Song plugger

A song plugger or song demonstrator is an individual who promotes music to musicians, record labels, and customers. Song pluggers work for a music publishing company or operate independently. The function of the role has evolved as advances in music technology changed the music industry over the course of the 20th and 21st centuries.

History

=Sheet music plugging=

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a song plugger was a vocalist or piano player employed in the early 20th century by department stores, music stores and song publishers to promote and help sell new sheet music. Prior to high-quality recorded music on phonograph records, sheet music sales were the sole measurement of a song's popularity. Music publisher Frank Harding has been credited with innovating the sales method.{{Cite web |title=Popular Music |url=http://www.museumofmakingmusic.org/gallery1/popularmusic |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140730205215/http://www.museumofmakingmusic.org/gallery1/popularmusic |archive-date=2014-07-30 |access-date=2024-11-21 |website=Museum of Making Music}} Typically, the pianist sat on the mezzanine level of a store.{{cn|date=December 2024}} When patrons wanted to hear the music before buying, a clerk would send the music up to the demonstrator to be played.{{Cite book |last=Kindersley |first=Dorling |title=Music: The Definitive Visual History |year=2013 |page=230 |publisher=DK |url=https://archive.org/details/music_20240422_1447/page/230/mode/1up |isbn=978-1-4654-1436-6}}

Although the terms are often used interchangeably, those who worked in department and music stores were most often known as "song demonstrators", while those who worked directly for music publishers were called "song pluggers."{{cn|date=December 2024}}

Notable musicians and composers who had worked as song pluggers included George Gershwin,{{Cite web |title=George Gershwin Biography |url=http://www.gershwinfan.com/George.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120501033539/http://www.gershwinfan.com/George.html |archive-date=2012-05-01 |access-date=2024-11-21 |website=ComposerFan |type=Blog}} Ron Roker,{{cn|date=December 2024}} Jerome Kern,Byrnside, Ronald; Lamb, Andrew. [http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/14917?q=jerome+kern&source=omo_epm&source=omo_t237&source=omo_gmo&source=omo_t114&search=quick&pos=1&_start=1#firsthit "Kern, Jerome (David)"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200531065116/http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/14917?q=jerome+kern&source=omo_epm&source=omo_t237&source=omo_gmo&source=omo_t114&search=quick&pos=1&_start=1#firsthit |date=May 31, 2020}}. Grove Music Online. Irving Berlin, Lil Hardin Armstrong,{{Cite book |last=Terkel |first=Studs |title=And They All Sang: Adventures of an Eclectic Disc Jockey |year=2005 |pages=140–141 |publisher=The New Press |url=https://archive.org/details/andtheyallsangad00terke/page/140/mode/1up |author-link=Studs Terkel |isbn=978-1-59558-003-0}} Irving Mills,{{sfn|Karp|2018|p=[https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctvh9w101.9?searchText=%22Song+plugger%22&seq=13 135]}} and Cole Porter.{{sfn|Heldt|2013|p=147}} Film executive Harry Cohn had also been a song plugger.{{sfn|Thomas|1967|p=[https://archive.org/details/kingcohnlifetime00thom/page/96 96]}}

=Rise of recorded music=

Later,{{when|date=December 2024}} the term was used to describe individuals who would pitch new music to performers, with The New York Times describing such examples as Freddy Bienstock performing a job in which he was "pitching new material to bandleaders and singers".{{Cite news |last=Sisario |first=Ben |author-link=Ben Sisario |date=2009-09-24 |title=Freddy Bienstock, Who Published Elvis Presley Hits, Dies at 86 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/24/arts/music/24bienstock.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231209002352/https://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/24/arts/music/24bienstock.html |archive-date=2023-12-09 |access-date=2024-11-21 |work=The New York Times |page=A39}} In 1952, Life writer Ernest Havemann noted the following:

There are about 600 song-pluggers in the U.S.; they have their own union; they are powerful enough to bar all outsiders; and they command fees up to $35,000 a year [worth ${{formatnum:{{Inflation|US|35000|1952}}}} today] plus unlimited expense accounts. Their job is to persuade the record companies to use songs, put out by their publishing houses, and the radio station disk jockeys to play the records."

Modern day usage

Song pluggers remain a part of the music industry, serving a similar function to a professional manager by promoting new music to recording artists and record labels.{{Cite web |title=Song Plugger |url=https://www.berklee.edu/careers/roles/song-plugger |access-date=2024-12-01 |website=Berklee College of Music}}{{sfn|Field|2010|pp=[https://www.google.com/books/edition/Career_Opportunities_in_the_Music_Indust/dJOg4ddhJXMC?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=%22Song%20plugger%22 106–107]}} They are often hired on retainer, and can work for a record label or operate independently.{{sfn|Austin|Peterik|Lynn|2010|loc=[https://www.google.com/books/edition/Songwriting_For_Dummies/IMdu3MS74V0C?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=%22Song%20plugger%22 Putting a song plugger to work]}}

References

{{Reflist|refs=

{{Cite magazine |last=Ernest Havemann |date=1952-12-08 |title=The Fine Art of the Hit Tune |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tVIEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA168 |magazine=Life |page=168 |volume=33 |issue=23}}

{{Cite magazine |last=Price |first=Deborah Evans |date=1998-05-30 |title=Songpluggers: The Unsung Heroes |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fQ4EAAAAMBAJ&q=%2522Song%2520plugger%2522&pg=PA38 |magazine=Billboard |publisher=Nielsen Business Media, Inc. |language=en |page=38}}

}}

Bibliography

{{Cite book |last1=Austin |first1=Dave |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IMdu3MS74V0C |title=Songwriting For Dummies |last2=Peterik |first2=Jim |last3=Lynn |first3=Cathy |year=2010 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=978-0-470-89041-7 |series=For Dummies}}
{{Cite book |last=Field |first=Shelly |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dJOg4ddhJXMC |title=Career Opportunities in the Music Industry |date=2010 |publisher=Infobase Publishing |isbn=978-0-8160-7801-1 |via=Google Books}}
{{Cite book |last=Heldt |first=Guido |title= Music and Levels of Narration in Film |year=2013 |page=147 |publisher=Intellect Books |url=https://archive.org/details/oapen-20.500.12657-31721/page/147/mode/1up |isbn= 978-1-84150-625-8}}
{{Cite book |last=Karp |first=Jonathan |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctvh9w101 |title=Doing Business in America: A Jewish History |date=2018 |publisher=Purdue University Press |isbn=978-1-55753-836-9 |editor-last=Ross |editor-first=Steven J. |series=The Jewish Role in American Life: An Annual Review |pages=123–144 |chapter=The Roots of Jewish Concentration in the American Popular Music Business, 1890–1945 |doi=10.2307/j.ctvh9w101 |jstor=j.ctvh9w101 |access-date=2024-12-01 |editor-last2=Diner |editor-first2=Hasia R. |editor-last3=Ansell |editor-first3=Lisa |chapter-url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctvh9w101.9 }}
{{Cite book |last=Spring |first=Katherine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IUaoAAAAQBAJ |title=Saying It With Songs: Popular Music and the Coming of Sound to Hollywood Cinema |date=2013 |publisher=OUP USA |isbn=978-0-19-984222-3 |via=Google Books}}
{{Cite book |last=Thomas |first=Bob |url=https://archive.org/details/kingcohnlifetime00thom |title=King Cohn: The Life and Times of Harry Cohn |publisher=G. P. Putnam's Sons |year=1967 |isbn=978-1-893224-07-0 |url-access=registration |via=Internet Archive}}