iOS has changed over time, such that silent mode affects notification and interaction sounds but not multimedia - I can still listen to music or watch videos regardless of whether the phone is on silent or not.

"Silent mode" is not the same as "mute". With the former you still expect to hear sound if you're using a function where sound is critical.

There is no other media content that is disabled by silent mode. My mental model for silent mode is that it silences things outside my control - like calls - but not things that I explicitly ask for, like music.