QRS was founded in 1900 by Melville Clark (of Story & Clark piano fame) who developed the player piano as we know it today. QRS supplied music rolls to the player piano market, with production peaking in 1927. That year QRS Music Company sold 10 million rolls. To view a video on how QRS piano rolls are made, click here.

The player piano's heyday lasted from 1900 until the Great Depression in the 1930’s. The Great Depression, along with the development of affordable radios, effectively ended player piano production. However, the demand for rolls continued and was reinvigorated in the 1950’s when people began restoring old player pianos.

In 1986, QRS began focusing on new technologies, and in 1989 released its first digital retrofit player piano kit under the Pianomation™ name. Today QRS is an industry leader in introducing fun innovations for home musical entertainment.

Courtney Lannom, Inc. has been closely associated with QRS since the earliest days of Pianomation. During that time, we have installed thousands of Pianomation systems and taught proper installation techniques to new and seasoned installers.