Over the years, like everything else, the media and entertainment industry has evolved in many folds. This happened because of the changing time and due to the change in people’s taste. Along the years, the technology has also advanced in every field. This also resulted in the change and evolution of the music, art and entertainment industry. The earliest source of entertainment dates back to sixth century BC, Athens, Greece. On the occasion of religious festivities, people would come together and enact plays of tragedy and comedy. However, these contents travelled from Greece to all other countries.
Moreover, if you look decade-wise, the changes might be small but it made a huge impact. With the change in audience’s taste and preferences, the contents and style in the entertainment industry also changed. Well, let us have a closer look on how the new age of content came on to this evolution.
source- nytimes.com
Beginning with the 1950s
If we look at the 50s, a new era emerged in the entertainment industry post world war II. With the rapid increase of color technology and purchase of TV sets, people started spending most of their time in front of the television. Therefore, watching stars like Paul Newman, Jackie Gleason, Sal Mineo and other new class actors. Not to forget the introduction of the rock and roll music among the young adolescents. Once considered as a rebel, thanks to legends like Elvis Presley, who brought revolution to the music industry. Although adult establishment criticized it for being too loud.
Going to 1960s
Going to the 60s, rock like music styles were enjoyed by masses. The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and several other British performers gained enormous popularity in the mid 60s. Therefore, rock festivals became a big deal at the time enjoyed by music lovers. Production house and content of motion picture, saw a lot of breakthroughs and radical changes. Action and adventure became the new favorite genre and James Bond won everybody’s hearts. We got blockbusters like The Sound of Music (1965), From Russia with love (1963), Goldfinger (1964) and many more.
source- pinterest.com
Onto 1970s
The 70s saw a slight downfall in the Hollywood film industry as television viewing kept on increasing. Although, we saw super hit movies, like The Godfather (1972), space fantasy Star Wars (1977) and The Exorcist (1973). Rock music peaked in range and creativity, and bands like AC/DC and Pink Floyd added a new spark to the genre. By the end of the decade, punk rock and disco music gained a lot of attention followed by the rise of Michael Jackson.
Moving onto 1980s
Jump to the 80s and music videos became the most popular art form of the decade. It brought new life into dance and choreography, music, movies and television. MTV was the main reason for this, which began broadcasting in 1981. Moreover, CDs were introduced in 1982, which took the entertainment world to the next level. Hip hop, rap music and break dancing found a huge audience. Action movies and Comedies got very popular. Die Hard (1988) , The Shining (1980) and Ghostbusters (1984) to name a few. However, TV industry stayed largely the same in the 80s.
source- commonsensemedia.com
Finally, 1990s
The last decade of the 20th century saw entertainment industry at its peak. Sitcoms like Friends (1994) , Seinfield and Full house became largely popularized on television. Movies like Home Alone (1990) Jurassic Park (1993), Titanic and Fight club were the big films of the 90s. Moreover, daytime television talk shows became popular where artists and politicians would get invited as guests. In the music industry, Grunge rock and gangster rap succeeded immensely, Nirvana as well as Green Day received great attention during this. In 1999, the world met Harry Potter which gained a huge fan base, still does!
New beginnings, 2000s
The first decade of the millennium experienced a tremendous change where entertainment is concerned due to the technological advancements. Introduction to Google, YouTube, Netflix, Amazon and new social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter etc. provided a new platform to the artists. Evolution of technology including smaller laptops, smartphones and iPads led to evolution of entertainment and media as everything moved to digital broadcasting. The first YouTube video was uploaded sometime in 2005 and that’s when everything changed. In this decade, Netflix became the first subscription site for video streaming of movies and series directly on one’s computer. Moreover, Internet development even introduced us to new music as a variety of genres like rock, R&B, hip hop, metal and EDM started to fuse. In this decade changed entertainment and our experience radically, thanks to the Internet.
The 2010s
2010s marked a revolutionary shift in the entertainment field. Internet streaming has developed many options, probably the largest shift since explosion of DVDs earlier. Netflix, Apple and Amazon benefited the most from this evolution in technology as cable TV subscriptions saw a downfall. Social networking played a major role this decade where entertainment was concerned. Several social media influencers and content creators emerged to showcase their talent over Facebook, Instagram, Dubsmash and more. Introduction to short videos, stories and Tik toks ruled the late 2010s . More recognition was given to local talents who could leave an impact just in a video as short as 10 seconds. Other than this, even big stars and celebrities gained a lot of attention and new business that would promote them even further.
However, the journey of the evolution of the entertainment and media industry have been quite interesting. From ancient Greek theatres to the OTT platform. The main reason of these evolution is the change in public’s interest and advancement of technology. It has evolved in every field. Be it music, movies or literary. Now we have everything on our fingertips. This has all been made possible due to the easy access to the internet.
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