Variety (Mar 1949)

ay, Martih 23^ 1949 ORCHKSTRAS-MIJSIf; 37 INn POP MUSIC AT ITS PEAK AS£AP Board Re jects TV Papent Plan on Use of Copyright Music Hildcgarde's Decca Disk HUdegarde makes her first re- cordings in a year and a Jialf when she cuts two sides this :\<eelt for Decca. Cafe name has not made I -anything since the lifting of thel Aftverican Federation of Musicians; dislc ban early in December and I didn't do anything while the ban I was on. I She'll cut "It's a Big Wide, Won-'i derful World," and "O' My Dar- ling" in New York. I Television industry proposal of+ «.flle of payment for the use on Si£ of m"sic controlled by the &m«ican Society of Composers whnrs and Publishers, did not S with tSe approval, of the So- ws director board in meetmg Thursday (17) m New York. Board Lrned the proposal; wliich actual- w was a counter-offer to .one pre- \ made by the ASCAP tele SftteTtck to the latter body jr aflditional negotiation with Ihe video representatives. Some of this was done at a meeting Mon- Sav (21) afternoon and another meeting is scheduled for today ASCAP*board's rejection of the \ tele plan of payment does not, its i emphasized, mean that the two fac- , tions have reached loggerheads on a coin plan. It simply means that the Society's board was not too happy with the tele men's initial ideas of,what they should pay lor copyrighted -music. ASCAP s di- rectors and executives are deeply aware of two things in the nego-1 tiations ' which must.be heavily, ransidered (1) that the Society has , . Maior music publishers are bum- nbtained only representation rights ' mg at a new music sales package -from members for a brief two-year \ being marketed by Lyle Engel out period and'they must deliver sat- isfactory results or the rights might not be wnewed, and (2) that an initial deal sets a precedent. If its terms are too low there's al- \vaye an uphill fight to improve ! them. Plus which, during even the ] aepartment,stores and has been ap next two years, as television reve-1 preaching major publishers for the nue rises, regular AM revenue to right to use their tunes—at a 3/4e, the Society figures to go down and Col. Records Seen Cutting Retafl Price to 60c» Setting Trend Engels Tackage' (39c Sheets, Disks) Burns Major Pubs of New. York. It consists' Of two sheets of music and two recordings of: the same tunes combined on one piece of laminated cardboard selling for 39c." Engel assertcdly is selling the items to chain and must, be compensated for. However, Society heads empha- size that the nejgotlations, in view of iele's future, are more or less still in the embryonic stage. Ap- parently there's no cert'ainty that a deal will be concluded before April 1; when the organization's 30-day extension of $1 year blanket contractSi which had been extend- ed for 60 days from Dec. 31, ex- pires. Society's director board will meet this morning (Wednesday) to consider another extension in the event a contract is not concluded with tele before next week: royalty, covering the sale of bptW music and recprding. Majors so far are turning him down; Development is an 8x10 inch piece of stiff cardboard carrying a full chorus of both music and lyric of a song, on eaclv side. Grooved right into the printing of the tune is a "recording" of the same niel- ody. Diameter of the recording, of course, is less than the eight-inch width'of the sheet. There's a spin- dle hole in this oblong "disk,'' the same as in the regular recording. And the sound isn't bad (laminated method of recording is the same as that used by Columbia Records). _ .Pubjishers. are not_only_put_ojjt by the cheap price of the combina- tion of two songs and two records (one piano copy of a pop hit costs, about'the same price, with tax), but they're beefing loudly over En- gel's nerve in asking for the rights to their tunes at that ^c. royalty. I For example, the statutory royalty to I rate for recording is 2c, and song- Royalty rate to songwriters for sheet music sales vary, but the average is 3c. a copy.: In other words, Engel wants to pay pubs %c royalty for the right to Use material that earns songwriters fiiany tirtlcs that much in royalties through normal channels. By ABEL GREEN Music as an international Ian guage has .been manifest in Tin- Pan Alley ever since the period immediately preceding World War I. That is, up to 1943. Interna- tional • song hits captured the American imagination until halted by the late fracas. But now a renaissance in international pop music looms i a mannej? to eclipse anything that has gone before.