John Mayer's Phonography, The Search For Everything

In the year 1877 Thomas Edison created the phonograph which is the first device that was able to record and play music (Britannica). Technology and the way music is listened to has come a long way since then or even thirty years ago. Today people carry music in their pocket with devices like the iPhone. Before that there was the iPod, CD’s, cassettes, the radio and record players. Not only are people able to carry their music with them, but there are also multiple applications to download or stream music from. With all of the different ways music can be accessed multiple questions arise regarding how artists will earn money from their music, how radio stations will be effected, and issues with copyright. Within the past week I have kept a

The artist I chose was John Mayer because I enjoy the sound and style of his music, but also I admire his ability to play the guitar and his impressive talent to improvise or create “musical composition while it is being performed” (The Enjoyment of Music 27). Recently Mayer released a new album, The Search for Everything. A few of the songs on this album are hit or miss, but one of the most popular songs on the album and my personal favorite is Love on the Weekend which was first released as a single. Although it took some digging, I was able to find a vinyl copy of this album available through his website. The website also had a C.D. copy of the album. With all of the growing technology it is becoming less popular to have hardcopies of an album. When I searched the song Love on the Weekend the only sources that appeared were streaming services such as YouTube, Spotify, and Google Play just to name a few. At first, one might think that having multiple places to stream music from is easy and convenient, but streaming music has a bigger effect on the music industry than one could imagine. In fact, all of the new streaming services have raised many questions and

A similar example of this would be how companies like Netflix and Hulu became so popular there was no longer a need for stores like Blockbuster and eventually Blockbuster closed all of their stores nationwide. Streaming music is becoming more and more popular because listeners are able to personalize their music. ITunes allows Apple customers with iPhones or Mac computers to purchase and download music through their application. Recently, Apple launched “Apple Music”, how it works is the customer will pay about ten dollars a month, or students pay about five dollars a month, and then the customer is able to access any music that is available through iTunes. The music is saved to the music library and can be downloaded so that customers can listen to their music without being connected to the internet. Apple Music also offers their own stations and playlist that are tailored to the customer’s music preferences. Spotify offers a similar service that is free, but customers must listen to advertisements occasionally. Spotify also offers a premium membership which removes the advertisements. However, the problem with Spotify is that artists are not being payed properly for their music. “Artists generally don’t make nearly as much money putting their music on Spotify as they do selling digital albums and songs on services like iTunes.” (Engel). This is why Taylor