Music recorded in 1898
The year 1898 was a year of war and the reorganization of the imperial order, while communications, electricity, and recording technologies rapidly reduced distance and duplication. On February 15, the USS Maine exploded and sank in Havana Harbor, sparking public opinion that tipped the scales toward the Spanish-American War. The United States declared war in April, and peace was concluded with the Treaty of Paris on December 10. The war spread beyond the Caribbean to the Pacific, and the annexation of Hawaii through the Newlands Resolution (Joint Resolution to Provide for Annexing the Hawaiian Islands to the United States (1898)) on July 7 of the same year symbolized a shift in geopolitics surrounding sea routes, supply chains, and information hubs. In Africa, the Battle of Omdurman occurred on September 2, and the Fashoda Incident (10 July–3 November 1898) exposed the conflict between Britain and France. In East Asia, the Qing Dynasty's Hundred Days' Reform (June 11–September 21, 1898) quickly failed, intensifying the conflict between modernization and external pressure. Furthermore, on August 24, Nicholas II (1868–1918) of the Russian Empire issued a Rescript proposing arms limitation and a peace conference, paving the way for international opinion to reach the Hague Conference the following year in 1899.
At the same time, technology for transmitting information and entertainment began to take shape as concrete devices. Guglielmo Marconi (1874–1937)'s wireless telegraph began testing and operation at the end of 1898, connecting South Foreland Lighthouse with East Goodwin Lightship and South Goodwin Lightship, demonstrating the practicality of transmitting "signals rather than voices" from sea to land. In 1898, Nikola Tesla (1856–1943) unveiled a remote-controlled boat via wireless radio at Madison Square Garden in New York, presenting to a public audience a vision of the future in which commands could be sent via radio waves and machines would respond. In terms of sound preservation, Valdemar Poulsen (1869–1942) advanced his research into the magnetic recording device, the Telegraphone, in 1898. His idea of recording sound as an electrical signal on a steel wire or similar material brought recording, a different method from groove-engraving, to the forefront of technology. In the field of science, Marie Curie (1867–1934) and Pierre Curie (1859–1906) reported on polonium in 1898 and announced the discovery of radium on December 26, accelerating research into radioactivity. Advances in electricity, materials, and measurement also provided the foundation for later audio and communications equipment.
A turning point was also evident in popular culture and media. Émile Zola (1840–1902) published an open letter titled "I Accuse...!" in the newspaper L'Aurore on January 13, 1898, demonstrating how political events, via newspapers, became transnational "information events." In literature, the publication of H.G. Wells's (1866–1946) The War of the Worlds in book form in 1898 strengthened the circuitry for the consumption of anxieties about science, technology, and urban society as entertainment. The year 1898, where war reports, international politics, science news, and the circulation of stories intertwined, marks a step forward in modern mass society toward "simultaneous sharing of the same information and the same entertainment." By extension, the conditions for the expansion of the sound reproduction and distribution industry were also quietly established.
