Why didn’t the Jetsons have iPods?
Laura Ingles

I was never the biggest fan of the Jetsons; the idea of a family zipping around in a flying car just seemed silly to me, and I much preferred watching the Flinstones roll through town in their car with stone wheels. Despite my distaste for the show, I can understand and relate to the natural wonder and fascination concerning the future. We all enjoy looking back to our childhood and comparing the pitiful excuses we had for technology at the time to today’s cell phones, laptops and iPods, without which we could not imagine functioning. As seen by the inaccuracy of the Jetsons (I have yet to set foot in a flying car), predicting the future is an extremely difficult task, particularly when concerning technology. Discoveries and inventions have gone past our wildest dreams, in every which direction, leaving us wondering where on Earth they could lead to next.

The distribution of music has come a long way over a very short period of time, from vinyls to cassettes to burned CDs with song titles written in colorful Sharpie to today’s ease of accessing unlimited amounts of music at the click of a mouse.

Thirty years ago, our parents would never have imagined that obtaining so much music so easily would be possible, and now we can only imagine how the industry will evolve over the next thirty years. How will we get our hands on as much music as possible, in as little time as possible, with as little work as possible?

A friend of mine and I actually had this conversation sometime last year. We were marveling over how tiny the newest iPods were, and he commented on how our media players are progressively shrinking as time passes. Jokingly he predicted that one day we will all just have chips in our ears, through which we can access, control and listen to any music we want at any given time. Although at the time he was merely being facetious, given how drastic the technological advancements have been, something like this does not seem entirely un-plausible.

The act of downloading itself has also come a long way over the years. Downloading an album from Napster in the 90s could take all afternoon, depending on the Internet Provider, whereas now, a song is not worth downloading from Limewire or iTunes if it is going to take longer than 30 seconds. Although the idea of accessing music – or any medium, for that matter – any more quickly than already is difficult to fathom, history indicates that somewhere down the line, someone will come up with something that is easier and most importantly, faster. (Kusek, Future of Music)

This access to music has become an expectation, especially amongst young people. Downloading is cheap, quick and easy – thus, we love it. Each generation becomes more and more technologically savvy, with higher and higher expectations regarding technology and how it is used. No matter the method used to obtain music in the future, one thing is for certain: it will be faster, easier, and probably cheaper, than ever, to accommodate the young people growing more and more impatient and dependent on technology with each generation.

For the past several years, there has been a lot of speculation concerning the future of music, particularly from the artists’ standpoint. As music becomes more readily and freely available, how will artists be affected in the future? Many are already claiming to have lost money due to the popularity of peer-to-peer music sharing, though the truth behind these assumptions is still up for debate. Even with organizations like the Recording Industry of America Association, downloading music using programs such as Limewire as opposed to purchasing it in a store or through iTunes has become increasingly popular. The RIAA are doing everything in their power to gain control over this “problem,” but in reality, young people view downloading music in the same light as smoking marijuana: they are not directly hurting anyone, and until they get caught, they have no logical reason to stop. And if, eventually, the RIAA and other music industry workers put up enough of a fuss about it, today’s downloading of music may indeed become obsolete; but only to be replaced by another, probably equally “illegal,” method. Rather than pitching a fit over the downloading of music, Kusek suggests that artists appreciate their relationship with their fans, and focus on simply getting their music out there, as a form of creative self-expression that everyone can guiltlessly enjoy.

Several years ago, popular British band Radiohead did the unthinkable; they willingly put their new album on the Internet, available for their fans to purchase at whatever price they deemed appropriate, even if that meant paying nothing but shipping. Critics questioned this method and challenged Radiohead’s logic that while fans may purchase the album for less than they would in a store, this opportunity would attract a larger-than-usual fan base, thus resulting in a larger profit. Album sales did not go exactly according to plan, but the band certainly did not lose money, and they felt far more comfortable knowing that they had full control over the distribution of their music, as opposed to putting it in the greedy hands of a recording industry.

This idea has not caught on amongst other musicians and artists as rapidly as I anticipated, but I predict that it will soon come to that. Recording industries have become more hazardous than helpful to many smaller artists and bands, and these musicians whose only concern is getting their music out there, are likely to resort to Radiohead’s method. (Future Music) Because the experiment did not play out perfectly, I expect other artists to take the idea and tweak it so that, in a number of years, they are able to distribute their music to those who want it, but still have a comfortable amount of control over it. This will go hand-in-hand with whatever system is available to access music, whether it be the simple connection of one iPod to another, or the intricate – and slightly frightening – concept of an implanted chip. And who knows - maybe one day we'll be listening to this mind-controlled music while transporting ourselves from point A to point B in personal hovering crafts.





Works Cited

“Free downloading music is the way forward.” Podcomplex. 17 October 2007.
http://www.podcomplex.com/blog/free-downloading-music-is-the-way-forward/

“Future of downloading music.” Future Music. 2006.
http://www.music-future.com/future-of-downloadingmusic.htm

“Cycles in music.” Future of Music. 19 October 2008.
http://www.futureofmusicbook.com/