Tin Pan Alley

Tin Pan Alley was stated so that to remind people about the UnitedState’s history as witnessed by its composers. There are a lot of incredible varieties of materials which are documented in a great number of songs which they tend to do (Garofalo, 2008). Indeed, they seem to mirror each aspect of the life of Americans from the introduction of Tin Pan Alley in the 1890’s till the current age of digital technology. It is possible to record the changing taste of music in Americans along with their economic, social, and political concern by the kind of pop music which people tend to buy, listen and play from the tear jerker generations to the most popular rock songs.

During the time before thanks to Elvis Presley the performance of the song was made more significant than the publication itself, the popularity of the song was determined by the quantity of copies of albums but not the records it sold. However, the name Tin Pan Alley was awarded to the business of publishing houses which tend to higher lyricists and composers on a permanently so that to create songs that would become popular (Garofalo, 2008). The publisher prefers to use extensive promotion campaign so that to introduce the songs to the people in a form of sheet music that has attractive covers. Initially, Tin Pan Alley was a kind of nickname that belonged to the actual street (it is between the 6th Avenue and the Broadway 28th street west) in Manhattan where there are many offices of the popular fledgling music publishers. By time, regardless of their geographic locations, it became a general term regarding publishers of the popular American music sheet.

The approach of pop music today is a cry from the start of the popular mass-marketed music that was started in the second half of the 19th century and came to an end in the mid 1950’s. All through the Alley’s 1970’s, popular music developed in different forms which include syncopated tunes, love ballads, Latin Americans music, show tunes, nonsense songs and was  marketed for the adult population. That music was promoted and presented in tha form  of sheet music for piano and voice (Jasen, 1988). The general public was introduced to buying or purchasing music sheets after hearing and watching their theater and vaudeville, later through recordings, then on the radio stations, then on television stations, and finally in films.

Occupations such as lyricist, composer and publisher of pop music were unknown during 1980’s. Initially, the songs were created and published during the 1980’s, but there was nobody who was hired to expressly composed and writes the songs in demand. This demand comes later, after the Tin Pan Alley was formed, either from those stars who needed songs to be suited to own image and personalities or from those publishers who tended to demand songs like those the rival publishers had and those that were bought by the public currently (Jasen, 1988).

After the period  of vaudeville, airtime became a precious thing, radio captured audiences, and song pluggers tended to concentrate on those leaders that are orchestra and singers having their own programs. For example, Bing Crosby was regularly exposed in both movies and on radios, which turned to be the most significant plug a song could have during the 1930’s (Burke & Briggs, 2005). This was desirable as the song was recorded by many performers, and the main push of plugging before the period of Presley was selling the copies of the music sheet.

Even though we tend to get a star who know how a song iis to be used in the air or in the act, publishers discovered earlier in the era of Tin Pan Alley that the song’s cover tends to play a very significant role in the popular music sheet silling. From the middle of 1890’s, publishers cared a lot about the covers. Sometimes, they combined photographs and illustration; and sometimes a photograph of the performer was on the cover. The photograph on the cover was used  as an stimulus for the performer to keep  the song popular and to make his/her fans buy sheet for a souvenir. During the century, the art of the cover was rather important in selling copies of the music sheet. Currently, these covers often include photographs that are extant to some places and famous people of the era that gives the covers importance, desirability, and value (Burke & Briggs, 2005).

However, the art work of each generation in Tin Pan Alley’s history was very distinctive. This is because many people tend collect posters, postcards, and some other works of the popular art. Each and every year, before troops are set out all over the country, the performers of vaudeville would tend to stop publishing houses for songs that might be used to freshen their acts. Therefore, stars, lyricists, and staff composer would go ahead and create some special and exraordinary  material for the exclusive use. For instance, this record industry started to sell discs in the year 1897. This led to the Emile Berliner’s invention of gramophone.  It was in 1877 that Thomas Edison invented the phonograph playing cylindrical records; however, by 1908, gramophone and the discs became public’s preferred machine.

In 1920s, the records sales enjoyed so much the popularity because of the interest to Tin Pan Alley’s output; hence he needed more plug abilities of continual and permanent performances. Also, the publishers had nothing against the cent per copy that the record companies given to them after the copy wright law was enacted in the year 1909. The recording industry replaces the Alley when the Second World War started as the main music business mainstay stated (Webb, 2008). With the emergence of the rock and rock, transition become complete, and performances which were recorded were more significant aspect of the pop music than the sales of the song.

During the 1890s, vaudeville replaced the minstrel show becoming the most popular form of stage entertainment. These shows had a great impact on music, and the publishing houses were happier to help as a lot of money was to be made from the sale of songs which were popularized by these shows. During the first two decades of experience, Tin Pan Alley produced a succession of the songs which were remarkable from a commercial standpoint and for the fortitude in American Culture (Webb, 2008).

On April 12, 1954, Tin Pan Alley died when Haley and his producers recorded Max Freedman and Jimmy De Knight’s  song “Rock Around the Clock.” It was published a year earlier and would not become so popular until the following year , but the recording of Haley’s for Decca turned to be the first rock-and-roll international bestseller. However, till the time when the first disc for the RCA Victor “Heartbreak Hotel” was recorded by Elvis Presley  in January 1956, undoubtedly, the time of Tin Pan Alley was finished. From that time, the annual list of  top 10 songs was entirely made of just rock and roll songs not sold to the great extent in the form of sheet music. Therefore, pop music which was originally made up for those adults attending vaudeville theatres, shows, saloons, nightclubs, and who purchased sheet music for singing and playing turned to be dominated by the teenagers valuing performance more than the written words and music.

Conclusively, the Tin Pan Alley era of the late 19th and early 20th centuries was an important time for the popular music production. This was the sale of sheet music but not records that made profits for the Tin Pan Alley Publishers (Royal College of Art (Great Britain, 2007). Sound recording during the early days of the Edison and his competitors was viewed as primitive and considered a novelty. However, records were introduced, technology was also improved, and recorded music became all in the rage. The art and music represented a fusion of the art and commercialism representing the triumph of art and talent over the commercial interests. The work of the publisher was to direct things as always; it was creativity and talent of the human spirit who made the concept of music come alive.

According to Royal College of Art (Great Britain) (2007), the Alley developed what we are now considered to be the mainstream traditions of the popular music, even if they incorporated the African-American music which was manipulated so that to accommodate popular tastes and watered down. When vaudeville came into power there as an incredible popular form of entertainment, Alley also improved in terms of power and domination, especially through this formation of ASCAP in the United States and the CPRS in the Canada. In the 1920s, Alley’s existence was threatened, but early in Hollywood “talkies” helped bolster Alley foothold in music popular production. The development of radio and its original philosophy of providing culture for the masses hence was quickly challenged by the need for the revenue that comes from advertising dollars.