The Dissemination Of Music

In 1501, Ottaviano Petrucci produced his first book of music, 96 chansons, as the Harmonice musices

odhecaton A. This collection is the earliest known example of printed polyphonic music. Prior to this, music was copied out by hand by monks and nuns who were transcribing them from memory, and as such was subject to human error. It was also an expensive and time-consuming process, which meant that the works were kept by the church, or could be bought only by the very wealthy nobility. This meant that sheet music was an exclusive product, not available to most people, thus preventing them from learning to play instruments effectively, and to perform new compositions.

Petrucci's printed editions evoked a sudden and monumental change in how music was distributed, and to whom. Now, music was available to a much wider cross-section of society. This created a demand for more compositions which in turn encouraged the development of music composition as a craft in the coming decades and centuries.

During the baroque and classical eras, printing presses were improved, and numerous publishing houses were founded, and many major cities had a music printing industry. Composers had a bigger opportunity than ever before for dissemination of their works to a mass audience, thus allowing them to build a name for themselves and turn a profit from their work.

Modern innovations, namely the internet, have enabled dissemination of sheet music on a mass scale, all over  the world. Websites such as the Petrucci Music Library, The Mutopia Project, and Musopen all provide sheet music to download immediately, and for free. Only 15-20 years ago, if someone wanted to learn a piece of music, they would have to go to the music shop to purchase it, and order it for another day if it wasn't a stocked line. With the advent of the aforementioned free score libraries, music can be printed and started to be played within seconds. This is not just music accessibility on a wide scale, but also on a fast scale, and for almost zero cost per copy. Furthermore, computer tablets are now often used to display sheet music directly, without the need to even print it.

Other innovations include music notation software. Not only does this allow composers to create new scores quickly and easily, but the score computer files can also be freely and immediately distributed over the internet to anywhere in the world. Access to the score file means having the opportunity to edit the score (enabling collaboration between composers, even if thousands of miles apart), and to hear a computer-generated performance of the score, while the notes are highlighted in real time.