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The History of Tin Pan Alley

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Added on  2021-06-16

The History of Tin Pan Alley

   Added on 2021-06-16

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Surname 1Name:Tutor:Course:Date:The Role of Tin Pan Alley in American MusicIntroductionTin Pan Alley is genre of music that sprang up in the latter years of the 19th Century. It arose in the song publishing industry whose capital was in Manhattan on West 28th Street between Broadwayand 6th Avenue in New York. These were performers who usually worked in music shops and played the latest releases much like record stores play new CD releases todayIn what ways did Tin Pan Alley enrich American Music?Tin Pan Alley played a key role in the printing and distribution of sheet music. Most of the early publishers of the time also played church music. This helped to spread the message of Christianity. Also several music publishers of the time made music instruction material, classicalitems and study pieces for use at home and in schools (Skipper, 825). Tin Pan Alley claimed its place in history for the growth of music in America. After the end of the civil war in America over 25000 pianos were sold each year in America. Over 500000 young people were taking piano lessons I n 1887(Loots et al., 22). This also saw an increasing number of young people venturing into a career in music. As a direct consequence the popularity of the sheet music and its demand rose exponentially. More publishers then started entering the market in response to the growing demand for sheet music. In the last decade of the 19th Century New York was quickly getting a new reputation as an emerging center of popular music publishing.
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Surname 2Indeed Tin Pan Alley transformed American music from an art into an industry. As more and more music publishers came in to New York the city began to emerge as a center for musicalperforming arts. Much of the musical a talent in America was found here (as is it in modern day Hollywood and actors). Tin Pan Alley gave birth to what is today dubbed American popular music. Various companies in collaboration with the Tin Pan Alley concentrated much of their time in developing American popular music by that time. These companies include E. B. Marks Music Company, Shapiro, Berstein & Co., Irving Berlin, Inc. Robbins Music Corp and Remick Music Co. These were trailblazers who employed market research as tool to their success; in selecting music as well as marketing the same aggressively.On the other hand the activities at Tin Pan Alley overlooked other genres of music. It is accurate to argue that much of the time was devoted to the creation of popular music at the expense of other genres of music (Epps et al., 12). In this way it limited the growth of American music in terms of diversity. Like it has been correctly pointed out, the Alley was the engine that powered the transformation of American music from an art to an industry. Herein lay one of the greatest limitations to music in America even to date. At the time, music composers were hired on contracts. Music publishers retained exclusive rights over the composers. It is during this time that vaudeville replaced minstrel which had been a leading form of stage entertainment for a longtime. Enormous amounts of money were paid out by publishers at these shows in order to popularize the music. This is where American music industry lost it. It was no longer about the art, rather the money; industry (Ward, 54). Even to date plenty that does not qualify as good music receive a lot of airplay on mainstream media thanks to similar tactics as were employed in the Alley.
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