Ongoing History Daily: Music has never been cheaper

Once upon a time, buying music was VERY expensive. If you go back to the 1950s, the average price of an album was about $5.50–and that’s in 1950s dollars, which means if you adjust for inflation, that’s the equivalent of nearly 60 bucks today.

And that was a bargain compared to the late 40s when a typical album sold for more than 7 bucks, which is over 80 dollars in today’s money.

In the 70s, a 7-inch single sold for between 99 cents and $1.29. What does a single cost on iTunes now? Between 99 cents and a buck twenty-nine. But with streaming, things have completely changed. There’s more music than ever available.

And the price? If you used YouTube or the free tier of Spotify, it’s ZERO!