Variety (March 1950)

Wednesday, March 13, 1950 ORO!E$TBA3«MU$KC 45 '49s “Battle of Speeds’ Generates 1950 After sloughing the record busi-4 ness last year, “the battle of the speeds” has begun to pay off with increasing sales for both the 33 V6 and 45 rpm type of disks, industry leaders regard the upbeat in the slow speeds as the direct result of the heavy competitive promotions by Columbia and RCA, which made the public “record conscious” on a wider scale than ever before. '• :v,=: • • Columbia, which launched the LP development about 18 months ago. has jumped away from the rest of the field in disk sales; According tb: the company’s latest figures, 5,500,000 LP disks have been produced since their birth, or an equivalent of about 27,500,000 conventional 10-inch platters. Currently; Columbia has stepped up production of the LP?s to 600,000 per month; ; : ' ' In the pop field, Columbia is cutting approximately 1,000,000 seven-inch LP disks! monthly. Victor; which entered the field months later with the 45 rpm disks, is now turning them put at the rate of over 600,000 per month and is planning to step up that figure to 1,200,000 before the end of the year. Victor, at the same time, began marketing its 33 Va records this week. Columbia, however, is making no move to enter the 45 rpm field but, on the contrary, is renewing its promotion of tlie 7inch LP’s for pop music arid shorter classical selections. Latest figures on LP machines show that approximately 2,500,000 homes are Currently equipped to play 33Vri, while there are about 1,000,000 45 rpm machines in circur lation. Columbia, through the VM company of Chicago, is presently turning out 1,000 player attachments daily and it’s estimated that all other companies are producing ap equivalent number. 1 JIM MURRAY NEW In a unique promotional tieup, Sigmund Romberg’s concert at Carnegie Hall, N. Y., March 17, received heavy plugging for a full night last Thursday (9) in the New York metropolitan area via the Muzak system. : It’s the first time that Muzak entered into such a deal with any composer or conductor and it Was done on a , test basis for possible similar projects in the future. D. Squires, Romberg’s manager, angled. Muzak’s cooperation on a reciprocal arrangement iri which Squires paid for ads in the daily press for both the Romberg concert and Muzak while the latter agreed to pipe Romberg’s music in 800 restaurants and hotels in N. Y. Muzak also distributed printed programs to each of its outlets detailing the time and titles of the Romberg compositions to be played arid the date Of the concert. Carnegie Hall date, which was made on short notice Feb. 22, is curreritly near to an advance sellout. Holly wood, March 14. Jim Murray, formerly a top executive with RCA-Victor and Columbia, has been made a v.p. of Capitol Records. Murray begins his new. job this week. .Murray left RCA several months ago, resigning ai vice-presidency during a policy battle at that waxery. Before going with RCA in 1942 he was with Columbia for more than 10 years, after breaking into the biz with the old Okeh label in 1928. Dancery in Brooklyn Another indication of the possible resurgence of the dance band field is the addition to. the New York ballroom scene of the Cascade Gardens, Brooklyn. New dancery, forrnerly a rollerskating rink, opened Friday night (1 0 ) witb a weekend ( Friday, Saturday and Surday ) policy of three bands nightly., Opening orch array last Friday comprised Art Mooney , Esy M!6cales and Lee Merrill’s 12-man house, crew. Blue. Barron replaced Mooney Saturday and Sunday, latte1’ having started a Ca pi tol th e aJ|e, ; N. Y„ run Saturday. Band lineup for this coming weekend is Shep Fields Friday night, Elliot Lawrence Saturday and Sunday; and Jose Curbelo for the rhumbas over the three nights, in addition to the Merrill house orch> Pencilled in for Sundayy March 26, is Charlie Spivafc ! Cascade Gardens also is trying J hillbilly square dance policy fuesday nights, first of which teed! last night (14). Typical western talent will be offered at 50c. * head. Weekend admission is $1. Ballroom, operated by Harry fiifkin, has an approximate capacity Of 2,500, and drew 6,000 over me first! three nights; Leonard Lreen is handling the band-buying for the spoL Columbia Records’ new “press ’em and sell ’em” speedup plan has paid off with