Variety (Mar 1949)

W9iM9d»f, March 2, 1949 miCVESTRAS-MUSlC 43 ftop in Sales Finds Music Pubs Getting Tougher With Small Diskers Music publishers are getting px- tremely tough with small recording companies over royalty .prices for the use of copyrighted music and the cpllection of, quarterly-due sales coin. The publishers at ope time felt that they should go along with indie firms, allowing rate con- cessions, holding still for overdue royalty payments and otherwise helping them along. It's caused by the general drop In music and xecord sales, which, has reduced publisher income. §0 impatient have the pubs be- coiiie with small diskers : that do ■riot live up to quarterly statement requirements, or otherwise have incurred a pub's distrust, that some of the latter have in recent weelcs talcen to demanding $liQOO advance against the full 2c. statutory rate per side, before issuing a license allowing an indie to. record a tune. And the demand for that full 2c. per side rate is becoming fairly prevalent throughout the business, *M#hether or not an advance is asked. ■Many pubs are no longer accepting 114c. and l%c. per side on disks selling at lower than 50c., on the theory that it's often- hard to col- iect indie royalties anyhow, so they ^ >inight as, well insist on- the .full rate. ■Ehis came up last week, when empted by many of the pubs on the theory he frequently records songs before they are hits, takes a chance on them and hence'is due the break. There are some ,who feel otherwise even where that label is concerned, however. What burns the pubs on the Hi- Tone and Spotlight; clisks is that they are using only hit songs- after they have become hits. They feel that every time a, 35c. platter Is sold Us- quite possibly' prevents the Sale o° that tune by a major artist on a major label, \vhich would pay the pub 2ci—and he'd be certain of getting it from the majors. He's not so certain of getting it iro: many of the indies. N«W York. Editov, Variety: I should -like: to .point out that in the story that appeared in the Feb. 23 issue of Variety, pertain- ing to my candidacy for the ASGAP writers board of directors, a most important fact was inad- vertently omitted. I mentioned Ihe name of John Redmond merely to hiighlight. the fact that the iiop!iiq.ating committee proved Itself inconsistent in its de- liberations and action. In an en- deavor to explaifi to me the reason for ignoring the 157 writers who ASCAP-Tele Contract Talks Faced With Costs Snag on Blanket License One of the problems facing the comtnittees representing television Supreme to Distrib, , and the American Society of Com Farm Out Its Pressing i P?sers, Authors and PubUshers, Loew s Pacting Bandshows For Spot Bookings : Band packages are getting a new spurt of activity with' the: opening I of new vaude time. Loew circuit c, f ""SLT^e itc no«, has already set Sammy Kaye, Louis ^^^lll'^f''^^^^ and Tommy horsey bands f or swin gs: aroiin d the circuit , : Hi-Tone disks at 35c. retail, fol - lowing by. a few weeks the intro- .duction of the Spotlight label vCApoUo subsid) in the same price area. Pubs owning the tunes re- ; corded by Hi'Tone for its first re- ■ leases were not approached for licenses prior to the v waxipg of ^ them. Signature apparently expects 'to pay the usual lV4c. per side, ■ which the music business has in the past accepted for disks selling at 50c. or lower. However, Signature is in for a : surprise. The pubs whose tunes were ihvolved in the first release intend tO ' insist on the full .2 c. : They say: the same will apply to Spotlight's recordings. Eli Ober- stein's Varsity label, selling at 44c. retail, including tax, is being ex- Eaye has been booked. for the Capitol, N.Y., Buffalo, Cleveland and Washington. Prima ^is: set for Canton and Buffalo, while Dorsey goes into Waterbury, Conn. ■ : Both Music Corp. of America and, General Artists Corp, are currently lining up more name- band pack- ages for Loew's and other circuits. It's figured that since most of the towns which