Can popular music ever really be unplugged?

Technology is fundamental to our understanding of music and ultimately shapes the types and styles that can be created. Popular music could never achieve the same acknowledgment without the advances technology has offered. Recording and distribution, I personally think are the two biggest contributors, resulting from technology. The use of recording ultimately allows audiences to hear music in the first place and without this process, most popular music could never be established. Distribution furthermore alters the perception of music. Without the introduction of amplification, many common popular music types with specific sounds would not even be in existence and the accessibility of hearing these music types would be extremely limited, resulting in a small audience feedback. In order to be successful, popular music relies strongly upon large audiences and their consumption. Because of this I conclude, “Without electronic technology, popular music in the twenty first century is unthinkable” (Paul Théberge)