The song that led to the creation of MP3
In the modern age, streaming services like Spotify or Apple Music have revolutionised how music is consumed, sometimes for the worse. The legacy of streaming lies in the advent of digital music and sharing tracks through the internet, which would not be possible without the invention of the MP3 file format.
Throughout the 20th century, there seemed to be constant competition between tech companies to invent and popularise the next generation of physical music formats. From acetate 78 rpm records to 33 ⅓ rpm LPs, cassette tapes, eight tracks, CDs, MiniDiscs and countless other formats that have since been lost to the realm of obscurity, waiting patiently to be rediscovered for a TechMoan YouTube video.
When MP3 came along in 1991, developed by Karlheinz Brandenburg, it changed the game forever. Whereas before, you would have to visit a shop and pay money for music in a physical format. Then, with the MP3, you were able to make, download and share music files for free.
As the internet became more widespread through the 1990s and into the early 2000s, the rise of MP3 was clear. In the early noughties, as file sharing became easier and MP3 players cheaper, CD sales more or less halved between 2000 and 2007.
Although the resurgence of vinyl among music fans is keeping the physical format alive, digital music and streaming services are the predominant methods by which people listen to music nowadays. This trend likely started in 2001 with the introduction of the iPod and other MP3 players, providing simplicity, affordability and accessibility for music fans that they had never previously witnessed. Even now, with paid MP3 downloads waning, streaming services like Spotify still use the humble MP3 to upload music onto their site, along with various other file formats.
During the development of the file format, Brandenburg and his team had to listen to one song over and over again, rigorously testing the digital compression and how it affected the sound of the song. The track that they landed on came in the form of the classic Suzanne Vega number ‘Tom’s Diner’. Brandenburg was drawn to using the song because of the subtlety and warm nature of Vega’s vocals.
In a documentary about the track by SVT in Sweden, Brandenburg remembers: “I was reading some hi-fi magazine and found that they had used this song to test loudspeakers. I said ‘ok, let’s test what this song does to my sound system, to MP3’”. As a result of her admittedly accidental role in the development of the file format, Brandenburg dubbed Vega ‘the mother of MP3’. Perhaps without Vega’s song, the landscape of digital music formats might be unrecognisable.
