MUSC 200 Lecture 1 Outline of Current Lecture I TPA II TPA Its Social Context a Early Marketing b Start of the Music Industry III TPA New Media Technology Current Lecture Tin Pan Alley group of publishing companies in NYC published sheet music in early 1890 s1920 o These companies shaped how we think about music definition of owning music influenced music circulation o Intellectual property copyrighting is a part of this one owns can sell music an idea etc o TPA is at the center of this at the start o 1890 s 1940 s music industry dominated by TPA publishing houses sold sheet music TPA Its Social Context o Tin Pan Alley did NOT directly lead to rock roll o TPA was actually against blues rock music b c they thought they were dumb simplistic But there are elements of TPA in rock some musical link Cause of some social turmoil o America in 1890 s o Agrarian urban industrial economy Growth in the middle working classes white blue collar esp in urban areas specialization assembly line o Technological changes esp communication technology Cylinder recordings radios music Music industry followed suit w industrialization o Marketing was a fairly new concept Hired people to GENERATE NEED for a particular product TPA heavily marketed to middle working class in cities Manipulated individuals for industry use Government aided music industry in juxtaposition to other industries Government industry tightly intertwined w development of capitalism o Music is turned into an industry w the boom of capitalism Industrialization of music intuitive or not Makes sense w modernization capitalism the wealthy were those who had access to good music originally th Late 19 Century emergence of industrial capitalism Shaped music gave rise to TPA 1890 s 1st emergence o NYC emerges as nation s financial capital in mid 1890 s Manhattan Island floating in the Hudson River Mid town residential at the middle of the island Southernmost point of the island was Wall Street North of Mid town used to be open land w farms housing developed as NYC grew financially installation of trains subways Mid town converted into offices of music publishing companies b c of TPA NYC now has an entertainment industry Name origin musicians in hot cubicles were banging away at pianos silencing them w threads papers It sounds like 1 000 people banging on tin pans o Music publishers scattered throughout the country TPA was located in NYC TPA decided to focus on selling single piece music sheets w a certain style b c they decided that was the most profitable practice TPA made sure their houses dominated scales became music powerhouses o TPA rose to power w kickass marketing Publishers had artists write songs that targeted the middle class Piano ownership became a mark of affluence Reed organ the next best thing TPA chose a specific audience the middle class solely intensely targeted them Sentimental songs romantic songs pure love general morality songs cheerful songs weepy ballad occasionally Music reflects PART of the time made for PART of the population o TPA targeted a BROAD audience o Vaudeville dominant form of entertainment in 19th century people who did outlandish variety performances in large inexpensive theatres Big chunk of Vaudeville was comprised of singers Controlled by 1 Keith Alby on E Coast 2 Orpheum on W Coast o Both groups controlled Vaudeville operation across the U S TPA saw the need for a deal w these big dogs Locked TPA into control by distributing songs Still cranked out parlor music but also started racier lower class o Song plugging plug from TPA to push promote market Full time song pluggers were aggressive ruthless about getting their music out there literally pulled people off the streets went to bars stores houses etc as well paid people to play their music paid shills people paid to like music show their enthusiasm handed out sheets w song lyrics to promote music catchy jingle Deceptive plugging CREATED a market The popular songs were the result of careful industrial marketing TPA New Media Technology o Tension between old school publishers new media o TPA made sure they dominated New Media o W emergence of new technologies for distributing music came TPA s need to dominate that as well o Sound recording technology developed End of 19th century records made cylinders Turn of century quality eh ok o TPA did not use cylinders for awhile until they saw the market for cylinders Nobody else can make money off music when TPA is around o 1909 Congress passed copyright law saying every time a record is manufactured 2 must be paid to the PUBLISHER of the song o No rational basis for this o Money flowed to the PUBLISHERS