The song, one of the central genres in music and literature of the early modern period, is interpreted in this study as the product of a newly forming information industry. Previously communicated in manuscript form or without writing, this genre began to be produced in the form of song pamphlets in the late 15th century, and soon also in the form of printed music books, thus becoming a market-regulated commodity manufactured for commercial mass distribution. In contrast to the concepts of folk song and tenor song, which are predominantly shaped by national and romantic research paradigms, the song repertoire of the 16th century is understood here as a result of a fundamental media shift.