In the 1890s, most people listened to records in arcade-like “phonograph parlours,” where each listener would listen to their selection of music or comedy through ear tubes. Live shows remained the main income source for musicians, and songwriters lived off of sheet music and performance royalties. Both film and records were considered novelties. But in relative terms, records were still a small part of the entertainment pie, and recording them in the years before 1910 was no more exciting for musicians than acting in early films was for stage actors. Records grew steadily in popularity throughout that time, though, with sales going from 4 million units per year in 1900 to 30 million in 1909, and to over 100 million per year by 1920. Recorded versions of these songs were at first just seen as a way to promote the sheet music, and were usually released only after sheet music sales began falling. 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.