What role did rock and roll play in the demise of Tin Pan Alley, and what did Tin Pan Alley do to fight back?

Answer 1

Rock & roll had NO EFFECT on Tin Pan Alley. What caused the demise of Tin Pan Alley was the rise of recorded music.

Tin Pan Alley was rows of streets of stores, which sold SHEET MUSIC in New York City. Most people played instruments during that time and would go to Tin Pan Alley to purchase sheet music. Each store would have musicians/sales people who played instruments, who would play the music (hence the tin pan) which customer would select, so they (the customers) would decide whether they wanted to purchase the sheets. Rock and roll music had no effect on this practice. However, when it became possible for the masses to purchase recordings, there was no need for the masses to learn to play instruments and worse no need for the masses to go to the store to purchase reams of sheet music....the handwriting was on the wall. In essence the early critics or rock and roll were right, though their focus was misplaced. Not rock and roll, but the recording of rock and roll, among other types of recordings, encouraged illiteracy and caused the demise of an entire industry. On the other hand, we have preserved some extraordinary performances so the original artist's performances could and can be heard by future generations.

Answer 2

This goes a long way back. In the days of Tin Pan Alley, all the songs, and hits of those days, where written by songwriters, like Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, Ira Gershwin to name a few.
When Rock and Roll entered the music scene, most of the songs, were written by the performers themselves, leaving out those more established Song writers.
As to how, Tin Pan Alley song writers and Publishers fought back, I'm not sure they did, very well.
I would hazard a guess, that about one in ten people today, can even say they know about Tin Pan Alley. So I guess they lost the game.

Answer 3

Tin Pan Allley was a term used for where they wrote Broadway music. Not popular music. And as far as I know Broadway is alive and well and living in NYC.