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VcJncflJay, Mwrch 2, 1^9 •BCVBSniAS-MIJSlC 41 SEE BOP BOOSTING BAND BIZ Waltz Leads Disk Sales A unique commentary on the current recording business is reflected In the current dislcs occupying the top positions on the bestseller lists at Columbia and RCA-Victor. Columbia's No. 1 is Frankle Yanltovic's "Blue Slcirt Waltz," and the second slot is held by an instrumental, Les Brown's "I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm." At Victor, the No. 1 disk is Dennis Day's "Clancy Lowered the Boom," an outright liovelty, with Sammy Kaye's "Lavender Blue" running second. Rarely do two such novelties take over from the pops by top artists. Yankovic's disk is not a novelty in the sense that Day's disk is, but it Is novel to Columbia that a waltz is leading sales. In each-case, it's emphasized, the top-slot positions are on the basis of records shipped, not necessarily sold to the public' Fearful of Turning Down a Hit Many Pubs Giving 'Com' Careful Eye \m STYLE TD Bandleaders Woukl Save Pknty Gnd Via N.Y. State Tax Credit Plan A few farrslghted band business I executives are changing their atti- tude toward bop-musie, which has takeyi a hefty hold on a large slice of the teenage population in re- cent months. They Decca, Brunswick Sue Stores for Cutrating New York State Unemployment Insurance bureau has agreed to al> low bandleaders who work within the state's borders to seek credit from the Federal Government for tax sums paid by their employers —if the. consent of the latter can ■■ be gained. Permission to follow Charging violation of the i N. Y. see in the l ^*'S*^^^^'"l'Crawford fair trade act, SrsVrrttT^cU^ i ^-p' an^e '^B^^rn.s^icnliiif I V"- was granted last week fr«t LTJ^^^^ Jtl^tJ^^tlrl Corp. have filed a $100,000 damage! ^^"1 Mayer, UI division head, fresh interest in name bands, much ...jf y simrpmp rniirt aBainst. '^^^^^ consultations with the state i"n''!.v;r/ -Tt^i l the Vim Electric Co' and tlfe'Vim i attorney,general as to_ its legality, b.o. cycle m the late .30s that i jf^^j ^ Sporting Goods Stores, earned millions for agencies, band-, i„^ Defendant": it's alleged! Major music publishers are ber-f' coming increasingly wary in their evaluation of songs submitted to them for publication consideration. Last year, when simple "corn" tunes began showing up strongly In bestseller lists, most majors fldffied the trend off as due to the . recording ban. and the lack of so- called good songs. Then the trend waned later in the year and pubs felt their original opinion of the situation was correct In recent weeks, however, the public has again showed greater Interest in waltzes, varied- novel- ties, westerns, hillbilly; and bop. And a good many of the publishers /-are back in the mental state that the Initial trend in that direction put them. To the point where they're afraid to reject songs in fear of turning down what eventu- ally may become a hit. Since, in many cases, they can take some of -' the tunes offered with little invest- ment in advances, etc., they are doing so. And that is making trouble for the recording: com- : panies leaders and musicians alike in the years up to the - end of the war, I wh(;n the flame waned and profits nose-dived as a result of rising costs. ,:, Agency- men are heartened by the craze for bop because they feel that as soon as the initial enthu-^ siasm wanes, the stylists who are now featuring it will smooth out its rough edges and wild jazz kinks to the point where it can be sold breached a November, 1946, retail price-fixing agreement-by wilfully and knowingly selling records and albums with brand names at lower prices then called for in the pact. Cutrate sales were halted by Decca through a stay order granted Andrews Trio Dip Into Hillbilly Music Andrews- Sisters dipped: into country style: music: last week, re- cording with Erne.st Tubb, Decca commercially. It by then would as '.•H^"n'"^.