Variety (Mar 1948)

48 ORCHESTBAS^MVSl€ Vedneaday, March 31, 1948 Glen Isle Gets $3B'castTax Glen Island Casino, New Ro- chelle, N. Y., was handed some- what of a setback last week by the New Rochelle local 6i the Ameri-, can Federation of Musicians, which instituted scales and broad- cast rules similar to those exer- cised by New York Local 802. To begin with, the Westchester County local slapped a $3 per man broadcast tax on iail radio remotes emanating from the spot, whiclj inevitably must restrict the num- ber of remotes per week. Fop* merly, a band could be asked to play ati unlimited amount. AFM rules demand that a spot owner uay the tax, but in the past the major Ipereentage of such coin has beett paid ,by the bandleaders themselves. ' ■ • ^ " After setting the broadcast tax, the New Rochelle local jumped scales irom $75 per man weekly to $103.50, a move that's likely to ■ have a -sHsrp effect on bands yet to be booked for the Casitao's sed- son, which will open aroimd'May 29. Like all other niteries and band location^ in the N. Y. area and elsewhere. Glen Island was last year a "weekend operation," i.e., it diid minor, biz midweek and holdout biz weekends. .If that biz facter is.expected to hold, it could,. In rela^on.to the increased scales, have a major- efiCect ,on the talent fiought^iip-.pl^ the spot. . ■ . ' Undet isueh scales, the Casino, being;.. run--this year again by Michael DeZutter, who last season fioM bis lease to maestro Shep Fief.'ds and' then bought it back again, wjU buy either a small band and'tix to keep costs'down, or go into '.'.inot!eL expensive names than he did when last he ran the plaee. I{ ;h'e'\^o£/s irito a* large inedium- liatne. outfit his music costs would be topheavy under the new scale. Tibe No. I Folk Record of fhe Haflon 1. TEXAS TYLER'S /'DECK OF CARDS" tmt star Beii'or^ AMERICAN MUSIC, INC. MOO ISiraaet Blva. 197« 'Bnwdwar Wbriwid M. Cal. N«w Torh K. Y, CkS's^vIdw t-tOM OOInmbM S-78M RETAIL DISK BEST SEUCBS -1945- TILL THE END OF TIME WALKIN' WITH MY HONEY ' -1946- FULL MOON AND I^MI^TV ARMS DON'T BE A BABY, BABY -1947- I'LL CLOSE MY EYES THE THINGS YOU LEFT IN MY HEART f-i94a- THE TREASURE OF SIERRA MADRE THOUGHTLESS (And the Start of like BVOtiY KAYE QVmtET on M-G-M RECORDS) TOTALS 3,000,000 COPI ES--6,000,000 RECORDS Lyrics by BUDDY KAYI THANKS TO: Santiy-Jey, Rcpnblie, Barton, B-V-C, P«t«r Mourkc, Lewis, Rcmick and Nist—and to my co-writers—Tod Mossmon, Dick Manning, Howard Steiner. Billy Reid. Leighton-Taianni and Carl Lampl—M^-G-M Rocerds—and my wife. Disk Continued from Snag -om page 4J ^' 'I same tune under the same label; ' Those concerned with the eco- i nomic side of the record business I may flnji food for thought in the I fact that 37% of the retailers re- {ported that business was worse I than it was a year ago, though 47% pegged their business to be on tiie- up side. The summiary to the poll's query on .'the dealers^ business status as compared 'to a year ago ran:-about the same, 16%; a little better, 32%; much better, 15%; a little worse, 27%, and niluch worse, 10%. The phase of the poll dealing with the proportion of sales on various disk classifications is illu- minating in especially one facet, and that is, the children's field. The fact that this type of record- ing averages $10 out of every $100 taken in over the counter indicates that the demand for kid fare has undergone a huge advance in the past yea^ or two. Also that this end of the business has even greater possibilities than the trade as a whole of late has begun to suspect. An interesting sidelifiht on this angle of the dealer returhi^ was that, the proportion of kid rec- ord sales did not differ according to sections of the country. In other words, the ratios were higher in the larger cities, and suburbs, but the like relationship prevailed in the south and southwest as . much as it did in the north and north- west, The results of the question to dealers on the division of their sales in terms of types of records were as follows: Popular 59% Classical ........ j, 20% Children's 10% Others .................... 11% M-G-M Disks M ay Jump Tap to 7Sc „T HoUywood, .March 30. M-G-M Records is expected to boost the retail price of its pjoduct in the near future to 75c from th^ current 60c. for its pop material During recent weeks, since Rca- Victor decided to jump its pop prices frdm eoc to 75c. to brlnK It in line with Columbia, Decca and Capitol, M-G-M has been hold- .ing back on increasing the tap for it.? own product in the hope that a lower price would help retail dealers solidify the label with customers and also provide a more attractive buy for coinmaqhine operators. However, In the past several weeks, top execs of M-G-M decided lulKl "^f^" «s against the 75c, asked by other companies i«<»t'»n8' M-G-M believes that if the public wants a particit- lar hit disk it doesn't matter whether the-cost is 6O0 or 75c As in the case of Victor, retail clerks weren't too concerned anywav with making price distinctioiw with customers and were charging 75c. rather than the; official 60c. Add to that a suspicion among sales execs that the disk-buying public is wary of paying less for a disk than the standard labels ask, in the thought that the product is cheaper. Jakes SlnKged Out of Biz St. Louis, March 30. Jukeboxes in the Community Youth Center, Highwood, 111., have been "slugged" out of existence. . Last week the coin-operated music boxes were withdrawn from the Center by two companies that owned them because more than 90% of the "take" was found to be metal slugs, The No. 1 Plug Make It Yours WHO WEREYOU KISSING (When You Kissed Me Last Night) BOURNE, WL 799 Seventh Ave. New York Total ...100% ?99SmNtHAV«.,NeWV<«K19,N V, '' iHmHAf »Am. Q*" ftof> Mgc ^ Gnat MadMH Novelty—ReconlMi by Arthur Hedler (Victor) , Comarota (London) FIDDLE-FilDDLE MILLS MUSIC, INC. 1619 Broodway New York 19. N. t.