According to a study published in Psychology and Education: An Interdisciplinary Journal, listening to music improves the moods of college students, regardless of genre, activity, or the task being completed at the time of listening. Not only is mood improved, but other positive emotions were intensified as well. Listening to music has also been proven to ease the heavy moods of depression and even has the ability to lower blood pressure, heart rates and stress-causing hormones.

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In addition to improved mood, music is built in to all human cultures, so let's explore how it has become so easily accessible.

 

The sharing of music is one of humankind’s oldest pastimes, but the consumption of music before the record player was only of the live variety. Thomas Edison's phonograph was able to play records in the 1890s, but it was costly versus a radio that would eventually pay for itself at the only cost of listening to commercials and that the listener did not have control over what was played. The shellac records used for the phonograph evolved into vinyl records that further evolved into cassettes and then to compact discs (CDs), to MP3 players and then to iTunes where the user could buy songs and/or full albums.

 

Now, we have music streaming - and users get the best of radio and physical albums.

 

Streaming services do not require the reception of radio waves to work. Instead, they use internet data. Because these platforms do not utilize radio waves, you can listen to them anywhere without static or the sound quality changing – their capability to deliver consistently pristine sound quality at any location has made them more desirable than radio. That makes for a lot of happy people!

 

They also allow the user to play whatever song they want, whenever they want - a perk available since the Walkman was released in 1979. Combined with the ability for the user to pay money to substiute listening to ads and commercials, music streaming services have dominated the listening and sharing of music. Making playlist for a loved one, a significant other or a friend has become the modern-day concept of making them a mix-tape. 

 

 

Explore six of the most popular music streaming services below:

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