MUSC 200 1st Edition Lecture 2 Outline of Last Lecture I Brief description of Rock in relation to TPA II Tin Pan Alley what it is location name origins III Social Context of TPA in the 1890s a Geography of NYC b New technology IV Past Music Publishing Companies vs TPA a Music change from business to industry b Vaudeville Outline of Current Lecture I Song Plugging II Economics of TPA III TPA and New Media Technology a Cylinder records b Radio c Movies IV Musical Style in TPA Current Lecture Tin Pan Alley and the Birth of the Music Industry cont Tin Pan Alley could refer to either the group of publishing houses or the style of music published by those houses Song Plugging Modern day plugging actors actresses musicians etc on late night talk shows promoting their movie tv show new album etc Song pluggers were hired marketers whose job was to get a song into the public as much as possible and in as many ways as possible Showrooms provided an easy way for marketers to get their songs out o Some pluggers would stand outside and shout at people walking by sometimes even dragging people in to listen These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor s lecture GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes not as a substitute Pluggers cruised bars night clubs and theaters to pay either in cash or with gifts musicians and booking agents to play the newest song o Vaudeville especially was a good market for TPA songs Had to get the audience excited about new songs being performed o Popularity is about creating a powerful impression and getting people talking about it before they d even heard it o TPA would hire shillers people paid to sit in the audience and get really excited and into the song sometimes singing along during the chorus o Lyric sheets for the new songs would be passed out so the audience could sing along Gabbing the audience s attention is half of the battle if the song was good enough it would take of An early form of multimedia at shows would be lantern slides image projection o Would show images that related to the song relative to the modern day music video or album artwork Pluggers would promote anywhere there would be music picnics cruises political rallies etc Economics Capitalism crush the competition TPA grew to be an oligopoly o Oligopoly few publishing firms who had similar styles and controlled the music industry especially concerning prices Limited competition o Only 3 4 large publishing firms at this time Made things more difficult for songwriters who used to be able to sell their songs to many publishing houses Non compete clauses companies agree not to entice each other s employees away by ofering them higher pay o Good for companies bad for employees and consumers These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor s lecture GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes not as a substitute Song plugging led to market control by a few companies because smaller publishing houses didn t have the funds to hire people to plug their songs so they eventually went out of business TPA and New Media Technology New technology created problems for TPA Cylinder Record player top right mechanical device for playing cylinder records bottom right o Hollow wax cylinder was placed in player and the handle was cranked o Someone spoke into the horn and a needle engraved the pattern of inflecting sound waves Sound is changes in air pressure When someone spoke into the horn the sound would go down the horn and hit a membrane which had the needle attached to it The sound waves would push the needle deeper or more shallow Changes in air pressure were stored in the wax o The wax cylinder was hardened by a chemical process and then could be placed back into the record player and replayed Crank the machine Needle would go into the groove and move up and down just like it did while the recording process was happening o Cylinder records made sound transcend time o This process started in the 1870s but it wasn t until 1901 that it had been improved enough for music to be able to be recorded o The original purpose of cylinder recordings was to record political oratories o Was used mainly for business dictation before 1901 These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor s lecture GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes not as a substitute o Brass bands and opera were the first to be recorded due to their volume and popularity o Between 1901 1903 popular TPA music started making it onto cylinder records o TPA thought at first that it was a fad and ignored cylinder records Realized it was becoming a big thing and people where making a good amount of money of of it so they began to lobby Congress to for new Copyright laws Copyright Act of 1909 every time a record was manufactured 2 cents had to be paid to the music publisher o Made the companies who made cylinder recordings mad o Doesn t really make sense as all the publisher did was publish the sheet music But TPA had the power and the money not the smaller cylinder record making companies or the songwriters 1914 American Society of Composers Authors and Publishers ASCAP was formed o Independent organization o Royalty rights collection organization o By this time Copyright law had adjusted so the songwriters received some money o Musically restrictive rewarded older and more established songwriters more o Only represented white artists and also would not originally represent country artists ASCAP considered TPA music better than other music o Today if businesses want to play songs that are copyrighted by ASCAP they have to pay ASCAP a monthly fee Radio in 1920 the first commercial radio broadcast aired in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania o Radio made sound transcend space o Appealed to the working class who couldn t always aford to buy a new cylinder record for each new song they wanted to hear These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor s lecture GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes not as a substitute One time purchase ensured that they would keep hearing new music o The Radio Oligopoly CBS and NBC o Radio was a huge hit by 1922 60 million had been spent on radio sets by 1929 842 million had been spent One in three households had a radio in the U S o ASCAP lobbied Congress to get a royalty fee for radio plays o TPA and ASCAP did not like radio o Radio stations ended up having to pay the publishing house when they played a