Whereas classical artists were exalted for their individuality and expected to differ stylistically from other classical artists, popular artists were praised for conforming to the tastes of their intended audience. Allegedly named because the cacophony of many pianos being played in the publishers’ demo rooms sounded like people pounding on tin pans, Tin Pan Alley soon became a prolific source of popular music, with its publishers mass-producing sheet music to satisfy the demands of a growing middle class. Numerous publishers began to emerge in an area of New York that became known as Tin Pan Alley.

In the late 19th century, the lax copyright laws that existed in the United States at the beginning of the century were strengthened, providing an opportunity for composers, singers, and publishers to work together to earn money by producing as much music as possible. Although the gramophone was an exciting new development, it would take 20 years for disc recordings to rival sheet music in commercial importance (Shepherd, 2003). Opera singers were the stars of the 19th century, and their music generated most of the sheet music sales in the United States. Berliner founded the Berliner Gramophone Company to manufacture his discs, and he encouraged popular operatic singers such as Enrico Caruso and Dame Nellie Melba to record their music using his system. This would have a huge impact on the popular music industry, enabling members of the middle class to purchase technology that was previously available only to an elite few. The flat discs were cheaper and easier to produce than were the cylinders they replaced, enabling the mass production of sound recordings. Edison’s phonograph provided ideas and inspiration for Berliner’s gramophone, which used flat discs to record sound.

In 1877, Edison discovered that sound could be reproduced using a strip of tinfoil wrapped around a rotating metal cylinder. The first stirrings of popular or pop music-any genre of music that appeals to a wide audience or subculture-began in the late 19th century, with discoveries by Thomas Edison and Emile Berliner. Describe the evolution of pop music throughout the last century.

Determine the influences and characteristics of each genre of popular music.Assess the impact of three technologies that changed the face of the music industry.

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