Alfred Publishing History

Alfred Publishing is a US sheet music publisher specializing in educational music.

It is one of the largest US sheet music publishers, second only to Hal Leonard. It is the largest educational music publisher in the world.

Alfred was started in 1922 and remains dedicated to helping people experience the joy of making music. The company is made of hundreds of expert composers and authors as well as talented staff members in seven offices worldwide. Alfred publishes a variety of music genres for all levels of difficulty, from novice to expert. The styles include educational, reference, pop, and performance pieces for teachers, students, hobbyists and performers.

Composer and musician Alfred Piantodosi originally found Alfred Publishing Company in New York in 1922. His modest Tin Pan Alley pop song catalog included hits like "Ragtime Cowboy Joe" and "Waiting for Robert E. Lee." These songs are still in the company catalog to this day.

In 1928, Sam Manus bought the company. Sam had provided background violin music for silent movies for years, and to this day, three generations later, his family still owns the company. It was in 1950 that Sam's son Morty, a clarinetist and pianist, and his wife Iris, began working for the company. The two discovered a need in the industry for quality education products and began to develop an instructional series for accordion, follow by piano and guitar.

In 1975, Alfred outgrew its New York headquarters and moved its offices to Los Angeles and its warehouse to upstate New York. John O'Reilly came on board as an editor and oversaw the addition of a plethora of band and orchestra titles.

In the 1980s, overall sales doubled to $12 million and sons Steven and Ron Manus joined the company. Then in the 1990s, Alfred expanded into the international market with offices in Australia, Asia, the U.K. and Germany. Sales doubled again to over $25 million.

On June 1, 2005, Alfred Publishing took a giant step toward further growth in acquiring Warner Brothers Publications from the Warner Music Group. Overall sales increased substantially to $60 million.

Currently Alfred has over 45,000 active print, DVD, audio CD, enhanced CD, software, and general MIDI titles in international circulation. Titles represent a variety of musical styles, including works by George and Ira Gershwin, Henry Mancini, Duke Ellington, Tony Bennett, Led Zeppelin, Jim Brickman, the Eagles, the Rolling Stones, Nickelback, Madonna, Carlos Santana, Neil Young, Van Halen, Green Day, Evanescence, and hundreds more.

Alfred is headquartered in Van Nuys, CA. Additional branches are currently open in Miami, New York, Cologne, London, Singapore, and Sydney.

In addition to publishing sheet music, Alfred is a partner of Daisy Rock Guitars, a girl guitar company founded by Tish Ciravolo.

Piano: Alfred's Basic Piano Library The Premier Piano Course Music for Little Mozarts

Guitar: Alfred's Basic Guitar Library The 21st Century Guitar Method

Drums/Percussion: Alfred's Drum Method Alfred's Drumset Method Ultimate Realistic Rock

Alfred's Beginning Drumset Method

Band Methods: Accent on Achievement Band Expressions

String/Orchestra: String Explorer Orchestra Expressions Suzuki

Theory: Essentials of Music Theory

Alfred also distributes titles from the National Guitar Workshop, Studio 4 Productions, the Dover Music Catalog, Faber Music, and Myklas Music Press.