*'"« I ''Sh'T; s-"'"^ the-status of the swing mu-I the plaintiffs' stock was" being dis- 1]^^^, sic that so excited the band fans continued. Man's Castle" and "Bitin' My Fin- „£ jate 'SOs and early '40s. I gernails Thinking of You." , : | Even now there are evidences ot i It's the first time the trio delved ; softening in the bop bands of into hillbilly music, and the disk charlie Ventura and a few others made with Tubb will be released that employ the style in a more on the regular 75c label. modified manner. and its fulfillment will save band^: leaders who spend much time working in N. Y. State fairly large Sums annually. Herb Chernin (Phil Braunstein &), worked out the details with Mayer after months of discussion over the pe- culiar situation. N, Y.'s Unemployment Insurance AFM Disavows Standby Tax On Transcriptions At the moment, name baiidlead- ets playing one-nighters in metro- politan: centers, as well as occa- sionally- In- sTOall, to\¥ns, :: .ire; plaguM by .kids- who Want bo^. If- they don't get it they , make the lives of leaders miserable With I their requests, or sneers if one ex- plains that he doesn't use the style. Whether or not the kids know bop 1 when they hear it is anjather story. Some of the leaders plaj? it as A.ti^t.. n>i.4 vor.aWr.i>.a mun mifh i ' 1 much for-pay 38 for thclr own thP maior labels are b e 7n g American Federation of Musi-, edification. But they don't like the .wam^Prf hv fines There was i I ^^"'^^^^ transcription | word "bop" because it is identified «me when a responsible Dub would Companies that neither AFM nor with dim or cellar jazz joints. But time when a responsiDie pup woum i-jjg^jjgjjjg^j^^ submit songs one or two at a time --a ballad and a novelty, for ex- ample. They do that now but then add a batch of others without mak- ing statements as to their-promo- tion aims. They ask the recorders simply to look the songs over for possibilities. One recording man, for example, last week Idrew close to 60 tunes «ubmitted by publishers in the appce of four days. It's almost - phyisically Impossible for a label's recording people to keep up with are responsible any longer for the payment of "surcharge": or ".stand- by" taxes when travelling bands cut "library" material. Prior to the introduction of the Taft-Hart- ley law, which forbids standbys, travelling bands making any trans- criptions outside the jurisdiction of a homt local were required to pay 15% of scale pay for the mu- sicians involved to the local gov- erning the area in which the disks were cut. After the T'H bill, this *^^T'^ . • 1 ^ * part of the rule was dropped by rlph T„rt° v'ii^ f.'^i'fi'iAFM national office. It was to each, and yet fulfill all other . . <.rf=nrtv,v" tav duties. so was swing to some extent. Agency execs feel that the chances for hitting a new motiiier lode get brighter as the craze spreads; Is You Is or Is YouMM'Baby Music publishers and jobbers just don't seem able, to make up their minds on the condition of the by the court, and last week the I division heads have refused to, waxery won a continued stay pend- i agree with the U. S. Supreme ing trial of the action. | Court decision which stated that Vim companies; in their counter- ] the bandleader is the employer of . claim, contend they were ofl'ering i his musicians; This knocked out the product at a lower price since I the American Federation of Musi- cians Form B contract, which had made, the :buyer; of the band its employer and; liable for uriemploy-: meht taxes/ N-Y. men held with a- jprevious N.: Y;- court' of appOails ' decisipii which decreed that the. buyer should pay the taxes and, though all other states allow the bandleader to pay the taxes^N. Y. has insisted the bUye^ pay-them, : This set up .a. situation in-Which- taxes for dates within N.Y. were - paid by the hoteli theatre, nitery ' or one-night promoter. -. A-t: the' eiid Of the year, -the' balidleadiiif had to pay 3% of his overall an- nual payroll to the Government—. including taxes for the N.Y, dates, which had already been paid by ' the buyers in this state. He could not get credit, because the Govern- ; ment insiisted the leader is respoh-^^^ sible. If he cai» get credit, as Is likely now, the leader Will have to pay only 3% to the Federal men, since the .buyer iii N.'Y^ the: ■ state '2.7% ■ ■ .. ■• ■■■ . ■.. ." ", :■■;': Savings to bandleadersj of course, will depend on how much, work they do within N.Y.'s,borders in, a year, and the size of their ; .m;usi'c.ia(i: payroUi'"■.