Was the Telharmonium the first-ever streaming service?
Streaming has become second nature to most of us. Gone are the days of perusing Blockbusters and record shops in search of a movie or album to fill up your Friday evening; just hop onto Netflix or Spotify for an algorithmically generated series of selections tailored just to you, all available at the click of a button. It’s easier than ever to discover new artists and more accessible than ever to put your own music out into the world, but the effects of the streaming age aren’t all positive.
There are just as many cons to streaming services as there are pros, from poor royalties for artists to the decline of physical media. It’s a topic that has been endlessly debated and discussed with little resolution, but one thing seems certain: streaming is here to stay. Even as vinyl and CDs receive resurged interest, audiences seem unlikely to give up the convenience of online listening alongside their purchasing of physical copies.
So, where did the idea of streamed media come from? The answer to that question might depend on who you ask. Most people would say Napster, the streaming service founded by Sean Parker and Shawn Fanning in the late 1990s. The file-sharing service gave its users the chance to share audio files, though it eventually came under fire for copyright infringement.
Although Napster failed, it gave rise to the streaming service boom, as sites like iTunes and Spotify soon followed in its footsteps. However, the history of streaming extends much further back than Parker and Fanning’s escapades in the 1990s and 2000s. In fact, it could be traced all the way back to the 1800s, to the invention of an instrument called the Telharmonium.
Created by Thaddeus Cahill, the Telharmonium was an electronic organ, but it was also a site of sonic transmission. To hear the sounds of the Telharmonium, you didn’t have to be in the same room as it. All you had to do was dial the operator and ask to be connected to the instrument. They would then connect your phone line with the wires from the Telharmonium, which could be amplified by horn speakers.
Like modern day streaming services, you could subscribe for access to the Telharmonium. There wasn’t quite as much choice as you might find on Spotify or Apple Music, but it did work on the same premise as contemporary streaming. The Telharmonium company sought to secure subscribers for their service, who would, in return, receive music via their phones.
Technology has come a long way since then. While Telharmonium subscribers had limited choice when it came to listening habits, dialling up just to hear the sounds of the electronic organ, modern streaming users have the choice of millions of songs from artists all over the world, each inhabiting wildly different genres and spaces. But that desire to listen to music from the comfort of your own home has remained consistent.
Now, we listen through touch screen phones and hi-tech speakers, flitting between songs and albums at will, but our love for music, our longing to hear it at all times, while cooking or driving, remains the same as those who subscribed to the Telharmonium. The rise of streaming began long before the invention of Napster or Spotify, it has been in the works for hundreds of years.
