The talking machine world (Jan-Dec 1911)

THE TALKING MACHINE WORLD. FROM OUR LONDON HEADQUARTERS— (Continued.) Olds I recently made in your laboratory, and am charmed to find that you have succeeded in obtaining such accurate, natural and altogether lifelike reproduction of my work. It gratifies me to know that my friends will have an opportunity to hear me on Columbia records hereafter." Some Noted Columbia Records. Played by Prince's Grand Concert Band, the famous "William Tell" overture is recorded complete on two 12-inch Columbia records, and other interesting issues in this month's list are: "Will (Special to the Talking Machine World.) London, Eng., May 5, 1911. Talking machine traders throughout the world will find the latest developments in regard to the copyright bill of great interest. It has passed the first and second reading in Parliament and is now under discussion for amendment of certain clauses by a committee appointed by the government. In effect the bill differs very widely from the act of last year, which, as our readers are doubtless aware, fell through automatically with the dissolution of the old Parliament last December. Indeed, the provisions of the act as at present published are much more drastic. Whereas originally the clauses dealing with copyright as applied to records and perforated rolls, expressly and unconditionally withheld from authors any claims of a retroactive nature, the present bill provides that ■'where any person has, before July 26, 1910, taken any action by which he has incurred any expenditure or liability in connection with the reproduction or performance of any work in a manner which at the time was lawful, nothing shall diminish or prejudice any rights or interest arising from or in connection with such action which are subsisting and valuable at the said date, unless the person who by virtue of this section becomes entitled to restrain such reproduction or performance agrees to pay such compensation as, failuig agreement, may be determined by arbitration." In other words, for all practical purposes the present act is retrospective in so far as, and providing that the copyright owner is willing to pay the costs entailed in the mechanical reproduction of his composition, he is vested with the right to call for a reckoning-up with all of the record makers who may have issued prior to July, 1910, any record of such composition. Apart from its actuality, the operation of this clause is likely to entail endless confusion and complication of interests between the parties concerned .and if any one clause calls for amendment it is this. New Copyright Act in Force July, 1912. The Grand Committee began their consideration of the act on April 28, and according to present intention they will sit every Tuesday and Thursday until the bill is finished. After discussion of matters not particularly relevant to this industry, Mr. Rawlinson, K.C., moved to omit the paragraph which enacted that copyright should include the sole right "in the case of a literary, dramatic or mu.=;ical work, to make any record, perforated roll, cinematograph film, or other contrivance by means of which the work may be mechanically performed or delivered." He explained 'that his object was to direct attention to the case of those people who made rolls for musical instruments and records for gramophones and similar instruments of torture (laughter). If the clause passed in its present form, people who had put their money into the industry would lose it. The clause was an absolute departure from the present law, and exceptional treatment was due to an industry which had grown up under the existing law. He had therefore put down amendments, which would come at a later part of the bill, to provide for compulsory licenses, as in Germany, Russia and the United States, and to prevent the bill from being retrospective in this matter. Mr. Buxton, president of the Board of Trade, who has charge of the bill, o' th' Wisp, piccolo solo by Albert Fransella, and "The Carnival of Venice," flute solo by the same artist; "Sabbath Morning on Parade," and "Our Bluejackets— Naval Patrol," by the Band of H. M. Scots Guard; "Yiddle on Your Fiddle," and "You Want to Go to Tokio," by Chas. Holland; "I Fear No Foe" and "Thy Sentinel Am I," by Bernard Dudley, and "If with All Your Hearts" and "Then Shall the Righteous Shine Forth," from "Elijah," both beautifully rendered by W'alter Wheatley, in a masterly way. said "it placed the composer in exactly the same position as any other author, but he admitted that there was a good deal to be said on both sides of this question. He suggested, however, that the best way to raise the subject would be by means of a new clause. " Sir H. Craik said he had never heard a lawyer advance a weaker argument for a departure from law than that robbery had been committed in the past. These people had taken what they had no right to take. "No!") At any rate, they had no moral right. Croydon Marks, M.P., Mr. Edison's attorney here, reminded the committee that the clause gave record makers protection from piracy, from which the industry suffered at the present time. Mr. Buxton said he did not share the fear that the bill would place any burden on an industry which had grown up and which had produced a large amount of employment and pleasure. The government were prepared to give very careful consitderation to the question, and he hoped tlie sub-section would be passed on the understanding that the matter would be raised later. Mr. Rawlinson thereupon withdrew his amendment. An Important Trade Meeting. Wednesday, April 26, was a momentous day in the history of the talking machine trade, for it signalized an important