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Technology
French inventor Charles Cros submits a sealed envelope containing a letter to the Academy of Sciences in Paris explaining his proposed method of recording sound using an apparatus capable of registering and reproducing sounds engraved with a diaphragm. His pioneering work. however, will be leap-frogged by Thomas Edison, with his invention of the phonograph.
Ernst Fredrick Werner Alexanderson is born in Uppsala, Sweden. After moving to the USA, he will make numerous discoveries which will form the basis for the technology that will make the transmission of voice, music and pictures possible.
German immigrant Emile Berliner applies for a patent in Washington, D.C., USA, for his new sound-reproduction apparatus, the gramophone.
Emile Berliner is awarded his second patent, No 382,790, relating to a new sound recording and playback invention which he calls the Gram-O-Phone.
Thomas Edison applies for a patent, No 393465, in connection with his invention of a Method of Preparing Phonograph Recording-Surfaces.
Abraham Botermans of Utrecht, Netherlands, Europe, is granted Patent No. US698252A for his invention of an improved type of music-leaf turner.
Harold W. Shonnard of New York City, USA, applies for a patent in respect of his invention of a self-playing musical instrument.The first shipment of 646 ten-inch and 83 twelve-inch double-sided Zonophone records, is made from Germany, Europe, to Casa Edison, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, South America.
Theodore P. Brown of Worcester, Massachusetts, USA, applies for a patent in respect of his invention of an automatic playing attachment for pneumatically-operated pianos.
A patent application for the invention of a Mandolin Pick Holder, designed to be mounted on the headstock of a mandolin as a convenient means of holding a supply of mandolin picks, is granted as Patent No. 749,616 in the USA. The device was invented by Benjamin F. Knell of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.The modern style jukebox is born when Bertram C. Kenyon, Wilmur W. Boa, and Clifford H. Green apply for a patent for a coin-operated phonograph with a record changing mechanism. As a result, the Automatic Musical Instrument Co (AMI) will introduce the first coin-operated, electrically amplified, 20-selection phonograph based on a mechanical ten-record system that plays both sides of each disc.
George Delmetia Beauchamp dies of a heart attack while deep-sea fishing near Los Angeles, California, USA. After starting a career as a vaudeville musician, George Beauchamp became an inventor of musical instruments and a co-founder of The National Stringed Instrument Corporation and Rickenbacker guitars. Along with engineer Adolph Rickenbacker, he designed and patented the world's first electric guitar, known as The Frying Pan, because of its long neck and round body.
C.E. Wetzler of Long Island, New York City, USA, is granted US Patent No.2,595,316 for his invention of a new and improved type of reed-operated musical instrument, such as a harmonica, offering improved tonal quality and increased loudness.Wayne Muir And His Glasshatters are playing at The Congress Hotel, Chicago, Illinois, USA. Muir is reportedly making use of a new instrument 'The Clavioline' in his live shows.
Paul Anka is the guest musician on NBC-tv's Perry Como Show in the USA. Anka's performance is on videotape.
The US Patent and Trademark Office issues Patent No. 3,018,680, for an improved pickup device for
electric guitars to famed guitarist Les Paul.
The contract to design and build Spacelab 1 - a
re-useable science laboratory for space flights - is given by the European Space Agency (ESA) to a consortium of companies from eight European countries under the leadership of the German space company ERNO Raumfahrttechnik in Bremen. Kraftwerk's
1978 song Spacelab is a
celebration of this major technical step forward. Spacelab will first be launched successfully in 1983 from Kennedy Space Center, Merritt Island, Florida, USA, aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia.
Promoted as 'the first laser-etched single' The Best Of Times by Styx is released in the UK.
Radio station WDRC AM in Hartford, Connecticut, USA, installs automated systems to handle overnight music programming.
Linda Ronstadt's concert at Reunion Arena, Dallas, Texas, USA, is broadcast live by satellite on NBC's The Source radio network.
On their End Of The Road tour Status Quo play at Sporthalle St. Jakob, Basel, Switzerland, Europe. During the show, Francis Rossi collapses on stage following problems with a smoke machine and has to be hospitalised. He is later moved to London for health checks and several scheduled shows on the tour have to be cancelled.
Frankie Goes To Hollywood release their debut album, Welcome To The Pleasuredome, on ZTT Records in the UK.
When the Voyager space probe lifts off to explore beyond the solar system, Chuck Berry's Johnny B. Goode is included on the ship's record of examples of notable music from planet Earth.
When Ashlee Simpson plays at the Orange Bowl, Miami, Florida, USA, her song La La is almost drowned out by booing football fans – because she had been caught out for lip-synching during a recent Saturday Night Live tv appearance.
