Selects: What was Tin Pan Alley?

Josh and Chuck dive deep into Tin Pan Alley, the legendary New York City block that birthed the American popular music industry in the late 1800s and early 1900s. They explore how cheap pianos, copyright laws, and clever marketing tactics turned sheet music into a commodity, and how music publishers created a songwriting factory that churned out now-classic hits like "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" and "America the Beautiful." The episode also tackles the complex and controversial legacy of Tin Pan Alley, including how it co-opted African-American musical genres like ragtime while simultaneously giving them wider exposure, and how new technology like radio eventually ended the sheet music era.