1930 console radios and record players for sale nyc

A hit song’s sheet music often sold in the millions between 19.

In those days, sheet music consistently outsold records of the same hit songs, proving that most of the music heard in homes and in public back then was played by people, not record players.

Until the 1920s, the music business was dominated not by major record labels, but by song publishers and big vaudeville and theater concerns. But before we explain these developments in some detail, it’s worth looking back at how the record industry developed in the first place. The kinds of music that were sold on records also changed significantly during this period, as upstart independent labels appeared to present artists and styles previously ignored by the monopolistic major labels. As it would again many times over its history, the industry responded to this challenge by innovating and marketing new kinds of records and record players.

The industry was already well-established when it was seriously challenged by radio in the mid-1920s. The history of the record industry continues here with its emergence as a part of the mass media that coalesced between the world wars.

1930 console radios and record players for sale nyc