Radio Broadcast (Nov 1923-Apr 1924)

274 Radio Broadcast among the members were only 253 out of 5,000 authors and composers. The conservative writers and publishers were not appreciably represented in their membership, and it was found that much of the most successful music of the day did not originate in this society. This is true, for instance, of such popular hits as " Three O'Clock in the "Morning" and "No Bananas." Representative broadcasters ignored altogether the demands of the small but noisy band of jazz writers. As we have mentioned before, to "put it over PLOTTING A SHIP S POSITION The compass bearings of a given ship, reported to the central station in New York by several radio compass stations, are indicated by lines drawn from the receiving stations on a map. The ship's position is the point at which the lines cross the outcome was the formation of the National Association of Broadcasters. A successful business man, having intimate knowledge of the musical game, Mr. Paul B. Klugh, was selected as executive chairman to guide the destinies of this new society which is attempting to solve the question of broadcasting rights and income for the broadcasting station. The story of their present and anticipated activities convinces one that they are attacking the problem in a fair and unbiased fashion. The Broadcasters' first activity was devoted to the question as to whether or not broadcasting did have a real advertising value. So they set about to get real information on the matter. Two experiments they made show, beyond peradventure, how powerful an agent radio is in making songs popular. The result of such advertising was sure and decisive. In one case, a two-year-old song was selected as a test piece. This song had been put out on phonograph records but the sale had not been large. At the time of the test, the piece was stagnant, most stores reporting practically no sales. An inventory of the records in stock was taken by an agent of the broadcasters. A short time after a good station had broadcasted this song, using an accomplished artist another canvass of the stores showed that 80 per cent, of the phonograph houses had sold out the record. With such facts to go on, the broadcasters knew what they were talking about. A composer now sends in his song and it is examined by well qualified musical critics. If it passes the judges, the members of the association put it on the air. If the song is a hit, the author at once begins to receive whatever royalties on the sheet music the copyright law entitles him to. With no advertising expense of his own, he begins to reap the benefit of the radio advertising. If the song proves sufficiently popular to justify its reproduction for the phonograph and player piano, the broadcasters begin to get some return for selling the song to the public. Their contract with the author stipulates that a certain reasonable percentage of the mechanical royalties shall accrue to the Association of Broadcasters; if the song is successful, the author receives all the royalties from the sheet music sales. But he shares the royalties from the records and piano rolls, with the National Association of Broadcasters. This solution of the problem looks logical, and eminently fair to the author. He stands to lose nothing if his song doesn't "go," and if it does, his interests are identical with those of the Broadcasters' Association, so he may be sure that his song will be given as much prominence as possible. We hope the new scheme proves a success.