The talking machine world (Jan-Dec 1915)

THE TALKING MACHINE WORLD. 67 2 GRE8HAM BUILDING, BASINGH ALL 8TREET E. C., LONDON, W. LIONEL STURDY, MANAGER. Impossible for Manufacturers to Keep Up With Heavy Demand for Machines — Prices Raised an Average of Fifty Per cent. — The Record Situation — Annual Report of "His Master's Voice" Co. — Some New Patent Legislation — Newest Record Lists Full of Interest — Pathe Freres to Distribute Diamond Records — W. H. Reynolds (1915), Ltd., and Wm. Cooper Bros., Ltd., in New Quarters — Some Interesting New Publications — News of Month. (Special to The Talking Machine World.) London, E. C, November 29. — For too obvious reasons trading in these times is, and must so remain during the war period, surrounded with conditions difficult almost beyond estimation. Yet on all hands one meets with a spirit of reasonable satisfaction, which has for its foundation full acknowledgment that the economic and political situation of the country still permits the development and carrying on of luxury trade. On the machine side, supply shortage of parts and accessories continues to militate against output. To some little extent an improvement is registerable, but I am afraid it cannot be maintained under existing conditions. Even so, the demand for machines is altogether inadequately met. Dealers find their stocks diminishing at a rate quite beyond any prospect of complete replenishment, in consequence of which, coupled with labor shortage and the new import tax imposition, prices are constantly on the upward grade. The average increase I should now put at 50 per cent.; in many cases more. The one or two British manufacturers of motors, tone-arms, soundboxes and a few other parts do not collectively produce any very great quantity, but with this and imports from Switzerland, etc., the gramophone side of our industry manages to make quite a nice showing, all circumstances considered. The Present Record Situation. In the record field the position is very different. Were it not for the growing seriousness of the labor question, practically every record manufacturer would be producing increased outputs. This is, however, actually true in a few isolated cases, one firm I know having certainly doubled its normal turnover. The situation, nevertheless, is one of continued anxiety for the record houses, since, with the new recruiting scheme in force,, under which all eligible men will voluntarily or otherwise find themselves in khaki, labor is at a premium. The manufacture of anything not directly helpful in the successful prosecution of the war must be subordinated for the release of men whose energy and skill can be applied in more useful directions than in the production of luxury articles. This is generally recognized and cheerfully acquiesced in. That being so, it may reasonably be asked why we are able to continue making millions of records which admittedly offer little justification for their existence these terrible days. The answer is that the machinery required for record manufacture cannot be adapted or used for munitions or other useful work; that labor is practically confined now, and more so within the very near future, to the services of men either medically unfit, too old for army purposes, or otherwise ineligible ; and that under these circumstances, if there be any justification for the continued production of mechanical music, it is found in the joy and gratitude of our soldiers and sailors thus afforded the means of enlivening an otherwise more or less monotonous time, routine, etc., and the relief and soothing effect of music upon the nerve tension and pain in separable from this shocking conflict. Subject to the needs of our country, let us therefore continue to flood the world with music! What time the greatest conflict within history will end no one can tell. Coming back to actual business conditions, I may mention as a remarkable fact that retailers of gramophone goods and musical instruments generally are experiencing no lack of custom, sales being exceptionally good. Their only cause of complaint is inability to obtain adequate supplies and keep fully replenished the ebbing flow of their stock. Heavy orders have been placed with factors for the special Christmas supplements issued by the various record companies, whose announcements this season are of unusual interest. Annual Report of His Master's Voice Co. The effects of the war upon gramophone trade returns is reflected in the annual report of the Gramophone Co., which will be read with more than ordinary interest. In perusing this statement it should be borne in mind that practically the whole of the company's continental business has been suspended by the war. The report as hereunder is a reprint from the London Financial Times : "The report of the Gramophone Co., Ltd., for the year ended June 30, 1915, states that the result of trading is a credit balance of £16,772, to which must be added the balance brought forward of £39,427, making together £56,199. From which must be deducted the following: Debenture interest, £15,000; debenture sinking fund instalment, £7,800 ; income tax, £8,771 ; directors' remuneration for year ended June 30, 1915, £2,461 ; debenture stock issue expenses — instalment written off, £2,000 ; depreciation of investments, £5,917 ; leaving (Continued on page 72.) 'His Master's Voice' —the trade-mark that is recognized throughout the world as the HALL-MARK OF QUALITY "His Master's Voice" Copyright This intensely human picture stands for all that is best in music — it is the "His Master's Voice" trade-mark, and it brings to you, no matter where you are, the very best music of every kind, sung and played by the world's greatest artists — the greatest singers, pianists, violinists, orchestras and bands — all enshrined in the unequalled "His Master's Voice" records Branches DiniiUl Skandlnavlsk Grammophon-Aktieselskab, Frlhavnen, Copenhagen. rKAHOEl Cie. Frangalse du Oramo phone, 115 Boulevard Richard Lenoir, Place de la Republique, Paris. SPAIN: Cia. Francesca del Gramophone, 56, Balmes. Barcelona. SWEDEN: Skandinaviska Grammophon Aktlebolaget, Drottnlng Gatan No. 47, Stockholm. RUSSIA : The Gramophone Co., Ltd., 46, Nevsky Prospect, Petrograd (Petersburg); No. 1 Solyanka, Solyanol Dvor, Moscow; 9, Golovinsky Prospect, Tlflls; Nowy-Swlat JO, Warsaw; 33, Alexandrowskaya Ulltsa, Riga; 11 Michailovskaya Ulltsa, Baku. INDIA! The Gramophone Co., Ltd., 131, BalUaghatta Road, Calcutta.; 7, Bell Lane, Fort, Bombay. | Agencies \ AUSTRALIA I S. Hoffnung ft Co.. Ltd.. Sole Concessionaires of The Gramophone Company, Limited, 163, Pitt Street, Sydney. NEW ZEALAND: Gramophonium, Ltd., 118120 Victoria Street, Wellington. SOUTH AFRICA: Darter & Sons, Post Box 174, Capetown; Mackay Bros., Post Box 251, Johannesburg; Mackay Bros. & McMahon, Post Box 419, Durban; Ivan H. Haarburger, Post Box 105, Bloemfontein; Franz Moeller, Post Box 108, Bast London; B. J. Biwlns ft Co., Post Box 86, Queenstown; Handel House, Klmberley; Laurence ft Cope, Post Box 182, Buluwayo; The Argus Co., Salisbury. EAST AFRICA: Bayley ft Co., Lourenzo Marques. HOLLAND: American Import Co., 22a, Amsterd Veerkade. The Hague. ITALY t A. Bossi ft Co., Via Oreflcl 2, Milan. EGYPT (Also for the Soudan, Greece and the Ottoman Empire): K. Fr. Vogel, Post Box 414, Alexandria. Great Britain : Xhe Gramophone Company, Ltd. HAYES MIDDLESEX ENGLAND