Edison’s Phonograph and Its Impact on Music

Vinyl Bay 777, Long Island’s Music Outlet, takes a brief look how the phonograph revolutionized how we listen to music

On February 19, 1878, a patent was issued for an invention that would revolutionize the way people would communicate for centuries to come. The invention, of course, was Thomas Edison’s phonograph.

Though the concept was not new (sketches of early devices had been found), Edison’s phonograph became the first to be put into practice. A groundbreaking machine, the device allowed someone to both record their voice and play it back. This idea would become the basis for all physical recordings through the 21^st century.

Edison’s first phonograph used an embossed diaphragm that made indentations on a piece of wax paper attached to a rapidly moving metal cylinder from the vibrations of a person speaking. He would later start recording to tin foil instead of the paper. A second diaphragm and needle unit on the machine was used to play the recording back.

Edison’s famous first recorded words? The nursery rhyme “Mary Had a Little Lamb.”

At the time, Edison knew this would be big, having brainstormed several ways this technology could be used by the public. In an article in the North American Review dated June 1878 (quoted in an article by the Library of Congress) he mentions such possibilities at dictation, audio books, music recordings, toys, answering machines and preservation of languages and sounds, among other ideas. Edison wasn’t far off, as many of these ideas came to fruition, especially recording music.

Obviously there were changes made over the years to improve the quality and availability of recordings, namely the switch to wax and the invention of discs to replace cylinders (which ultimately led to records and turntables). But the stage had been set, as listening and creating music would be changed forever. 

Phonographs brought music out of the concert hall and into the home, no personal musical ability required. It ushered in, as Smithsonian Magazine introduces it, “the beginnings of ‘on demand’ listening.” Someone could listen to a particular artist whenever they wanted, as many times as they wanted.

Because of this, listening also became less of a group activity and more of a personal journey. Defined genres started becoming a thing around this time as well, as phonographs were advertised as letting people each have their “own kind” of music. Listening to music has only gotten more and more personal as the years have progressed. While it has been argued recently that defined genres have been falling out of favor with the advent of streaming services, it has become even more common to see people with their headphones on immersed in the music on their digital device, enjoying music in an individualistic way.

Music itself changed as well. To comply with the limited amount of space on a cylinder, songs became shorter, usually two-three minutes. According to the same Smithsonian article, artists started writing for recording, giving examples of Igor Stravinsky’s “Serenade in A” and country and blues artists “chopp[ing] their tunes to perhaps one verse and two choruses.” While modern pop songs might be slightly longer (and, you know, full-length albums are a thing), the standard length of a song remains between three and five minutes to this day.

Over the last two centuries, the way we come to know music and listen to it has evolved. That is in no small part thanks to the phonograph player. The device let professional music come into the home and let people discover their individual tastes as independent listeners for the first time. Songwriting changed as well, developing the shorter song culture that is still standard form today. Even as technology continues to change the way we listen, the phonograph’s legacy remains an invaluable part of music’s history.

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Whatever form of technology you use to listen to physical music, Vinyl Bay 777 has you covered. As one of Long Island’s largest independent record shops, we have thousands of titles to choose from in a variety of genres. Browse our wide selection of new and used vinyl records, CDs, cassettes, music DVDs, memorabilia and more in store at our Plainview location or online at vinylbay777.com. With more titles being added to our selection all the time, you never know what you might find at Vinyl Bay 777.

Six Inventions that Changed Music

August is Inventor’s Month. Started by the United Inventors Association of the United States of America in 1998, the month is meant to celebrate all the inventions and inventors that have revolutionized the way we operate in our daily lives.

As music has been around for many centuries, there have also been many advances in the field that have had an impact on the way we make and consume it. Devices like phonographs and iPods and software like LPs and CDs brought music home for personal and private use. Advanced technologies in instrument design and recording techniques revolutionized new trends in the kinds of music we are able to create.