two hits released during the past three weeks. One of the biggest1 Columbia Sellers in several: years, the Mary Martin. Arthur' Godfrey, waxing of “Go to Sleep, Go to Sleep, Go to Sleep” is hitting well over the 200,000 marker since its release Feb. 23. Diskery is also getting big action on Gene Autry’s “Peter Cottontail,” which is currently, around 175,000; Under the hew regime inaugurated by Mitch Miller, Columbia’s pop artists chief, “Go to Sleep” Was pushed into distrib channels within three days of the initial Martin-Godfrey recording session. Similarly, “Cottontail,” first cut by Decea, was readied in a couple of days, with Gene Autry flown in from the West for the recording date. Columbia’s a.&r. division, meantime. was slightly reshuffled last week to give Miller more elbow room on the creative end. Joseph Higgins, formerly assistant director of the division, was upped to associate director to handle publisher contacts and release dates, Percy Faith also stepped into his new job as musical director. Kaye Wants Ex-Vocalist Sammy Kaye is angling to get vocalist. Don Cornell on the bill with him when lie! opens , at the Capitol, N, Y., April 8. Singer’s appearance looks dubious, however, since theatre! has already hit its budget for the show. Bandleader is still looking for a vocalist to replace . Cornell, who recently left his aggregation to do a solo. ; ;! ' Irving Field s’ Kine The Irving Fields Trio is kinescoping a half-hour TV show for audition, purposes. Program, labeled “Melody Cruise,” is being produced by Arthur Modell. Madelame Chambers, who was in the recent Broadway production of “Alive and Kicking,” will appear as vocalist on the show. A dance , team will also be spotlighted. Major music publishers who for some time have been finding it increasingly difficult to interest recording companies in their plug material, because of the diskers* Strong desire for “exclusive’* rights to new songs, are now turning that desire to their own advantage. In recent months a number, of publishers have used one or another of the disk firms as a proving ground for tunes not scheduled for a No^ 1 plug and sometimes still only iri manuscript form. Pubbers feel that since the recorders are so hot in their quest for . that e xclusive hit platter th ey might as well let them try and find it among their own tuneS not slated for any particular plugging attention; ; Giving one waxworks a temporary exclusive on such material results in a good test of the song for the publisher, with the expense all on the side of the disk firm. If a .hit emerges, the pub has a readymade moneymaker that he might otherwise have relegated to l he shelf; If nothing happens, he’s had a free test of a song that he didn’t expect much from anyway! ’The system of exclusivity has its drawbacks, however, in the case of times in which publishers place great faith .* Poor performarice of a song can ruin the disk’s chances, arid unless immediate sales strength is shown, other labels aren’t likely to cut the number, thus removing the possibility of another platter version tlfat might have made the song a hit. But where a publisher gives an exclusive on a tune which he himself feels has little chance to hit, he figures he’s not taking too much of a risk that way. '* .The record companies’ yen for exclusive material has been as rough on major pubs trying to line up disks ori plug tunes as it has been a boon to smalltime songwriters $ rid publishers who don’t care what financial or other concessions they have to make as long as they can get their tunes on a record; Big publishers can’t afford to invite antagonism from other diskers by giving one company a temporary exclusive, and the stymie becomes, complete with the reluctance of recording men to show interest in plug tunes which they know everybody else will be cutting. CARLE ‘EXHAUSTED,’ FORCED TO REST Maestro Frankie Carle will be out of action for the next few weeks as the result of nervous exhaustion which, caught up with him last weekend . while playing a Cleveland ballroom; Doctor’s orders call for complete rest for at least a couple of weeks, and the bandleader left Cleveland for California yesterday (14) to follow the prescription. Orch will be forced to cancel a hatch of midwest dates, and will be idle until Carle’s return, unless a suitable substitute front in