Music & Technology

The Music Channel teaches us about the industry, the instruments and the genres. These articles explain why music is such an important fabric of our collective soul.

Learn More / Page 2

The addictive kid's song is now the most-downloaded YouTube video of all time. And before that, it accomplished the rare feat of hitting the Billboard charts. It's not the only kiddie song to make it big.

By Nathan Chandler

K-pop phenoms BTS took first place in Time magazine's 2018 online poll for person of the year. Now for the first time they've been nominated by Billboard for their music as well as their social media presence.

By Alia Hoyt

You paid how much for that Taylor Swift concert? Why are musicians charging so much for live shows these days?

By Carrie Whitney, Ph.D.

Advertisement

If you think only rock stars can be famous, think again. Many of their guitars have achieved legendary status in their own right. Take our quiz to learn more.

By Alia Hoyt

Guitar gods like Les Paul are known for playing the same instrument throughout their career. Here we feature 10 famous guitars and the musicians who loved them.

By Oisin Curran

Take a chance on our ABBA quiz and find out how much you know about the 70s Swedish supergroup!

By Kathryn Whitbourne

How this relatively small Southern city beat out the others to become 'Music City U.S.A.'?

By Dave Roos

Advertisement

Is she a nun? A jilted lover? We know you're dying to find out.

By Kristen Hall-Geisler

Start studying up for the streaming wars, music lovers.

By Chris Opfer

During the early 1960s, many songs featuring tragic teen deaths, usually in car crashes, became huge hits. What was behind this morbid craze?

By Melanie Radzicki McManus

Billions of dollars' worth of CDs and digital downloads are sold each year and the Grammy Awards recognize the people who create all this music. How are winners picked and who have been some of the most controversial?

By Tracy V. Wilson & Alia Hoyt

Advertisement

Soprano Audrey Luna sings an A over high C, the highest note ever achieved onstage at the Metropolitan Opera.

By Patrick J. Kiger

Hot on the heels of the vinyl revival comes a mini-boom for cassette sales. But who's really buying them?

By Chris Opfer

Will subscription music services – and the unlikely comeback of vinyl – save the music album from extinction?

By Dave Roos

The renowned string quartet will improvise live music to accompany 'space sounds' created by sonification of the total solar eclipse.

By Robert Lamb

Advertisement

A computer programmer used data analysis to crunch the numbers for six decades of pop music's hottest hits.

By Chris Opfer

Where else can you find an instrument that can be played with a mallet, a violin bow or a hair comb?

By Melanie Radzicki McManus

Emancipate yourself from mental slavery by learning more about this reggae superstar.

By Kathryn Whitbourne

Nearly four decades after the Village People anthem hit the discos, the song's namesake still isn't really ready to fully embrace it.

By Chris Opfer

Advertisement

When the Clash started working on their third album, they had no idea it would be so influential.

By Kathryn Whitbourne

Which other famous rock star inspired the Lizard King's persona?

By Kathryn Whitbourne

The copyright infringement lawsuits didn't kill off sampling. Musicians just figured out how to hide it better so artists often can't tell they're being sampled.

By David Dennis

Not everyone agrees that as you age, you only want to hear the oldies.

By Dave Roos

Advertisement

Whether you love cheery pop tunes or melodramatic ballads has a lot to do with your age and gender, right? Actually, your musical taste depends more on your personality.

By Jonathan Strickland

Ludovico Einaudi's 'Elegy for the Arctic' is part of a Greenpeace campaign to draw attention to the region's rapidly melting ice.

By Christopher Hassiotis