https://medium.com/soundcharts/smart-speakers-and-the-future-of-music-consumption-27a560d724b6

Originally published at soundcharts.com.

The music industry has always been guided by the new tech. Think of how Sony Walkman, launched back in 1979, affected the way we listen to music today. The Walkman was met with considerable criticism, as journalists were skeptical of the idea of listening to music through headphones — 40 years ago music was considered to be primarily a shared experience (which was also the reason Sony included two jack sockets in its first Walkmans). Little did the critics know that the Walkman would sell in 385 million units in the course of the next 30 years and become a staple of the new, personalized mode of music consumption.