Tin Pan Alley and Sheet Music Publishing (Page 1 Notes)

Vocabulary flashcards covering Tin Pan Alley concepts, sheet music publishing, and related terms from Page 1 notes.

Tin Pan Alley

A cluster of music publishers and songwriters in New York City who dominated US popular music in the late 19th and early 20th centuries; the term later referred to the sheet music publishing business.

Sheet music

Printed music sold to the public; the basic unit of trade in Tin Pan Alley, prior to the prominence of recordings.

Music publishing company

A business that prints, promotes, and licenses songs; earnings mainly come from selling sheet music and promoting songs.

Song plugger

An employee of a music publishing company who performs songs to promote them to customers, performers, and potential buyers.

Tunesmith

A songwriter or composer who creates tunes; a term used for songwriters in Tin Pan Alley.

Vaudeville

A type of variety show in which songs were performed to publicize hits and drive sheet music sales.

Monroe Rosenfield

Newspaper columnist who coined the term Tin Pan Alley by noting the banging of tin pans.

Irving Berlin

A famous American songwriter associated with Tin Pan Alley who helped popularize songs of the era.

Song as basic unit of trade

In Tin Pan Alley, the song itself was the primary unit of commerce, not the recording.

Masters (sound recordings)

Ownership of the original sound recording; a separate right from the songwriter/publisher rights, referenced in discussions of who owns the masters.

20 Eighth Street

The New York location where music publishers’ offices were housed, described as a labyrinth of rooms with tunesmiths and songpluggers.