Lady Gaga is reported by analytics company Visible Measures to have become the first artist to score more than one billion online views. Poker Face has racked up 374,606,128 views, followed by Bad Romance with 360,020,327, then Just Dance with 272,941,674.
Following a successful Twitter campaign run by his fans, Justin Bieber appears on tv show Saturday Night Live in the USA.
Following an unauthorised online leak Taylor Swift rush-releases her new single, Mine, to digital retailers two weeks earlier than planned.
The new Faithless (and Dido) single, Feelin' Good, is launched as a three minute long 'prommercial' which also serves as an advert for the Fiat Punto Evo, on Channel 4 tv in the UK. This is said to be the first time a musical artist has launched a song in this hybrid promotional format.
Streaming and recommendation service Last.fm announces that Mumford and Sons' Sigh No More was the most played album of 2010 on Last.fm in the UK with 11.6m scrobbles, while Ke$ha's Animal was the most played
album globally with just under 16m.
Ray Dolby, the billionaire audio engineer who pioneered noise reduction in audio recordings and founded Dolby Laboratories, dies aged 80, having suffered from Alzheimer's disease for several years, in San Francisco, California, USA.
It is revealed, via an interview in Us magazine, that Lady Gaga plans to become the first professional musician to sing in space, a goal she hopes to achieve in early 2015 during a commercial flight on a Virgin Galactic ship travelling into sub-orbital space.
The 7th annual Record Store Day is celebrated in independent record stores around the world, with artists making special appearances and issuing special vinyl and CD releases to encourage people to support local record shops. This year, Haim, Kings of Leon and Bombay Bicycle Club are among the artists taking part, and One Direction release a special version of their single Midnight Memories.
In the early hours of the morning, after playing a gig in Santiago, Chile, South America, Liam Payne of One Direction posts several emotional Tweets which fuel speculation that he has split up with his girlfriend Sophia Smith.
Students from Pearl Hall Elementary school join Astronaut Cady Coleman, Houston Symphony violinist Sergei Galperin, and Bella Galia founder and violinist Kenji Williams in a live linkup between the Johnson Space Center and the International Space Station. Expedition 39 crew member Koichi Wakata joins Kenji Williams for a space-Earth duet of Gagaku music.
Using data based on analysing the total combined streams for each artist, Rihanna and Drake are named as music's most powerful couple by Spotify.
The 2014 Billboard Music Awards event is held at The MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. Justin Timberlake wins as top artist, top male artist and top Billboard 200 Artist for his The 20/20 Experience. Other multiple award winners include Imagine Dragons, Robin Thicke, Pharrell Williams and T.I. One extraordinary aspect of the night was a 'performance' by a 'hologram' of Michael Jackson 'singing' Slave To The Rhythm with a live five-piece band and sixteen dancers onstage. (In fact the 'hologram' is actually an old stage magician's trick called Pepper's Ghost which uses a mirror to create a moving onstage image)
Justin Bieber uploads a lengthy, apologetic, video to his social media accounts explaining that, despite his recent series of run-ins with the law, he is "a person who genuinely cares" about other people and what they think.
Spotify announces that David Guetta has surpassed 2 billion streams on their service. Guetta thus becomes both the first EDM artist and first French artist ever to pass the landmark. Prior to Guetta only Ed Sheeran and Eminem have notched up a billion streams.
Music artists Ohm And Sport announce that Spotify has, in effect, shut down their recently-launched app, Eternify, which enabled listeners to stream music from Spotify in 30-second increments to generate royalties for their favorite artists.
Lady Gaga Tweets that she has just worn "my own personal Iron Maiden "NUMBER OF THE BEAST" tee-shirt on a major fashion cover" (for the magazine Fashion Book, Issue 7).
It is announced that Iron Maiden will launch a new RPG, Legacy Of The Beast, for iOS and Android mobiles.Chris Brown responds to recent criticism from Scottish band Chvrches with an Instagram posting calling them 'the type of people I wish walked in front of a speeding bus full of mental patients.'
It is announced at a press event in Zurich, Switzerland, Europe, that Brian Eno has been chosen to receive the 2019 Stephen Hawking Medal for Science Communication, alongside Elon Musk and the Apollo 11 documentary.
Rihanna posts the question, "Why aren't we talking about this?!" via Twitter to draw attention to violent clashes between police and farmers in India, Asia. The farmers had been protesting contoversial new agriculture laws approved in September. After the clashes, India cut off internet access around New Delhi. Other celebrities including Greta Thunberg and Los Angeles Lakers forward Kyle Kuzma subsequently joined in Rihanna's action.
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