When humans first started making audio recordings of music, they were limited as to how long those recordings could be...
An original Edison cylinder could maybe hold two minutes of music, therefore any songs committed to the format had to be two minutes or shorter—otherwise you’d run out of space...
When Emilee Berliner came along with his flat rotating dis ... Show More
Oct 14
1976 - The Birth Year of Alt-Rock - Part 1
1976 wasn't just another year in music. It marked the birth of punk rock and launched alternative culture as we know it. From the gritty stages of CBGB to the first records by the Ramones, Blondie, Patti Smith, and Talking Heads, we trace how a handful of outsiders sparked a move ... Show More
35m 40s
Oct 7
A Timeline of Technological Advances in Music
Ever wonder which pieces of technology changed music forever? From Thomas Edison’s phonograph and the invention of the microphone to the Walkman, the iPod, and today’s streaming platforms, we take a geeky trip through the biggest innovations that transformed how music is created, ... Show More
46m 57s
Sep 30
The One-Hit Wonders Follow-up Show
Think we were done with alt-rock one-hit wonders? Not quite. After our original deep dive into the biggest alternative one-hit wonders since 1976, the emails and DMs kept pouring in. You pointed out...rightfully so... songs we missed, artists we overlooked, and a few bands that m ... Show More
31m 35s
Feb 2021
Why are songs getting shorter and shorter?
If you look at the duration of the top 10 best-selling titles in the United States, you'll see that their average duration is 3.5 minutes. It may not sound like much, but in reality, it averages 20 seconds less than songs released merely 5 years ago. And if we go back further to ... Show More
2m 31s
Nov 2023
Tune Tech: Distortion, sequencers, Auto-Tune, and more
From electric guitars to samplers to drum machines and beyond, the music we love is only possible thanks to the technology used to create it. In many ways, the history of popular music is really a history of technological innovation. In this episode, we partnered with BandLab to ... Show More
25m 33s
<p>Is there too much? Or has music changed its function?
</p>
<p>01:52 – Background</p>
<p>04:38 – The Commodification of Music</p>
<p>07:25 – Fake Artists</p>
<p>09:00 – Creators vs Artists, Quality Control</p>
<p>11:30 – Major Label Sway</p>
<p>14:00 – More Music, Less Money</p ... Show More
