History
History of Sheet Music
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Broadsides, sometimes called penny ballads, are single sheets of paper with printing normally on one side only.
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Tin Pan Alley is the name given to the collection of New York City music publishers and songwriters who dominated the popular music of the United States in the late 19th century and early 20th century.
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Prior to 1900 the majority of sheet music was published in black and white lithograph engravings or scrollwork.
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During the World War I years, the U. S. Government requested that industries using consumable products begin to conserve these materials -- including paper goods
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William Randolph Hearst began publishing songs in supplemental sheet music in his Sunday newspapers in order to boost circulation.
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A more stylized graphic art started after World War I.
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Many noted illustrators got their start creating art for song sheet covers.
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With the onset of the radio in 1920 and the eventual blossoming of the record and movie industry, sheet music sales plummeted and the decline in artistic covers commenced.
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