are being booked- haven't had stageshows for some I years, bandshows will be able to fill the bill for some time. Bookers: plan to alternate names and name bands so that no definite pattern will be set. { All dates -are being booked on percentage basis. Supreme Records will in the future manufacture and distribute its putput itself ■ It has taken over that chpife froin B5tW PistWhuting, a California and N.Y. outfit. , , . u J , Now Supreme will assign the petitioned that body to place my , distributing, and the pressing of its name on the slate, one of the com- i disks will be farmed out, B&W did raittee told me that, their negative , the same so far as pressing was action was taken because (and I concerned quote), "they felt that I had been i _! named a candidate in 1947 and ' that it was too soon for me to i; f Tl , again be named on the ticket. The I I ApiAT I ||p^flf|IC inconsistency lies in the further I liVvVf l llCclll vv fact that Redmond also was a regularly-named candidate for the writers board of' directors in 1947. : I wholly disagree with their reasoning and feel that a candidate should, if he .has the support and confidence of enough fellow- writ- ers, be eligible each year. In the interview with Variety, I stressed | the fact: that I was in complete i accord with the naming of Red- I take advantage of the heavy ex- mond as a candidate and because f Ploitation and promotion possibili- of my respect for him both s(s a j ties offered for its disk product by writer and courageous leader that i the 116 Loew's, Inc., theatres I not only would give him one of throughout New England, the New my votes, but that I would also York area south and midwest, urge all of my supporters to sup- Company's promotion men have port hlrn" ■ laid out campaign ideas, backed In Bally Backing M-G-M Reconis M-G-M Records is beginning to Pinku Merman. Cap Experiments With Machinery ToMake45RPM by Loew theatre execs, which call for all sorts of tie-ins with MfG-M disk distributors almost to the point where theatre ushers are urged to "talk it up." Loew's owns M-G-M. Initial campaign was put into operation in New England in be- half of Blue Barron's "Cruising | established by Down the River" hit, and is now being extended to push Art Mooney's "Beautiful Eyes" and "Doo De Doo On Ab Old Kazoo." Dozens of promotion ideas are supplied theatre managers, from the simple one of spinning MtG-M disks on theatre p.a.'s to helping organize artist fan clubs in small towns, contacting disk - jockeys 'RH' Logging System .Richard Himbeir's new deuclopmcTit m logfimg broadcast perform atices lists tunes in the survey, based on four niajor network schedules. TJicj/ arc compiled on the basis of 1 point for sti.staiTiin!; instrumental; 2 points for sustaining vocal;. ^ for Gomriierc-ial instrumenlal; 4 for commercial vocal, respectively, in each of the 3 r.iaior territories. New Vork, Chicago and Coast. For example, a Commercial Vocal in all three territories counts 12. Added to these totals is the listener ratings vf commercial showf, ■which account for the .arge point tallies below. Week of Feb. 18 to Feb. Zi Song Publisher Pts. Far Away Places-^Laurel,. ...:.....,. i.» .. . . ...... 19.") So in Love—*"Kiss Me Kate"—T. B. Harms , 176 A Bluebird Singing m My Heart—Advanced, .„... .... . 165 Galway Bay—Leeds ....:., . ,..... s . . 163 I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm—Berlin^ .....162 A Rosewood Spinet—Shapiro.. ................; 144 Sunflower—Famous 124 Cruising Down the River—Spilzer 112 Here I'll Stay—'"'"Lov* Life"—Chappell 106 Bouquet of Roses—'Hill & Range A Little Bird Told Me—Bourne »■ I My Dream Is Yours—f"My Dream Is Yours"—Witmark 94 Senorita—"KLssing B^indit"—Feist . 94 So Dear to My Heart—i"So Dear to My Heart"-Santly 88 Someone Like You—t"My Dream Is Yours"^—Harms,............ 