Sheet Music

Though popular music has always been a component of human culture, the rise of a commercial, large-scale and hugely profitable industry that specializes in bringing songs to a general public is a relatively recent development tied to such trends as the development of commercially available recording technology. Before that was achieved, however, the essential key to the music industry’s creation lay in the rise of literacy and availability of leisure time to the bourgeois middle class of the 19th century, which passed its time partly through the means of commercially available sheet music by which songs could be codified, rather than being gradually disseminated through oral folk culture in varying forms, soon after they were composed. Music sheets became particularly attractive for ownership after the rise of the piano as an essential feature of middle-class life, commonly displayed during social visits and parties as a way of indicating social status. The beginnings of a true industry based on the distribution of sheet music began in the United States in the late 19th century, in a business centered on New York City that came to be known as Tin Pan Alley.

The early ability of artists and business people to offer music sheets on a commercially viable basis was held down by the weak copyright protections in place, which did little to prevent sheet music once released onto the market from being reproduced without consequence. Toward the end of the century, stronger protections for copyrights enabled music sheets to be looked to by musical professionals as a means for a living. Though companies involved in publishing sheet music sprang up throughout the country in various regional centers, the largest companies were set up in New York City, which came to be regarded as the center of the industry. The area in which these companies were located, and then the industry as a whole, came to be known as Tin Pan Alley, a place originally identified as being located on West 28th Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenue, with the term later being applied to the neighborhoods known for sheet music publishers and musical instrument vendors in other cities and countries, as for instance on England’s Denmark Street. It is generally believed to refer to the cacophony of many different pianos being played at once, but the actual derivation has not been satisfactorily established by music industry historians.
The use of music sheets began to fade in the early 20th century, as first the phonograph and later the developments in radio technology established recordings as the main means by which people gained access to popular music. The record industry thus supplanted firms based on publishing music sheets for popular songs as the primary mover in the popular music industry. Tin Pan Alley continued as a major force in American popular music after this change in delivery mechanisms for song compositions, continuing in some form or another until the rock & roll explosion beginning in the 1950s and achieved in the 1960s reoriented popular music.