Modern Technology
The invention of the gramophone heralded a new form of music publishing, marketing the recorded performance of music.
Initially, popular music was slow to take advantage of the new recordings and in 1910, more than 75% of the records sold were classical music. During the first quarter of the 20th century, sheet music was still king and publishers and composers depended primarily on the sale of sheet music for their revenues.
However, sheet sales declined while records were still providing inadequate income to compensate for this loss. This led to short lived but serious economic problems for some publishers.
Samuel Fox (1884-1971) who founded the Sam Fox Publishing Company in 1906, was the first to publish original film scores.
In 1927, after the advent of The Jazz Singer (the first talkie) motion picture, the need for music led movie studios to buy music publishing companies, gaining both catalogues of music and experienced composers at the same time. For example, in 1929, Warners paid 10 million dollars for Harms, Witmark and Remick; MGM bought Leo Feist, Robbins and some smaller companies; Paramount started Famous Music.
The post WW2 period resulted in such innovations as the jukebox and microgroove recording, which brought the LP record.
The 1980s also saw the emergence of more new technology (satellite transmissions - CDs) and new outlets (cable). Through the 90’s, these new formats (especially CDs) generated strong growth for the music publishing industry.
With the Internet era (starting in 1994) sheet music publishers are taking place on the Internet proposing digital sheet music for instant download to a wider audience by making sheet music available easily and cheaply.
New online businesses like Songtrust are trying to streamline what has historically been a complex process of registering and protecting song copyrights, collecting royalties, and maximizing licensing opportunities.
Read more about this topic: History Of Music Publishing
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