Audio’s Opportunity and Who Will Capture It

As most of the major media categories — music, video and video games — have existed for decades, we tend to forget that media is technology. Instead, we think of technology as being used to express media, rather than media itself. Spotify, for example, is an internet streaming music service, while iTunes is a download music service, SiriusXM is satellite broadcast music service, and radio is a terrestrial broadcast technology. This focus on delivery ignores the classic definition of media: “outlets or tools used to store and deliver information or data.”

While the above might seem preoccupied with theory and philosophy, all analysis of the past and future of a given media category must start from the fact that media is technology. This is because technology not only enables content categories, it defines their business models and shapes the content, too. And as we know, technology is in a constant process of change.

Chapter 1: How Technology Created Recorded Media, Then Continually Redefined It

Music offers a great view into the interplay between technology, business model and content. Consider the following triptych, which covers seven decades, two decades and one year, respectively. 

When the flat record first emerged in the 1850s, it standardized around the 78. The 78 (as in 78 rotations per minute) came in a 10-inch version that held three minutes of music and a 12-inch version that held four. This meant that after centuries of variability, music suddenly had a defined run-time. 

Read the entire article at Matthew Ball VC: https://www.matthewball.vc/all/audiotech?fbclid=IwAR2DKfglKalEYCqLr9eOeoiKG1-aosjlEvnJ9k6DJwHlHcU1PALgC4rlAEY