87 Look Up—Patmar 82 Buttflns and Bows—t"Pale Face"—Famous 82 Lavender Blue—t"So Dear to My Heart"—Santl.v 81 These Will Be the Best Years of Our Lives—Robbins 78 Powder Your Face With Sunshine—Lorabardo , • 76 Once in Love With Amy—*'Where's Charley"—Moms 75 It's a Big Wonderful World—BMI The Streets of Laredo—^'Streets of Laredo '—Famous. You Was—Crystal The Pussycat Song—Leeds Tara-Talara-Tala—Oxford My Darling, My Darling—*"Where's Charley"—Morris 62 By the Way—l-'When My Baby Smiles At Me"—BVC 61 I Got a Gal in Galveston—Republic , • 56 Little Jack Frost Get Lost—Spitzer 55 Underneath the Linden Tree—LaSalle 55 A You're Adorable—Laurel 51 To Make a Mistake Is Human—Record Songs 51 I Got Lucky in the Rain—*"As the Girls Go"—Sam Fox 51 On a Slowboat to China—Melrose 50 i Love You So Much It Hurts—Melody Lane 50 Brush Those Tears From Your Eye.s—Leeds 48 Ureamer With a Penny—♦"AH For Love"—Simon »' Hollyywood, March 1. Capitol Records is currently ex- perimenting with .equipment that will produce: the new 45 rpm disks < soundtrucks, coinmachine operator developed by RCA-Victor, and relations, etc which Cap will also market, but so far it is not cutting "any for comr mercial purposes itself. : Victor is i processing and pressing the 45' disks that Capitol will ■ bring out in April in conjunction with Vic- tor's debut of the line, from mas- ters supplied by the Coast indie. Perhaps the major: reason for the fact that Victor is pressing Capitol's 45 stuff is that the latter's factories have been busy on ma- chinery changes in recent months I „ to accommodate the pressing of 12-1 ^ inch platters carrying material oh-; tained from Tele-Funken, the Ger- man disker. Cap's plants, in Scran- ton and California, never handled 12-inch work before because the company never released any. It was quite a job in itself settingJip. the necessary machinery and fii* doctrinating employees in th^ I work. They weren't too happy 101 I about it either at the Scranton 97 [ Plant. Cap fully intends, however, man- ufacturing its own 45 disks in the near future. Vietw's plant at Can- Honshu rg. Pa., ineidentally, is making most of the 45s. Reorgs Ala. Symph Philadelphia, March 1. Arthur Bennett Lipkin, first violinist with the Philadelphia Orch, 'and founder and conductor of the Main Line and Germantown symphony orchestras, will - leave I at the end of the current season i to reorganize the Birmingham I Civic Symphony, a war casualty, j Lipkin will make the British with the Philadelphians in and then begin his task of reviving the Alabama orch. which went into their first contract huddle in New York last -Week: (24). is thi^ gathering of as much music as possible under-a blanket license, at least ; temporarilir, to: ' save costs.; T! I It's pointed out that vtelevision [at the mortient is considerably dif- , f erent than AM jadio in that net- works are small, and the majority I of videocasting is done on a DnO'^ I station basis by the nation's 54;;out* - I lets in 33 cities. That means that if a large portion of ASCAP's repertoire is reserved within the "dramatic" rights bracket, requir- ing special negotiations and pay- ment for its use, administration; costs to handle these clearances by both the televisors and AI^CAP and its pubs, will soar. Also, if the pact finally arrived- at by ASCAP and the televisors is agreed upon over a fairly , long period, say two years (which is the extent of ASCAP's current right to represent its publisher mem^ bers in tele. matters), the addition: of new stations during that time would add to the problem. .. In AM radio, those problems are les- sened by the fact that shows which are important enough to require the securing of dramatic rights , usually are network ajfairs,, with clearances easily obtained by the ; originating stationi -. ;.