ABSTRACT
If “music is the universal language” because it can activate characters, information, and emotions as consistently as language constructed via words, then recorded music, by comparison, is a printing press, standardizing and replicating a communication modality that was once only available to a few. Despite its relatively new status as a medium—recorded music is just over 100 years old, or one-twentieth of 1% of human existence—it has changed how we humans think about ourselves and our behaviors. Chapter 2 explores how recorded music allowed users to take nuanced control of audio in their homes, cars, and public spaces. It allowed everyone to create aural atmospheres regardless of musical talent. Recorded music is the storage, transmission, and replication of high-fidelity musical content independent of musicians or memory. It allows users to listen to identical copies of their favorite content repeatedly and to share that experience with others. In this chapter, I describe the psychology of adjusting audio environments in order to control emotions and the relationships with others to demonstrate how the trajectory of audio usage led to the widespread adoption of streaming technologies and accessible entertainment.
