Course Description
In this series, Mike Daley tells the story of the music business, beginning with the sheet music hits of the early days of Tin Pan Alley through player pianos, wax cylinders, and the phonograph wars. The story continues into more modern times with network radio, independent record labels, the digitization of music, the arrival of the Internet, file-sharing, streaming services, artificial intelligence and more. The story of the music business is dotted with rogues and geniuses, brilliant technical innovations and failed inventions, turf wars and backroom alliances.
Course Director
Mike Daley
Mike Daley is a freelance popular music history lecturer around Toronto. He holds a Ph.D in musicology and has published widely on a variety of musical subjects. Mike’s well-received lectures on the Beatles, Elvis, jazz, folk music and much more have gained him a strong following in the GTA. Mike also offers video lecture series on his website, mikedaleymusic.com and is currently writing a history of live music in the Yorkville coffee house district of Toronto in the 1950s and 1960s.
Mike Daley
Term and Time
Winter 2026 – Starting January
12:50 pm on Friday afternoon
Room TBA in York Hall
Course Outline
Two weeks before the course starts, you can download a printable PDF giving the 10-week detailed course outline.
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Lecture Notes
Links to resources such as additional reading or play lists are provided here as the Course Director makes them available during term. Like the course outline, lecture notes open in a new browser tab so that you can download and print them.
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