Victrola Phonograph Record – “A Perfect Day” by Carrie-Jacobs Bond, 1914
Do you know who the first female music publisher was? Her name was Carrie Jacobs-Bond, a singer, songwriter, and pianist who formed her own publishing company in 1896 after the male-dominated music industry refused to publish her compositions. She became hugely popular worldwide, and her biggest hit was the song on this phonograph record, “A Perfect Day.” Since March is Women’s History Month, we will be celebrating some notable women in STEAM illustrated by artifacts in the Science Center’s Collections!
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What makes Carrie Jacobs-Bond notable in the music industry? Besides being the first female music publisher, she is also the first woman to sell a million copies of a song, a feat which she repeated multiple times. And because she started her own music publishing company, Bond Shop in 1896, she was one of a few women in the industry (and perhaps the ONLY one) to own and hold rights to every word of every song she wrote. This is quite an accomplishment for a woman in the early twentieth century in an industry dominated by men for centuries.
Music publishing did not become an industry until after the invention of the printing press in the mid-15th century. Before that, music was copied out by hand which was a long, labor-intensive, and time-consuming process. Once mechanical techniques for printing music were developed, the industry grew slowly until the mid-18th century when Germany pioneered the world into modern music publishing with the establishment of publishing firms.
The US tiptoed into the music publishing industry, with individuals here and there publishing small numbers of sheet music. After the Revolutionary War ended, professional publishers from Europe arrived and set up shop in major cities, bringing their technology and knowledge with them. The publishing of popular music often took a backseat to religious songs or classical compositions, but in the 1880s a shift occurred. Popular sheet music became in high demand, with more than 25,000 songs produced annually starting in the first decade of the 20th century. The timing was perfect for Carrie Jacobs-Bond to lead women into this expanding music publishing industry which welcomed more variety and creativity.
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