Pick a Day

Music History Events: Technology

July 9, 2025 Jack White gets his first cell phone, a gift from his wife on his 50th birthday. "I thought if I could make it to 50 years old at least without ever having one that I could be proud of myself, and I am," he posts.

February 2, 2025 The Beatles win the Best Rock Performance Grammy for "Now And Then," the first Grammy-nominated song made with help from AI, which was used to create John Lennon's vocal. It's their fourth post-breakup Grammy, matching their total from when the band was active.

October 25, 2024 A Spanish version of Brenda Lee's holiday classic "Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree" ("Noche Buena y Navidad") is released. The song was created using AI trained on Lee's vocals from when she recorded the original at 13. It's the second AI-generated release from a major artist, following Randy Travis' "Where That Came From" six months earlier, and the first use of AI to translate a song to another language.

May 3, 2024 Randy Travis, unable to sing as a result of a stroke he suffered in 2011, releases "Where That Came From," a song with his vocal generated by artificial intelligence. It's the first major release from a legacy artist using AI technology to create a vocal from scratch, offering the possibility of more songs from singers - living or dead - that don't have to actually sing on them.

December 2, 2023 At Madison Square Garden, Kiss play their last show - in physical form, at least. At the end of their set, they play a video introducing their avatars. "The band deserves to live on because the band is bigger than we are," Paul Stanley says.

November 2, 2023 Using artificial intelligence to isolate John Lennon's vocals from an old demo, The Beatles release a new song: "Now And Then." It goes to #1 in the UK, their 18th chart-topper there.

April 4, 2023 The first truly believable AI-generated song appears online, posted to TikTok by an anonymous user. It's called "Heart On My Sleeve," and mimics the voices of Drake and The Weeknd. It quickly spreads to streaming services and is continually taken down and reposted, raising the issue of copyright with AI music.

August 2, 2019 Tool put their songs on streaming services for the first time, becoming the last major artist to sit out the digital music revolution. "Our obsession with, and dream of, a world where BetaMax and Laser Disc rule has ended," frontman Maynard James Keenan says. "Time for us to move on."

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 9, 1999 David Bowie, Sheryl Crow and George Michael are among the performers at NetAid, a set of three simultaneous concerts streamed live to harness the internet as a hub for activism. The shows, which are also broadcast on TV and radio, take place at Wembley Stadium, Giants Stadium and the Palais des Nations in Geneva. They go well but draw surprisingly little interest in activism, as folks would rather use their time online to find photos of Britney Spears than help eradicate third-world debt.

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.

March 5, 1998 Korn, who have a very wired fanbase, launch an interactive video series on korntv.com called "After School Specials" to document the making of their Follow The Leader album. It uses RealPlayer to stream live and includes a chat room so fans can ask questions.

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 for 12-inch albums. 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.