Over the past forty-plus years British film director Tony Palmer has established himself as one of the country’s foremost directors of documentary and factual films. One of Tony Palmer's first successes was the film All My Loving, which was released in 1968. Some seven years later Tony had the idea, encouraged by John Lennon, to document the history of popular music. The result was the groundbreaking and award-winning series of films made for television under the title All You Need Is Love. The full series of films was released in 2008 to great critical and commercial acclaim.

 

Volume six covers the big business behind the performance side of music, the writing of music and music publishing.

 

Tin Pan Alley existed to make money.  It organized and rationalized an embryonic music industry for the mutual benefit of these who did the organizing. Tin Pan Alley brought to popular music a collective sense of purpose.  Songs were no longer the creative prerogative of a few gifted composers.  They could be written to order in ten minutes for all combinations of instruments and voices.  Its organization included pluggers, copyists, demonstrators and arrangers.  Songs were written by committee, by number and by role.  There was 'product', and the greater the 'product', the greater the profit.