Discogs report the most popular physical music format sold so far this year is vinyl, with a year-to-year increase in sales of 13.92%.īut despite vinyl’s sustained popularity over time, vinyl was set aside as the go-to format as listeners looked for the next best thing. Size and portability were the biggest strikes against vinyl.
Shortly after, RCA Records developed a 45 RPM 7-inch “extended-play single” format, or the EP for short.īecause of the fragility of shellac, which was frequently broken during transport, both Columbia and RCA Records eventually began producing their LP and EPs on vinyl. The first LP ever pressed was titled Columbia ML4001, and was a “Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in E Minor” by violinist Nathan Milstein with the New York Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Bruno Walter. In 1948, Columbia Records produced a 33 RPM 12-inch “long play” format, which we know, love, and donate to thrift stores today as the LP.
Records, or discs, of varying speeds and materials have actually been around since the early 1900s - early versions rotated at 78 RPM (vroom, vroom!) and were made of shellac, which made them noisy (the bad kind of noisy, not the good kind) and fragile. Here’s the music format timeline - from vinyl to digital and everything in between. We strolled through the odd history of music formats to explore where that journey has taken us - and where it might lead… Regardless of their popularity today, every format on this list played its part in the march towards digital domination. Many musicians are skipping out entirely on the cost of releasing physical formats - opting instead for digital music distribution that fits today’s music landscape. Smart artists are following suit as well.
#Little disc that goes in a 45 download
Most music fans choose to purchase their music digitally - either via download or streaming. Regardless of how obsolete certain formats might be, they all led us to where we are today: streaming. But looking back might make you ask “what were we thinking?”
Each format on this list had its moment of usefulness. Physical formats have only been around since the 1870s - but in that relatively short amount of time, we’ve managed to come up with some pretty bizarre ways to release music. + Welcome to Soundfly! We help curious musicians meet their goals with creative online courses. Whatever you want to learn, whenever you need to learn it: subscribe now to start learning on the ’Fly. This article originally appeared on The LANDR blog
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