In 1922 in New York City’s Tin Pan Alley, violinist and music importer Sam Manus started Manus Music, a music publishing company. In 1930 he acquired Alfred & Company, a music publisher. Manus decided to combine the two names and thus the name Alfred Music was born.
Sam’s son, Morty, reinvented the brand in the 1950s. A clarinetist and pianist that understood the need for quality music education materials, he created a line of instructional books. These books were initially for accordion, but Morty later branched out to guitar, piano, and recorder.
Morty’s son, Ron, joined the company in 1988. Then, in 1992, his other son, Steve, joined as well. The brothers took the Alfred brand to the next level by expanding internationally and established offices in Australia, Germany, Singapore, and the UK.
2005 marked another big year for Alfred, as they purchased Warner Bros. Publications, acquired the rights to the EMI Catalogue Partnership, and began a long-term relationship with Warner/Chappell Music. With this, Alfred Music gained the print publishing rights of M. Witmark & Sons, Remick Music Corp., and T.B. Harms, Inc.
Today, Alfred Music has over 150,000 active titles and has a wide range of well-known titles.
Learn more by visiting the company’s website.