■ Initial huddle accomplished' lit- tle beyond beginning to explore the problems involved and a. peru- I sal of the language of the: contract attorneys for both sides. Another meeting is sched- < uled for tomorrow (Thursday). Committees representing both sides consist of, for ASC^APi Edgar Leslie, Max: Dreyfus,; John Tasker Howard, Frank Connor, -Herman Starr,; Lester Santly, Herman Finklestein, Jules Collins, Louis T. Stone and Dick Murray. For television, Robert P. Myers (NBC); Joseph A. McDonald, Julius F. ' Brauner, DuMont; Roliert L."'Coe, WPIX, N. Y.; William Fay, Clair^ R. McCollough; Ted Streiberti WOR, N. Y., prez; Richard A.iMor- roe, Thomas Belviso, ABC; Law-; rence W. Loman, CBS; Edwin McCrossin. "Hurry, Hurry, Hurry" is doubly plaguing the music biz. There are two tunes by the same title,, one by Don Reid (Peak Record), which he sold to Dave Dreyer's publish- ing firm, and the other is by Al Rinker and Floyd Huddleston, piib- lished by United Music, recorded by Harry James (Columbia). Bands at Hotel B.O/s ■ ■' '""TlVccks" Band Hotel Played Emil Coleman* Waldorf (400; $2) .. U Gardner Benedict* New Yorker (400; $1-$1.50) ... <, 12 Guy Lombardo ... Roosevelt (400; $1.50-$2) 17 Tony Pastor Statler (450; $1-$1.50) 3 Covers' ' Total ■ Past :";Cover«: ;: Week On Date 2,325 33,925 1,150 2,200 1,550 13,925 39;750 4,900 64 You, You, You Are the One-Campbell 46 I ten ^^^^^^^^ KAPP TO USHER IN NEW DECCA FM PROGRAM 70 I A talk by Jack Kapp, pre,siaent 67 of Decca, tomorrow iThursday* 64! evening on WABF, New Yodc FM I station, will mark the start of a I seven-hour - weekly record prograitt, which Decca is sponsoring on the station. Decca bought the time on the theory that FM .stations, which I go in for recordings fairly heavily I as programming material, schedule : mostly classical material. Seven- hour show from 5 p.m. to midnight every Thursday, will run the gamut of children's, dinner, classical, folk, hillbilly disks, etc—everything ex- i cept pop .stuff, which can be got- almost all Waldorf, Corl Brisson; Wexo Yorker, ice revue. Chicago Barclay Allen (Empire .Room, Palmer House; 550, $3.50 min., $1 cover). Evelyn Knight down with flu. Mills Bros, and Dinning Sisters subbed; 2,500 covers. Henry Brandon (Marine Room,. Edgewater; 700, $1.20 cover). Fair weather equalled consistent 2,200 covers. i; Joe DcSalvo (Swiss Chalet, Bismarck; 200, $2.00 min , $1:05 cover)^ Family spot fine l,.'i00 covers. Dick LaSalle (Mayfair Room,,Blackstone; 350, $3.50 min., $1 cover).;; Zero Mostel in for short stay; 2,200 covers. Franki'e Masters (Boulevard-Room, Stevens; 650, $3.50;min., ^l,cover). Ice show and Masters a steady draw; 2,600 covers; ^ v . Bill Snyder (College Inn, Sherman; 500, $2,5O-$3.50 min.). "Salute to Cole Porter" fearing well with 3,200 covers. ; in large doses Qii. ■neo Roses For a Blue LadV-^MiUs :.......:: . r. ............. 4a Girls Were Made Take Care Boys^t"! Sun, Afternoon"-Remick 43 I Besides Kapp, the initial pro Down by the Station-American Acad 42 ; grams will have o^her gues s All Right Louie Droo the Gun—Feist 40 Danny Kaye, who made seveia, ?haTc^eS HSHr^'^'^^, :::::::::::::::::::: tl '^l^^^^'^^ yho Hit Me—*"Lend An Ear"—Southern 3? \r A Every Morning—Leeds ' • • ■ • "0 Orchids For My Lady—Leeds 34 My Own True Love—f"My Own True Love"—Paramount 33 J»reen Up Time—*Love Life"—Chappell 32 ' *»miusicol. " Legit Musical., ....i.i..,. dition to his pops, will handle the hour devoted to kiddie disks. Alan Lomax will handle folk tunes and Louis Untermeyer another period. Cost to Decca will be only the time, since there are no other tal- ent obligations. Los Angeles Grin Tucker (Ambassador, 900; $1.50-$2). With Victor Borge teeadi lining. Fourth and final week; okay 3,000 covers. ; Jan Garber (Biltmore, 900; $1-$1.50). Good 3,400 covers. " Ted Fio Rito (Beverly Hills hotel; 300; $4 miii ). Low 1,675 covers. Location Jobs, Not in Hotels ■(Chicago) Cee Davidson (Chez Paree, 500; $3.50 min ). Jack Cole Dancers, Mary Small and Joey Bishop. Snappy 5,000 covers. Eddy Howard (Aragon, $1-$1.15 adm.). Howard out because of ill- several I ness. Cut admissions to 12,000. Art Kassel (Blackhawk, 500; $2.50 min.). Kassel also on sick list. Dropped to 1,400 covers. Griff Williams (Trianon, $1-$1.15 adm.), First week fine 14,500 ad- missions. (Los Angeles) Dick Jurgens (Palladium B., Hollywood, 4th and final wk,). Fair 7,700 , admissions.