DIY Journey: a timeline of the technology that gave rise to bedroom pop
It feels like we are living in the golden age of DIY music. Recording and releasing music has never been easier, which means that regardless of what genre you are into, if you look on sites such as Spotify, SoundCloud, and Bandcamp, you will be able to find a massive array of new records fine-tuned to your specific taste.
While this is the case, there is a common misconception that most movements forward within DIY music have come within the last couple of decades or so, but this isn’t true. The fact is that artists have been making DIY music since before we could ever commit to recording it, and as time has progressed and technology has developed, different genres and subcultures within music have been born, and how albums can be released has changed.
In 2012, scientists found 19cm long flutes that they could date back to 43,000 years ago. Said to be one of the first sophisticated musical instruments ever made, these flutes clearly represent a notion that so long as melody has existed, human beings have had an innate desire to make music and perform. This continued for centuries, as people worldwide would fashion instruments out of materials available on their doorstep, creating the banjo, washboard, harmonica, and early iteration of the drum.
We know now that it wasn’t enough for people to simply perform their music, though. As the want for exciting songs grew worldwide, artists had to try and find a way to record and release their songs. There were large studios built that could facilitate this, but the DIY nature of artists prevailed, too, namely in Alan Lomax.
Lomax was a recording engineer working throughout the 1930s and ‘40s. During this period, jazz and the blues dominated. It fell on recording engineers to capture the beautiful heart and soul that went into this music and commit it to a format that could be sent to individuals worldwide. Lomax could do this by driving around America in a Ford Sedan, which he would use to transport around a 315-pound acetate disc recorder. He would use this to record music, and it essentially became a mobile studio so that he could travel and capture the music people were making on the go.
The DIY attitude embodied by Lomax trickled down into the next generation as some of the most successful record labels followed in his footsteps. For instance, Sun Records (who were responsible for the rise of Elvis) and Motown (who were responsible for Smokey Robinson, Marvin Gaye and the Jackson 5) all had founders that took on A&R and distribution responsibilities.
33rpm and 45rpm records made music distribution easier, and the rise of cassettes made it even more so. People started their own labels and then received a range of demos from wannabe rockstars afterwards. All people needed was a good ear and the proper facilities to get things moving. This steadily led to the birth of the indie genre as the likes of Mute and Rough Trade Records began gaining traction with their innovative approach to the music industry.
There is no doubt, though, that the internet was the most significant development within the music world when creating DIY pieces. How people consume and release music now is all done online, which means getting a song from your brain to the ears of your target audience has never been more straightforward. A lot of that music, though, such as hip-hop, punk, indie and RnB, was all developed through the DIY approaches of old. All music now is the product of creativity against the odds, as people used whatever was available to make and release it. Praise be to the DIYers.
