Old Song, New Riffs
Music has existed since the dawn of recorded history, but the music industry didn't become lucrative until people could own music. Vinyl records gained popularity around the 1950s/1960s and required listeners to purchase expensive turntable and speaker equipment. The LP era lasted until the rise of cassettes in the 1990s, which boasted portability and affordability. All a person needed was a Walkman, headphones, and, if they were lucky, a cassette player installed in their car. Next came sleek CDs in the 2000s, and yet another equipment upgrade-- trade that Walkman for a portable CD player, but hang onto those headphones! Later in the 2000s came the dawn of the digital era. Music fans shelled out $200+ for iPods and paid around 99 cents per song (or found free downloads on shadier parts of the web) on iTunes, but the transition meant no physical harm could come of the music. Today, subscription-based streaming reigns supreme. US listeners can choose from three major options: Spotify (free with an annoying commercial every six songs, or $9.99/month), TIDAL ($9.99/month for the basic option, or $19.99 for hi-fi), or Apple Music ($9.99/month or $14.99 for a family subscription).
These platform changes reflect technological advances over the last 60-70 years, but all offer the same thing: music. With each generation comes a new means of listening, and new music is released only on the newest platform. Older music usually makes its way to the new platform as well, rendering the older one obsolete. In this way, people can listen to whatever type of music they want-- as long as its with the technological trends. For example, The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band was released in 1967 and has, at some point, been available on every aforementioned platform. Listeners are distracted from real-world change every Friday, when new albums are released, and then talk about it with other music aficionados for the week- until the following Friday. This creates a cyclical style of consumption that keeps people coming back for more. Whether you've been around since the 80s and seen the evolution with your own eyes, or whether you listened to your first song on Spotify, you've got to buy in to keep up. Or you could just listen to the radio.
These platform changes reflect technological advances over the last 60-70 years, but all offer the same thing: music. With each generation comes a new means of listening, and new music is released only on the newest platform. Older music usually makes its way to the new platform as well, rendering the older one obsolete. In this way, people can listen to whatever type of music they want-- as long as its with the technological trends. For example, The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band was released in 1967 and has, at some point, been available on every aforementioned platform. Listeners are distracted from real-world change every Friday, when new albums are released, and then talk about it with other music aficionados for the week- until the following Friday. This creates a cyclical style of consumption that keeps people coming back for more. Whether you've been around since the 80s and seen the evolution with your own eyes, or whether you listened to your first song on Spotify, you've got to buy in to keep up. Or you could just listen to the radio. 
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