"The Social History of the mp3"

Pitchfork has a long take on the 10-year history of the mp3 and raises a thought-provoking question: Will music over the last decade be remembered more for the technology or the music?

I tend to agree with author Erik Harvey in that the technology was the story. Just think past a few short years and marvel at what the mp3 spawned:

• Streaming radio
• Podcasts
• The spread of free music through file-sharing networks like Napster (remember them) and BitTorrent.
• iTunes and the iPod
• Emphasis on singles rather than albums
• Immediate release of music, including tons of live shows, what would have been B-sides and rarities, etc.
• The deterioration of the record labels and the birth of self-sustaining bands.

And that's just music. We're not even touching the side effects that include YouTube, Flickr, etc.

Set aside the debate over the poor quality of mp3s (here's my take), and it's clear that we'll look back on these days at the technology, not Black Eyed Peas