Question

Passage

In the late nineteenth century, the advent of Edison's phonograph fundamentally altered the public’s relationship with music. Historically, music was experienced as an ephemeral event, bound to a specific time and location. The phonograph, however, transformed musical performances into stable, repeatable commodities. Cultural historian Marcus Vance argues that this technological shift did not merely preserve sound but actively restructured human auditory perception, turning listening into a solitary, domestic activity rather than a communal ritual. To support this, Vance points to the rapid decline in sheet music sales and the concurrent surge in phonograph cylinder purchases between 1895 and 1910, which indicates a transition from active home music-making to passive consumption. Critics of Vance's view maintain that live concert attendance actually rose during this same period, suggesting that recorded music served to stimulate, rather than replace, communal musical experiences. Nonetheless, the primary consequence of early recording technology remains clear: by capturing the transient, the phonograph initiated the modern era of music as a consumer object, redefining the parameters of aesthetic value.

Based on the passage, which of the following statements represents a specific piece of evidence used by Marcus Vance to support his claim that the phonograph restructured human auditory perception?