The Golden Record and the Music Industry
Thursday, July 3, 2008
The Voyager program consists of a pair of unmanned scientific probes, Voyager 1 and Voyager 2. They were launched in 1977 to take advantage of a favorable planetary alignment of the late 1970s. Although they were officially designated to study just Jupiter and Saturn, the two probes were able to continue their mission into the outer solar system and beyond. [link]
The Voyager Golden Record is a phonograph record included in the two Voyager spacecraft launched in 1977. It contains sounds and images selected to portray the diversity of life and culture on Earth. It is intended for any intelligent extraterrestrial life form, or far future humans, that may find it.
[Permission was asked] to include “Here Comes the Sun” from the Beatles’ album Abbey Road. While the Beatles favoured it, EMI opposed it and the song was not included. [link]
What. The. Fuck. What the fuck?? What possible reason could there have been to oppose putting a song onto something which was to be shot bazillions of miles into outerspace!? Baffling.
On February 4, 2008, at 00:00 UTC, NASA transmitted “Across The Universe” [from Let It Be] in the direction of the star Polaris, 431 light years from Earth.
This was done to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the song, the 45th anniversary of the Deep Space Network (DSN), and the 50th anniversary of NASA. The idea was hatched by Beatles historian Martin Lewis, who encouraged all Beatles fans to play the track as it was beamed to the distant star. The event marked the second time a piece of music had been intentionally transmitted into deep space, and was approved by Paul McCartney, Yoko Ono, and Apple Records. [link].
So I guess it’s OK for aliens to listen to a one time stream but having a free hard copy is out of the question. Right.
