Sunday 8 November 2009

The Music Business

By Brogan Jorganston

The music business is made up of things such as the production, distribution, and sale of music in it's varied forms, as well as the advancement of live music performances. For as long as music has been made, people have probably bartered, sold and bought it.

Court jesters, street performers, roving gypsies, and teachers of music developed a very basic, hodge podge industry that differed mainly in it's small size than what it accomplished compared to today's music industry.
Printed sheet music was the primary product of the music business in the early to mid 19th century. Many of the private piano owners were some of the growing number of consumers of the songs marketed by early publishers of the day.

A group named 'Blackface minstrelsy' became one of the most acclaimed forms of live entertainment through the USA. In fact, large companies of minstrels provided on of the main channels through which publishers could acquaint audiences with their products.

In the late 1800s, the area around Manhattan's 28th street became known as Tin Pan Alley because publishers would pay freelancers or staff a flat rate per song. The 'composers' would pump out thousands of such titles, in hopes that one or two titles would hit it off with the public.

Newspaper and songwriter Monroe Rosenfeld actually gave the location it's name, probably because he was disgusted with the cheapening of his craft.

Even back when the phonograph was invented by Edison, the companies who ctonrolled the patents on the 'talking machines' were the ones who also controlled the music they played.

Mr. Edison invented the phonograph in 1877, and not too many people in that day actually thought it would take off, especially for use with music. But by the time 1900 rolled around, many arcades sported the 'nickel in the slot' talking machines, thus spreading the whiz bang idea of machine reproduced music.

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