M. Witmark & Sons

After winning a toy printing press from school, the Witmark brothers (Isidore, Julius and Jay) opened a printing establishment in their home on West 40th Street in New York City, making Christmas cards. To augment his earnings, Jay began performing ballads in minstrel and variety shows and later decided to publish music.

The firm of Marcus Witmark & Sons was established in New York City in 1886. The father, Marcus Witmark, was the legal head of the company; but from the beginning it was run by his sons Isidore, Julius, and Jay, who were under legal age when the company started (ranging in age from 17 to 14 years old). They started out publishing their own compositions. They were adept at plugging songs, and within a few years were publishing the works of such composers as Victor Herbert, George M. Cohan, Louise Christine Rebe, Ben Harney, Pauline B. Story, and John Walter Bratton.

In 1888, M. Witmark & Sons LP relocated to 32 East 14th Street in Manhattan, becoming the first music publisher to settle into the theatre district. Isadore found the contracts, and Julius sang and demonstrated the songs, thereby becoming the first song pluggers in the young industry. Some of the publisher's early hit songs included "After the Ball" by Charles K. Harris and "Sweet Adeline" by Harry Armstrong and Richard H. Gerard.

Witmark originated the practice of giving free "professional copies" of their new music to famous and established singers and bands, which proved so successful an advertising method that it was copied by the rest of the music publishers.

When the International Copyright Law was passed in 1891, Witmark pioneered publishing versions of British music in the United States and arranging for American hits to be published in the UK.