- I Gathering momentum in '48, asi ■the One World idea in everything 1 became accented in relation to pop tunes, this year sees the dominant hits of the moment originating from overseas. Perhaps it is not for nought that the tempo of the westerns, hillbilly or "corn" tunes have been so prominently to the fore in recent months, as witness "Hair of- Gold, Eyes of Blue," "You Call Everybody Dar- i ling," "You Were Only Fooling,'' i "My ' Happiness,'' "Buttons and i • Bows," "A Little Bird Told Me! That You Loved Me," etc. I But against these native Yanki pops have come a flock of^British and Continental tunes to pucker] the American whistle and inspire ! the Yankee terpers. Not that the I ,^ (Continued on page 43) Getting Into the Act : Hollywood, March 22. It smacks of publicity, but Dennis Morgan and Warner musical director Ray Heindorf are supposed to be composing a new tune, "The Jane Wyraan Waltz." Idea . apparently stemmed from the success' of "The Humphrey Bogart Rhumba." " It's probably only coincij- dental that Morgan currently is co-starring with Miss Wy- man in "The Octopus and Miss Smith." Decca s '48 Drop In Gro^ Earnings For Tear of Ban Musicraft Snag Ends, Vaughan In Col. Term Deal ■f - Columbia Records was reported late last week as preparing to an- nounce a reduction in the retail price ; of jts. popular . 78 rpm record^ ings from the current 75c (79c with tax) to 60c. Frank White, president of CRC, simply stated "no comment''■ ..when queried if ; such a move'was in the wind. But he did rtot, deny it., Date is said' to. be,'A pril.-l. ■ ■■% . In the event, Columbia does drop its price for the 78 rpm issues, Co- lumbia will have made the first. move toward breaking the price ' level for major labels that vvas reached over a year ago. And the I move has been, expected. Poj re- cording, sales have not risen.out of .: the slump- into which the industry ; dropped soon after the war* and , I the con.sensus of opinion is that I the price level in view of current ■ I economic conditions is mainly re- I sponsible. ^ That is more or less substantia ated by department store, hea^s who have within %he past six • months been handling the cheaper - j lines such as Eli Oberstein's Var-,. I sity disk.s, the new Hy-Tone- label I put .out by Signature Records a . i few weeks back, and the Spotlight . I platters. These retail from 37e to ; 44c with tax, and the record di- Decca Records last week i.s.sued financial statement to stock- holders covering 1948, which cited ._ , .... „ a drop in gross earnings from the i vision men handling them""have $32,508,718 total compiled in i put the disks into competition; on 1947 to $23,867,020 achieved dur-1 counters with major labels. They ing a year when the- American ! have very definite views; oil coin- Federation of Musicians recording I parisons. ban existed. Sliced gross never-, ifs flatly stated, for example, by theless turned out a fairly good one that top artists on 75c records dividend for Decca's 776,650 stock I holders. They earned . $1.I0 a I share out of net earnings Of $854,-< i 574, as against the $2,08 per share I distributed in 1947 on the basis of net earnings-of $1,618,548. Decca's statement points out-that 1948 was a year of, readjustment AFMRule^DueOn Spivak vs. WM Charlie Spivak's attempts to _.. wiggle out of his contract with the I writers get half William Morris agency, which has been bent on going out of the band booking business, may be decided this week or next. American Fed- eration of Musicians is expected to hand down <a decision oh Spivak's plaint against the agency and his application to have the union de- clare his pact invalid. 