This Inventor’s Month, Vinyl Bay 777, Long Island’s music outlet, would like to pay homage to the inventions that have made music what it is today. Here are six that revolutionized the way we make and hear music forever.

1.       Electric Guitar: Before the 1930s, much of guitar music was made on hollow-body, acoustic instruments. According to an article in Gizmodo though, these conventional instruments were often too quiet for large-scale performances. Created by George Beauchomp, an artist who played Hawaiian-style guitar, and Adolph Rickenbacker, a electrical engineer and instrument maker, the first electric guitar aimed to solve this issue. By 1932, their first design , dubbed the “Frying Pan,” was being manufactured. Of course, there have been improvements on the design, including Les Paul’s sold-body electric,  which would become a standard in rock music, but without the idea sparked by Beauchamp and Rickenbacker, none of it would have happened.

2.       Phonographs: It’s hard for most of us to remember a time when recorded music wasn’t necessarily easily available in one’s own home. But in the 1800, if you wanted to listen to a song, you would have to buy the sheet music and play it yourself. Attributed to Thomas Edition in 1877 (though the concept was not new, wasn’t put into physical practice yet), the phonograph was able to both record and play back audio, the first time anyone had been able to do the latter effectively. This meant that someone with a phonograph machine could buy recording and listen to it in the privacy of their home.

3.       Vinyl Records: It’s hard to talk about phonographs without talking about the medium for which the recordings were cast. Before the LP we commonly know today, machines used to play wax cylinders (referred to as 78s for the speed at which they rotated), which were heavy, rough and didn’t hold a lot of music. The first company to use vinyl for music records was RCA Victor in 1930. Columbia then ended up perfecting its use over the next ten years.

4.       Transistor Radio: One thing that listening to music lacked in the early days of personal listening was portability. In the 1950s, transistor radios helped solve this issue. Based around transistor technology, which had been invented in the previous decade, the device replaced bulkier vacuum tube models. Texas Instruments, in conjunction with Regency, was the first to get their portable radio to market. If not for the transistor radio, advances in portability, such as the Sony Walkman or even the iPod, might not have been a thing.

5.       Headphones: According to Smithsonian Magazine, the first headphones were used by telephone operators. Nathanial Baldwin created the first modern-ish headphones, sending his prototype to the military for testing during World War I. In the 1950s, musician John Koss decided to adapt the military-style of headphones for personal use after noticing a lack of headphones that would work on his new phonograph, which had a headphone jack installed in it. Today, earbuds and headphones are everywhere, closing people off to the world in a soundtrack of their own choosing.

6.       Personal Computers / Internet: We use our computers for everything nowadays. But back when computers were first becoming a thing in the 1960s, they were far from personal, taking up entire rooms just to function properly. By the 1980s, computers were starting to make their way into homes, thanks in part to Apple and IBM. Once the internet started picking up speed in the late 1990s and early 2000s, the personal computer became a virtual necessity. Now, computers run many of our daily lives, including getting us closer to the music we can’t live without. We download music to our computers and stream off the internet using them. Amateur creators can record their own music and distribute it without the assistance of a label.

There have been many inventions that have revolutionized the way we make and consume music. From amped up electronic guitars making it easier to hear the instrument in big concert halls, to phonographs and vinyl records that brought recorded music into households and handheld radios and devices that made music portable, each of these have had a crucial effect on the music industry. This Inventor’s Month, we remember those that have helped make music what it is today and look forward to the future inventors who will continue to innovate technology and improve upon the music industry.

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Celebrate music innovation at Vinyl Bay 777, Long Island’s favorite new independent record shop. We have thousands of titles to choose from in a variety of genres. Browse our wide selection of revolutionary formats, including vinyl records, CDs, cassettes, music DVDs and memorabilia, in store at our Plainview location or online at vinylbay777.com. With more titles being added to our selection all the time, you never know what you might find at Vinyl Bay 777.