Music Business in 18th and Early 19th Centuries

· Much music at this time was for personal use, e.g. lullabies, work songs, or for entertainment. Publishers recognized the market, published music for these purposes.

· Most early publishing was controlled by clergy: earliest publications were therefore church music. By the late 18th century, publishers were printing books of secular music.

· One of the early publishers was Benjamin Carr of Philadelphia. He was also a composer. One collection published in 1796 by Carr was “Evening amusement; containing fifty airs, songs, duets, dances, hornpipes, reels, marches, minuets, etc. for one and two German Flutes or violins. Price 75 cents.”

· In addition to collections, there were many pieces of sheet music published: more than 15,000 individual works published between 1770-1820, as well as about 500 “songsters” (pocket-sized books of texts only)

· In addition to home use, there was a growing number of public concerts in America as early as 1730’s.