-';■:'.,.-:•'. Kassel-Merc In Feist Tussle On louie'Disking Art Kassel, Mercury-Records and Feist Music are in a tussle current- ly over the novelty song, "All Right Louie, Drop That Gun," which may wind up in a legal battle. Feist's Harry Link, who took the song a month or more ago, has demanded that Mercury withhold. the marketing of an ar- rangement ^and recording of it by Kassel's band. And the leader has retained attorney John Manning "to file suit against Feist for $500 000," charging. Feist with "prevent- ing him from making a-living." Kassell had heard the song on the Arthur Godfrey -show, from I his own statement, and apparently j copied it down, had an arrange- \ p it, n t ix T ment made and recorded it for I LaU I uet UWU lUneS Mercury at his own expense. Feist' apparently was not aware that he had it at first. Meanwhile, It has been awaiting the recording of the song by certain artists on the Co- lumbia and Decca labels. And it pubs'are added t^ a^'^eonSistent transcription comp^^^^^ busines-s. Jobbers at first state that! didn't want Kassel's di.sk brer'rng flow of unattached'melodies sub- mitted by -non-name -songwriters who hope to secure a recording and thus be in a better position to talk coin terms'with a publisher. Cugat Bstfred From Argentine By Tooters Union, Cutting Tour - Montevedeo, March 1. Xavier Cugat's orchestra will by- pass Ruenos Aires on its current trip In this area. Maestro origi- nally had expected to play a three to four-week date at a nitery there, out the Argentine Musicians Union wccessfully fought to bar him. ;{j»ter, Cugat anticipated going into Jjie city to work three concerts at tts equivalent of New York's Luna «tk, which is not under the juris- oictlon of the union. Apparently the Argentine tooters round a way of stymieing that deal, *"''v™r Cugat won't go any farther „i. " i""" Montevideo, where he SIS?. weeks at the Casino, ?5*»»J8 later this week. He comes "I" » ™n in Caracas, Vene- ««eia. While there, incidentally. located either were not advised | biz has been better during January first. Feist ordered Mercury to withhold it when it became known it was cut, which- it could legally do since the recording, was the first on the tune and Feist has. not is- sued a license. By that time, how- that the 157o was no longer requir- and February than the comparable ed or the locals continued collect- period last year, which was far Ing the "surcharge." How much | down from wartime norms, but coin was turned over to locals • still good in comparison to prewar Under that label is unknown, but | figures. Then, after checking, they transcribers feel it was consider- assert that irs slightly below last able ' ^1 year for the two months. Only a few weeks ago band I Publishers themselves disagree. | viewed in current issue of Variety) agencies, transcribers and band-' That's usually easy to do since an j ^no claims to nave orders tor du,- leaders found out that the tax was j individual firm's sales reaction is i W copies no longer required, that it applies ] based on whether or not its cur- only to transcriptions :made forirent pop tunes are selling to any commercial purposes. "Library", degree. But in: today's market, material is non-commercial "fill-, i pubs also disagree. to some extent in" music. on catalog material—standards on- catalog material- folios, etc. Some say biz is okay in those grooves and others that it's bad. Pubs who do have hits and a good backlog, however, assert that biz is good. Leeds, for example; says that January and February Big !3,80P-s'eat) SyWa Mosque \vas packed, with about 200. stand- ing rboniihd 85 extra in the or- C"r- ™ tnere, inc.oeniaiiy, ^^'^^^t''" P;V^f'?,it°\^nl°kfn'''loTal Cugle ran into a dancer to'whom ■ promoted by ^ick Lomak n loca n« once refused to give a job in record dealer, who has Impresa Hei'man-Cole Concert Smash $7,400 in Pitt •Pittsburgh, March 1. Woody Herman-King Cole con- cert last Tuesday night (22) at Syria . ^ ■ . .i, • , ^ - Mosoue provided biggest local jazz were its two heaviest months since , ^^^^ Kassel claims he's being bo of the year, topping even the firm was launched some 101 .. g^g^., benefit bigger recent Stan Kenton show. Gross, years ago. Currently. Leeds has ] j exclusive of tax, was better than | "Pussy-Cat Song," "Galway. Bay' $7 400 with Herman and Cole tak-; and several other pops moving at ing around $4,500 as their share. ' ' once. Randy Brooks Reorgs iiaf!., ^*A^' the performer, a W. ? "^ Venezuela, split the maes- r.,™1^"*'^ an unexpected punch. ^jV.ugat intends returning to the Randy Brooks, out of the band business as a maestro for -months, rPera"numbcr of similar ^a.-, i-eorgan^^^^^^^ shows here. Lionel Hampton orchestra ^, , cordings. . Originally, they were week and signed with Joe Glasers j^p on the market March 7, but re-1 Aiisociated Booking Corp. ,r w oo ■ 4u i New band will comprise 13 men ' now March 28 is the release date. here Tni^dlately after finishing newing vaude "f„nn ' pU,s"one or two voeaii.sts. It will, Reason for the delay is that Cgp by hU ?AJ°*^al date was booked (--hitago-joo"^ o^ei ^m.uuu i^^^^^ start work on one-nighters. Brooks has found the preparations, prpduc- juis brother out of Mexico Citv,' end Of the week cio.stu II ui»^^^ - ■■ ...... .. . , by Music Corp olTmeVic^^^ three ..U;j;s of b.id . 0i$ked, So Songwriter Sets Up Own Gompany Nashville, iMarch 1, A new indie::irecording firm-has been /fbriiied here, .called; Select Records, the outgrowth of the ,efr forts of Mrs^ Hank Fort, an amateur spiigwrltei' cuix'^ittl^ get-;' " j" —• i.ting recognition front New York ever. Mercury had shipped copies fpublishers due to her "Put Your I to disk jockeys and reviewers (re- ghoes On, Lucy" tune, published by Bourne Music, Mrs, Foirt had recorded four; of .her ovirh ;tuiies (she writes words-and .miisic), with siiiger Dotty Dillard and Oweri iSradley, assistant musical director' 6f WSWC here. She took tliem tff: N.Y.; to sell the masters . to majpr ,. record'companies, but found that,' as a result of ''Lucy^^ most ijf the. Companies had the tunes recorded.; So she set up her own disk label. , Mrs. Fort, who has ''^eri writing songs for eight years, tried unsiicr, cessfully; for almost that length of time to get them published by N.Y. music flrnis.': She finally got « break: last' year wbeh Lawrence:; "Welk arranged her .''PidrA-Nic-ln in the Park." This year her "Put Your iShiifes''- tame to attention when King ftebords did it with Bob Cleary and Evelyn Knight began doing it in nitery performances. She sold the tune to Bourne for a $1,{)00 advance. Shapirp-Berrtstein is taking her 'tList the Good Things Happen" and another, "f Didn't Know the Gun Was Loaded," is going elsev/liere. She has another $he's trying to jilace caUi^ '■Save That Confederate Monejr, Boys, the South Shall Rise A^ain." Mercury; on the other hand^ al-: leges that Feist has given a license to Decca to record the song, and under the 1909 copyright law, it is free to go ahead and release Kas'^ sel's waxing. In the same vein,- Kassel asserts that he drew per- mission from the song's writers, Lucile Johnson and Ray Carter to record.it, before they assigned the tune to Feist. And that the latter firm ordered Mercury to withhold the disk only after they took It Cap Again Defers On Tele-Funken Releases Hollywood, March 1. Capitol Records- for the third time has deferred the release date of its first Tele-Funken classical re- I "*»»*»»«ly his agent. i weather.. Gross'over $30,000. msolf has been .on'the Coast for , lion, promotion; ttc.,'not movihg'as i- • Al'SolOitabn'joined Coast staff of- I the past couple months. fast as first anticipated. Mills Music I