In 1908, a relatively small publishing firm named Seminary Music published a piece called “Pineapple Rag” by Scott Joplin. At this time, Joplin had freshly moved to New York City and decided to set up there. In the coming years they would publish some of Joplin’s most innovative works. This publishing company had prided itself by publishing the more artful and fringe of popular music of the time. A single writer for their firm would connect Seminary with the phonograph, and that was Justin Ring. While working for Seminary he proved that even the more unusual ideas in popular music could be successfully marketed. This firm later became the famous publishing firm of Irving Berlin, as he was another one of their writers on staff. The first few years of this firm’s existence is an unusually compelling yet still mysterious story.
It is difficult to pinpoint exactly when Seminary Music was founded, but their earliest copyrighted pieces date to the spring of 1906. Like many publishing firms that were just getting started, their earliest pieces were not copyrighted. This makes it extremely difficult to track these pieces, as they are not listed in copyright records. By the end of 1906, more of their publications show up in c
