• The earliest forms of a unique American music emerged in minstrel shows and other African-derived music, including ragtime.
• The period around the turn of the century was one of deep and pervasive change in American society:
  • Shift from a rural to a more urban population
  • Rapid expansion of the mostly white American middle class
  • Difficult period for African Americans
• The pattern that began with minstrelsy was reinforced:
  • The adoption of African American music by whites—often in the watered-down form of mildly syncopated dance music—was coupled with the vigorous rejection of blacks as people.
• By the 1910s, many basic elements of the modern music business were firmly in place:
  • A pattern of fierce competition among publishing companies
  • Mass promotion of songs, spread across media
  • The dominance of a limited set of musical forms and lyrical themes