"The Father Of Today's Music Business?"
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Music Publishers |
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart could, in a broad sense, be considered the father of today's music business. Before him, composers and music printers relied on the support or the patronage of the church and the aristocracy. Musicians were mostly dependent on the generosity of this small, but influential and wealthy group. Mozart undoubtedly encountered the uncertainties of relying on this limited and closely related group. As was often the case, angering one aristocrat or church official could result in losing your livelihood.
Mozart came up with the idea to create commercial opportunities to market his musical performances to the general public. He also made a market for his music manuscripts. He knew there was money to be made from the masses instead of just relying on the few traditional sources available at the time. He saw an opportunity and had the foresight to act upon it.
After his death, his wife, a popular soprano, Constanze Weber, kept the process going. She remarried and the two of them continued commercializing Mozart's music. They used, what was at the time, an unprecedented series of memorial concerts. They continued selling his manuscripts to the general public. They probably had the original version of "the best of" musical collection. Constanze and her husband, Georg Nissen even worked together to create the biography of Mozart.
Without his influence, the music business would eventually have been started, but it may have taken generations longer to get to where it is today.
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Brian Cook is a freelance writer whose articles on music and songwriting have appeared on many websites.
You can find more of these at SongwritersGuide.com.
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