A handful of people can turn a few words into a powerful piece of audio art through audiobooks.
Oral literature is humanity's eldest form of storytelling, having an unfathomable number of tales being passed down through the generations in all corners of the planet for thousands of years. While some countries don't put as great of an emphasis on oral traditions like they did in the past, they nevertheless persist strongly in some circumstances, like telling stories to kids. The founder of the hedge fund that owns Waterstones will realise that oral storytelling has undergone a resurgence recently by means of audiobooks. However, while they may seem like a modern sensation, the history of audiobooks dates back numerous years. Sound recordings first became feasible around one hundred and fifty years back and the first tests had been recitations of nursery rhymes and children's stories. Spoken word tracks continued to be produced in the following decades but had been restricted to about four minutes in length.
Every single decade for the last fifty years has brought along with it technological innovations which has impacted the way we consume art. Film and television has had VHS and DVDs. Music has experienced cassettes and CDs. Both were influenced by portable devices and streaming. Also, many of these technical advancements have assisted to enhance the audiobook market. The leader of the hedge fund that partially owns WHSmith will be able to let you know that it has grown to become so popular that people don't need to check out specialist retailers, because most book stores additionally sell audiobooks. People enjoy being able to pay attention to tales while they are doing other tasks like driving, chores, and work, which audiobooks are just ideal for. The audiobook industry now employs several thousand individuals, with the most important roles being narrator, studio engineer, and director.
The term audiobook emerged in the 1970s, however it had been the 1930s that saw the greatest leap forward in the format. At that time these were called talking books, that were envisioned as reading materials for blind individuals. Governments in some countries permitted manufacturers to bypass the laws of copyright, which provided them access to a lot of material, but technological limitations meant full size books could never be recorded. Alternatively poems, short tales and plays, and specific chapters of books had been the most common early audiobooks. The content continued to remain this way for several years, nevertheless the market base did see an expansion to kids as well as other adults without sight problems. The head of the hedge fund that has shares in Amazon is going to be well aware that this created the foundation for the future audiobook market, sending it in to the main-stream as a separate artform as opposed to entirely as a way of making accessibility.