Song Pluggers: Then and Now

Before pre-recorded music became widely commercially available, a song plugger's job was to entice customers to buy the sheet music, often by sitting down at department store pianos and playing the latest hits. Many musicians and composers started their careers as pluggers, some of the more notable people including George Gershwin, Ron Roker, and Lil Hardin Armstrong. Song pluggers have come a long way since the early Tin Pan Alley days; by 1962 their duties were adapted, and their job mostly involved pitching to publishers, who were always looking for the next big hit.

This change in a song plugger’s responsibilities caused unease in some. In the words of Redd Evans, music publisher: “We’ve become slaves to the taste of children. This is a very bad thing because pretty soon we’ll start wearing knee breeches again and this is something I want to try to avoid.”

In the background you can hear J. Fred Coots, American songwriter, plugging his biggest hit, Santa Claus is Comin’ To Town.