1 Spivak claims breach of contract I Ciini-ami* A«k€ i hu Ifl against Morris. But on what basis i iJUpreine lUU lU neither he nor Morris is willing to be very clear. It has been said that Spivak's deal with the agency called for the latter, to provide him with dates at sufficient coin so as w guarantee his band costs and expenses, which includes a weekly do not haVe hajf. the attraction tlieyt.bnte had for customers—-un- les§;,that artist-happen^ to he on a:, hit soiig; In Other Words, buyihR of tpp; price disks Is -festriCted to something customers actually vvant badly enoligh to .pay the price, , , , ■ 1 That no longer do his patrons pick It was marked by a return to a up three or four disks at a time, normal demand for disks from- the | They do the latter now in the wartime bopm sales. The same | lower-price record division. r™nfp«.''^?o„?^^fi^"''?'* I Columbia could, with a return companies; recording sales have I to the 60c tap, begin a-reyers* fn nin " F""*"'^-, "^^eij i And most dealers agree that such l,„ if- V^! ""ove would meaa ^ healthier ban which occupied IVA months recording business. : Sarah Vaughan finally got free of her Musicraft Records contract last week and the next day picked up. on a new Columbia Record term deal. Singer's attorney and Musi- craft execs and attorneys made a deal via 'which she was released to CRC only minutes, before all step- ped into a N. Y. court Thursday (17) for a hearing on an application , "rVhp"ZVr T«Tr^o«™c<,V'"„""i'' designed _to force. Music_r.ft_ to re. , ±}^'.n'tlleJ%^?^^t that niijiny: good :,s.oi)gs • *ere withheld from the market btsCause _designed__io lorce. j\iusiui-ai.i__iu lkz \ f . nn' sale lease her, or resume contractual .j^jg ■ obligations, i.e., record ;her, pay ' claimed royalty arrears, etc. Deal finally made with Musicraft called for the singer to waive some $7,500 ■ in back royalties due her, pay Musicraft attorneys $1;.'500 in fees, accept 50% of agreed upon royalties from the future sale of material she made in the past for the indie label, and to record four more sides for Musicraft; on her regular 5% royalty basis of the ban. As of Dec. 31 last, Decca's as- sets totalled $9,629,374 and liabili- ties ran up to $4,784,368. . Cash and accounts receivable totalled $6,574,540, or $456,838 higher than liabilities. At the same time last year, liabilities exceeded cash and due coin by $2,607,843 Cap's'48 Gross Jumps Over 16% Capitol : Records tur^^ a solid financial statiemeht for 1948 la.st week, pointing up a slightly Decca has not used any more of | higher than 16% increase in net Hassle Over Handling Of'Little Bird'Platter Los Angeles, March 22. Supreme Records' hassle with over latter's guarantee against a percentage of , Black & White tne band's earnings to his ex-wife Ipressing and distributioii ot hu and that Morris hadn't lived up preme's click platter 10 the agreement. . : .At any rate Spivak last Week withdrew at the last minute al- most, from a scheduled opening "St mght (Tuesday) at JFrank "alley s Meadowbrook, Cedar tS' asserting that at the W.UOO guarantee against 30% of fin, he couldn't come out tte S'^K A« ^''^ «8reed to play TOntrart "^^^"^ '^^"^^ ^B'way Decca's Mecca a vfpn^ Records will make almost, ha''ndnng"distribution jfor Supreme aires hoa?"'^*P °^ Broadway the- ; until three weeks ago when Al Pat- Jordan ""^ week. Louis ! rick. Supreme topper, set up offices todav (wS^"* Paramount j in New York and Chicago, kin? n,^!!.^"?