Recent quotes:

Music Printing – Pay for Play: How the Music Industry Works, Where the Money Goes, and Why

However, popular styles in Europe during the Renaissance and later periods (such as the French Chanson) were also frequently notated. While we might suppose that the early music printing industry was supported largely by trade in what we now refer to as classical music, the opposite was actually the case: the music printing industry flourished primarily through the sale of books of popular songs rather then sacred or other more serious styles. This is an important historical fact, because it gives context to the rise of the American music print industry in the late 19th century, which also gained traction primarily through sales of printed popular songs in the so-called Tin Pan Alley style.