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Pick a Day

Music History Events: Technology

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March 24, 2009 Prince launches Lotusflow3r.com, which for $77 subscriptions, offers access to his videos and music. It shuts down after a year.

November 26, 2008 Atlantic Records becomes the first major label whose digital sales have surpassed its CD sales. Downloads of music and ringtones now account for more than half of Atlantic's US sales.

November 1, 2006 Apple Computer launches a new mini-store within the US version of the iTunes Music Store dedicated to Latin music and entertainment. iTunes Latino features top Latin music, music videos, television shows, audiobooks and podcasts.

September 25, 2001 The voice of Bob Marley ushers satellite radio onto the air, promising listeners greater variety on the dial - for a price - with the launch of XM Satellite Radio. It is the first worldwide broadcast of a satellite radio station.

February 15, 2001 George Harrison enters the cyber age with an online chat on MSN Live.

November 16, 2000 Jewel becomes one of the first artists to stream a concert online, doing so to benefit an organization working to bring clean water to those who need it.

November 8, 2000 The Secure Digital Music Initiative announces that two of its proposed technologies did not survive being attacked as part of the "Hack SDMI" challenge. The competition invited all comers to attempt removal of copyright protection from particular files, based on a specific set of criteria.

November 1, 1999 With getting music over the internet still a novel concept and technical challenge, Third Eye Blind offer their single "Anything" exclusively online. It's free, but can only be played for three weeks.

October 2, 1999 David Bowie offers a virtual guided tour of the controversial art show "Sensation: Young British Artists From The Saatchi Collection" at davidbowie.com. The show includes Damien Hirst's shark suspended in formaldehyde (titled "The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living") and Tracey Emin's tent (titled "Everyone I Have Ever Slept With 1963–1995").

November 16, 1998 Kmart gets into the online music game, launching a site called Music Favorites.

October 26, 1998 US Federal courts refuse to issue an injunction against makers of mp3 players, one which the RIAA has been pushing for in light of rampant piracy.

November 13, 1997 Ray Charles conducts his first-ever online chat at rhino.com, answering questions about his new five-CD boxed set, Genius & Soul: The 50th Anniversary Collection.

September 28, 1997 The DVD-Audio format is introduced at the Audio Engineering Society (AES) conference.

November 27, 1981 Before file sharing, there was the dual-cassette recorder. In an effort to stop people from making copies of tapes, ads run in the British press saying, "Home taping is wiping out music."

March 27, 1958 Stereo albums are introduced.

September 9, 1955 Seeburg introduces their latest jukebox, which not only holds a record 100 singles but is also capable of playing the same number of EPs.

February 26, 1955 For the first time, sales of the newer, smaller 45rpm records outpace those of the old 78rpm variety.

February 1, 1949 RCA introduces the 45 RPM record. It's 7 inches wide and plays at a faster speed than the traditional 33-1/3, providing better sound quality. The format takes off, and 45s become known as "singles."

August 1, 1942 Fighting against phonograph records, which they fear will replace live music, the American Federation of Musicians goes on strike, forbidding their members from playing on recorded music. The strike lasts over two years, by which time it becomes clear that people will both listen to records and go to concerts.

September 26, 1908 The first stereo advertisement, for an Edison Phonograph, appears in the Saturday Evening Post.

November 8, 1887 Emile Berliner is granted the first patent for the gramophone. In the 1890s, he starts manufacturing gramophone players and discs, but in the early 1900s the Victor Talking Machine company becomes the market leader.

February 19, 1878 Thomas Edison patents the phonograph.

October 24, 2020 Billie Eilish pulls off Where Do We Go? The Livestream, the first large-scale virtual concert with extended reality (XR) effects, which immerse and interact with the performers (Eilish, her brother Finneas, and drummer Andrew Marshall), and shift scenes from song to song. Tickets cost $30.

March 29, 2020 With most of the world homebound as the coronavirus pandemic takes hold, Elton John hosts the "Living Room Concert For America" from his home, featuring virtual performances by Mariah Carey, H.E.R., Backstreet Boys, and Tim McGraw. The concert raises money to help local food banks and support first responders during the crisis.More

June 30, 2015 Apple launches a new streaming service, Apple Music.

September 26, 2014 Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke releases his second solo album, Tomorrow's Modern Boxes, for just $6 on the peer-to-peer file-sharing platform BitTorrent. According to the album's producer, Nigel Godrich, "It could be an effective way of handing some control of Internet commerce back to people who are creating the work." In just over a week, the album averages 1.8 million downloads.

July 24, 2014 Chubby Checker settles his lawsuit with Hewlett-Packard over their app: "The Chubby Checker." The app, which sold for 99 cents, purported to estimate a man's penis size based on his shoe size.

September 10, 2013 Apple announces iTunes Radio, a streaming service that is essentially a competitor to Pandora, creating radio stations based on a particular song, artist or genre.More

August 20, 2012 A Green Day version of the video game Angry Birds is released, featuring Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt and Tre Cool as green pigs. Players can unlock a new Green Day song from the 10th level of the game.

January 29, 2008 Prog rock band The Mars Volta release their album The Bedlam in Goliath. As a promotion, the band also gives away a CD-vinyl single, a special format with an optical side readable in CD players and a vinyl side that plays on a turntable for about three minutes. Both sides contain a cover of Pink Floyd's "Candy and a Currant Bun." The Bedlam in Goliath debuts at #3 on the Billboard 200.

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