ABSTRACT
This chapter explores how developments like Web 2.0, social media, and music streaming services have irrevocably altered the ways fans experience music, but also, how fans interact with other listeners and artists about the music they love. The introduction of television in the 1950s prompted a shift from aural to visual consumption of music that later would crystalize with the 1981 creation of Music Television (MTV). Napster, a controversial digital media sharing site, was software that enabled a decentralized network of connected computers where individuals could access and copy files like movies and music from other computers around the world, establishing what is usually referred to as a peer-to-peer (P2P) network. MySpace was the first of the hundreds of social media sites at the time to make music and entertainment its focus. The concept of music video has been altered due to the participatory environment afforded by YouTube.