*^»y>' Gordon Jen- -r-^ ^ ,^ Little Bird Told Me" by Paul Watson, has reached Superior Court. Supreme is charging a discrepancy in the amount ot money it has collected via the arrangement and is asking for $16,000 more. Supreme had secured an injunc- tion preventing Black & White from pressing or distributing any platters, including its own, until an accounting could be made, but the injunction was vacated after three days when Paul Reiner. B&W proxy succeeded In getting an olcay to make and-market plattery's own wares. Black & While had been MiKiirraft orieinallv wanted the i 54,000,000 loan it arranged . sales over the previous year. Total singer t^ Dar$10 000 ^ of ■ for'48 ran to $16.862,540-as against ?e^lasP DlSfvvaivins the ro^^^^^^^^ At the , the $14,510,206 pyramided in '47. ^h.fmak r/Iix siis^^ to various factors, the not a/reeable Again Musicraft " withdrawn, but no further part j company's net earnings for '48 ran r«L hack and offered a 1^^^^^^^ °f " ^^^^ I" fact, nearly $1,000,000 higher than the came back and ottered a lower casn 5333 333 ^y^^ original withdrawal previous year, Total reached has been returned. ' $l,3l5i847 as sgaiiisf $318^^^ |'47.;-V' payment plus all the other angles This too was refused. Finally, the accepted terms were broached and agreed to. Quit-claim signatures were hardly cold when Miss Vaughan was at Columbia Records picking up a five-year deal she signed last Jan. 3, and which was delayed when CRC was advised of the Musicraft complications. Columbia had recorded Miss Vaughan some time ago on. two sides, and the backgrounds for two more were made because she got Novelty Band (Ingle) For Dailey's Meadowbrook I stockholder earnings amounted ! to $2.60 for holders of 476,230 >•ow ('^Wc/^*^^ '^8P'tol tomor-j Southern '."uff goes Infn i^y^ """l Guy Lombardo Diamond to pacts covering pUWl- Oniv Vhi D^^'o»?d Friday (25). cation of .his Wfef..*?' "«"y the Hoxyls iriis^ng. i voice, piano «n4 or«he«tra. choru»i Pieces of Common, which was a big jump oyer the 56c earned by the kCi • 1.1 M -lii. ' stock the previous year. Coin OtriCtly a WOVeliy t statement also pointed up a goodly Frank Dailey was forced into ex-: [^"f^^J^yt^S't*,^^^^ perimenting with a hoVelty band ] —^»7:7?^<t to S.i.473.647. for his MeadoWbrook, C^dar Grove, I Of course, a fair chunk of Cap's N. J. And hi^'ll watch the rfesults j large Ittcrease in net earnings foir - - , „ . w,. , ^ .carefully for comparisons with the!*?st year was.d^^ sick and couldn't smg. one duo-1 j^^^g danc^ band policy he has American Federation of Musi- =_ ,u„ 1. ^j^^g ^p^^ ^^^j, jjjg 'clans ban was on and no disking years | was allowed for more than 11 Dailey debuted Red Ingle's W,fltlis. T<iO, n^ royalties per Natural Seven at Meadowbrook last I'■6<?ord sold money was handed ove^ night (Tuesday) for a three-day | to the AFM for the enUre year. , run. Elliot Lawrence works one , '^^ * — night (Friday) and is followed by Bobby Byrne Saturday <26). Liit- St. Louis, March 22. | ter band stays for three weeks un- President Truman's favorite ditty, 1 til Jimmy Dorsey opens. 1 "The Missouri Waltz,'' may become | Dailey originally had Charlie ! the "official st^^ bed in the vocals to these back- grounds late last week. IISSOURI WALTr MAY BECOME STATE SONG Mpls. Needs Seating Minneapolis, March 22. ^ ^ With the municipal auditorium' ; Biate ^«..6. Rec^ntiy, r Spivak ■'to -op^^^^^ night ~(Tues-There-unable to meet the-deinand-:t a committee of state solons in ses- day), but Spivak cancelled out be- I for dates from concert impresarios, Sinn at Jefferson Citv approved a i cause of his contract tiff with the i spons promoters, etc., additional measure to make it official. i William Morris agency (see sepa-1 Pressure is being put on the U. of TWO years ago, when tlie sugges-' rate story). On short notice,! Minnesota board of regents to lion was first made, songwriters.; Dailey was forced to get what he : >wake its 5,000-seat Northrop audi- pro and tyro, flooded legislators , could, and Ingle, in N, Y. for a | toriuni and 18,000-seat Field House with ditties ' that the writers ' television show, was the only avail- 1 available for rentals, thought should the official state j able answer. And lie sJso became I .S.o Jar the plea Jtax,b^A JO.9Q->. jgng. 'an experiment. » 1 avail.