Published in cooperation between Kaboozt and the Morgan Hill Times
One of the things that California is most known for is being an entertainment hub, attracting millions of visitors every year. But entertainment is an ever-changing landscape, and things haven’t always been the way they are today. As times change, so does entertainment. There are dozens of ways that entertainment is changing at an ever-increasing pace.
The sectors changing include film and television, music, theme parks, gambling and other digital sectors. We’re going to be looking at these different sectors and the important changes they’ve undergone over time.
The Evolution of Film and Television
The development of new technology has changed much about the film industry, from the tools filmmakers use to how viewers view and experience the end product. Some obvious developments are within cameras, microphones and editing software, yet the way film and television have changed the most could still be the online revolution.
While buying a DVD or going to the cinema used to be the way people watched movies, there are now on-demand services letting viewers enjoy their favorite movies and series at any time and anywhere for just a small monthly fee. Owning a copy is getting less and less common as these subscription services are gradually becoming more popular.
Gambling and Casinos
Gambling has long been important in California, both underground and legally. The thing that has most drastically changed gambling is, of course, the rise of online casinos. These days, it’s impossible for the state of California to fully regulate gambling with all the online casinos available to players from anywhere. Online gambling is illegal in California.
Online casinos let players play anywhere and at any time, but there’s much more to it than that. On top of the availability of casinos, it’s also given players a much wider range of slot machines and card game variants to choose from.
As of late, technology is also getting better at combining accessibility with the feeling of a real casino. Live casinos and upcoming VR casinos provide players with much of the same feeling of a classic casino, while they don’t have to worry about where to play from California.
Music and Live Performances
Music has gone through a lot of trends and transformations through the years, and while a lot has changed, a lot also remains the same. From surf rock in the 1960s to the rise of West Coast hip-hop from the ‘80s to the ‘90s, California has seen a lot of genres, artists and bands come and go through the ages.
While live performances remain popular even to date, the way most people consume music has gone through a lot of changes. At first, we had vinyls, and then CD players. The iPod and other MP3 players continued to revolutionize how we listened to music, and finally, the digital age arrived, and apps like Spotify took over. Today, Spotify has 675 million monthly active users, including 263 million paying subscribers.
Will the way we listen to music continue to evolve? Maybe. While it seems like Spotify has pretty much solved the problem of listening to music anywhere and at any time, we’re likely to see some interesting developments in the realm of digital live performances in the near future.
Disneyland
Of course, California isn’t California without theme parks, like the most iconic Disneyland. Disneyland first opened in 1955 and remains one of the most visited destinations in the United States today. This theme park attracts over 28 million visitors every year.
While the popularity of Disneyland hasn’t changed, much inside the theme park has. Not only is the theme park always being updated with new attractions, but technology is also changing how the theme park operates and making it both safer and more immersive.
The technology used by Disneyland includes innovative robotics and control systems, Audio-Animatronics technology and things like augmented and virtual reality experiences.
Digital and Interactive Entertainment
While digital entertainment has been around for a while, the way we access it has changed quickly and dramatically. Buying video game CDs and playing at arcades is no longer common, as most entertainment we want is available online. If you want to download a game, you can buy it with one click. If you want to watch a movie, it’s right there on Netflix that you’ve already paid for.
But that’s not the only important change in digital entertainment; digital entertainment has evolved way beyond just accessibility. Gradually, games are becoming more and more advanced, entertainment is becoming more interactive and experiences are becoming more personalized. Many companies are working on developing more and more immersive tech through technologies such as Virtual and Augmented Reality.
Advanced algorithms and AI also help build the entertainment experience for the modern user on many platforms, especially social media such as TikTok, Instagram, and X.
