Telharmonium Streams Music Through Telephones

The world's first music-streaming service used the Telharmonium, a 200-ton electrical instrument patented in 1897 and introduced commercially in New York in 1906. Subscribers asked telephone operators to connect them to a central "music plant" at Broadway and 39th Street, which transmitted live music to receivers fitted with paper funnels for amplification. Two musicians reportedly played customized keyboards continuously, 24 hours a day, allowing listeners to turn live music on and off like a household utility. The service reached the public in 1907, but interference with telephone calls and enormous operating costs caused it to close in 1916.

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