and thoroughly representative meeting of record manufacturers at the offices of the Gramophone Co., Ltd., to discuss the steps which had been taken for the protection of their interests, and to appoint a deputation to wait upon the president of the Board of Trade, w^ho had consented to receive it. J. D. Robertson, of the Gramophone Co., was voted to the chair, and apart from representatives of the perforated roll trade, the following members of talking machine firms were present: S. W. Dixon and J. D. Robertson, Gramophone Co., Ltd.; Louis Sterling and James Van Allen Shields, Columbia Phonograph Co., Ltd.; J. E. Hough, J. E. Hough, Ltd.; Croydon Marks, M.P., National Phonograph Co., Ltd.; Max Samuel, Barnett Samuel & Sons, Ltd.; O. Ruhl, Beka Record Co.; H. Heyder and A. Vischer, Klingsor Works ; Fonotipia Co., Ltd. ; E. Sommerfeld, Favorite Record Co.; Messrs. Craies and Stavridi, S. P. Turner, Pathe Freres, Ltd.; George Murdoch, John G. Murdoch & Co., Ltd.; J. Dow, Mr. Herzog, New Polyphon Supply Co., Ltd.; J. Broad. Mr. Barrand, Dacapo Record Co., Ltd.; and Messrs. Auerbach and Frenckel, English Record Co., Ltd. Croydon Marks' resolution, "That no copyright should be conferred upon any work published at the date of the passing of the act," was carried unanimously. A further proposal by the same gentleman to the effect "that compulsory license should be procurable by all at any time, on equal and equitable rates, and that in arriving at the rates there should be no discrimination between manufacturers, and regard should be had to the artists engaged and the cost of the reproduction." Seconded by Mr. Shields, of the Columbia Co., this second resolution was also carried unanimously. A resolution of approval of the measures which had been taken for the protection of public rights in the bill now before Parliament was passed by the meeting. It was agreed that Mr. Broad should be spokesinan for the deputation, which consisted of Mr. Robertson, Gramophone Co., Ltd. ; Mr. Sterling, Columbia Co. ; Mr. Hough, J. E. Hough, Ltd. ; Sir Herbert Marshall, Sir Herbert Marshall & Sons, Ltd.; Mr. Klaber,' Perforated Music Roll Co., Ltd., and Mr. Mason, Orchestrelle Co., Ltd. The meeting finally closed with a hearty vote of thanks to the Gramophone Co. and to the chairman, Mr. Robertson, for their praiseworthy efforts on behalf of the whole industry. Later. — News is to hand that the deputation was received by Sidney Buxton, May 2, who expressed his sympathy with the mechanical instrument trade, and promised that the matters brought under his notice should receive careful consideration. What Mr. Hall Caine Thinks! The eminent novelist, Hall Caine, writing in the London Daily Telegraph, under date April 28, says : "I have been present, for the first time, today, at a sitting of a Grand Committee of the House of Commons, and I am afraid I must say that it has seemed to me a fearful and wonderful thing." After criticizing the mental confusion apparent with some of the speakers, he continues: Musical Records. "A still more glaring illustration of confusion of thought came to us during another solid halfhour which was devoted to musical records. It was objected, to the provisions protecting composers from the reproduction of their songs, that (a) a great industry had grown up in the manufacture of unauthorized records of various kinds, and therefore legislation ratifying copyright in songs might ruin large vested interests unless limited by a compulsor)' license; and (b) that, as the mechanical inventions which made records possible w-ere not created or contemplated by the composers, the composers had really no right to profit by the results. "Was ever confusion worse confounded? The fact that a great industry had grown up in the absence of law by taking property which has not been paid for is the most illogical of all possible arguments why we should continue to allow property to be confiscated, or dealt with outside the owner's control. A mechanical invention does not exist for itself, but for the music it is intended to reproduce. It is not the Pianola as a machine that I want in my house, but Elgar, whose works it can interpret. Therefore, the composer, being the prime factor in the enterprise, is the first party the law ought to protect. Yet, as the law now stands, I pay the inventor, the cabinetmaker, the shopkeeper, and the agent, but I do not pay the one man without whose work the work of all the others is useless. With what clarity of mind or honest exercise of the moral sense can members of Parliament pretend that they are protecting copyright while they are doing their best to dig the grave of it? "But, indeed, the last, and strongest, and most painful of the impressions made upon my mind by to-day's first meeting of the Copyright Committee was just this impression of the absence of the moral sense. For instance, it was said (I think without protest) that, inasmuch as mechanical musical inventions had brought happiness into the homes of vast masses of the people, they ought not to be disturbed, or, if touched at all, they ought to be tenderly protected against the encroachments IVIR. RECORDER, uioT^y WAX "F»," the best existing recording material for Berliner (Gramophone-) cut? If not write for free sample to CHEMiscHE iT-i ^ A. ¥ TIT'l^W /V ■^Tr^T fluhstedt FABRIK l—i* Ci 1 1. bei Apold a i. Th . Germany The largest manufacturing plant in the world devoted exclusively to the manufacture of MasterWaxes for Gramophone and Phonograph BRITISH RECORD MANUFACTURERS SEEK PROTECTION. Meet and Take Steps to Have Stringent Clauses in New Copyright Modified — Strong Resolutions Passed — General Confusion Evident — Sidney Buxton Promises Assistance.