a n can be gotten to fill in on some of the one-niters. incidentally. Carle’s orch has been peiclled in for a big push, this spring by RCA Victor: under the company’s dance band promotion. Following his waxing of a brace of Frank Loesser numbers in Victor’s ’design for dancing” series, Carle will reebrd a “Sweethearts” album for April /release; Bandleader has also cut singles for Victor, including ‘‘Spaghetti Rag” and “Little More Time.” Before his moveover from Columbia to Victor Carle was a major piano album seller. .Manie Sacks, Victor’s artists relations’ director, intends , to maintain the keyboard accent in Carle's upcoming disks. Les Brown band booked for one riighter, at Club Scvenoaks, San Antonio, April 12, when spot opens its Starlit Terrace .for summer season^ RCA Eyes ‘Kukla’ Album Chicago, March 14. RCAVictor hopped on the “Peter Cottontail” bandwagon last week when it cut the side, featuring Fran Allison, star of the “Kukla; Fran and 6llie” television show here. ■ . •• . Columbia has been promoting Gene Autry’s version of the song as another “Rudolph the Rednosed Reindeer.! ' Since “Petter Cottontail” has the seasonal angle, Victor is speeding pressing to get it on the market in time for Easter sales. This was Miss Aliisori’s first record date. She cut only two sides. Victor is huddling with Burr Tillstrom, who does the other voice parts oil the TV show and writes the show, on prepping a “Kukla, Fran and OlUe” album, 4 American Society of Composers, Authors arid Publishers board of directors is finally giving serious, consideration to a completely re* vised system of publisher classification; which has been suggested to it on previous occasions, but which has periodically been tabled. Proposed new publisher ASCAP classification plan would do away with the present 55-30-15% payoff split! for, respectively, performance, availability of catalog, and | seniority in the Society. Replacirig the three-way classification system ASCAP Decree Details on the Government consent decree in the ASCAP anti-trust suit, handed' down yesterday ( T ties. ) , on page 1 . would be one whereby publisher revenue from ASCAP would be based 100% upon performance. Under the revised setup discussed at the last ASCAP board meeting, performarice points on songs would be weighed according to the age of the particular tune, with a 1 0-year-old song, receiving more points than a five-year-old one, and so on up and down the } line, even though the actual per| forma nee values on copyrights of different ages : might be equal. Thinking behind this is that a song ' which has survived as a good performance tune for 10 years is entitled to greater • payoff consideraation than one Whose durability has been proven over a period of time only half as long. The major reason for the elimi i Music Merchants, it was indicated j ^ and when, of the avail last week ability and seniority sections of The Record Retailers Assn the present Pul> classification sysine Record Ketaueis Assn, tern would be to obviate the protests and embarrassment that have Chicago, March 14. Record retailers may organize | ort a national scale and hold their [ first convention here in July sij multaneously with the annual cortr : vbntioil of the National Assn, of voted to send letters to record dealers all over the country questioning them on the advisability of such a move. Dealers feel that the advent of three speeds iri records is putting theiri in unfavorable position in a always stemmed from the looseness and intangibility of the availability rating. While performarice arid seniority are a matter of record and bookkeeping, availability , . „ „ , —the overall value, importance; number of ways.. First, they feel ; prestige, etc., of a catalog— has alfUef • 'f an .economic neces: way’s been a sore spot for. publish sity” for them to have . at least a 10% return privilege. Some dealers charge tie-in sales, others de ers with complaints about their ASCAP ratings, as well as a difficult and embarrassing annoyance livery discriminations and trap to the ASCAP board before which I ehise holders .point out that 45 j. the complaints are laid. ; r.p.m. record franchises are being i . . . u, . I handed to appliance shops, hard • .1;^yPuCa* °1 sfl?^ embarrassment ware stores, furniture dealers and ' JVf ® $riuaw puP" 1 automobile dealers. , lisber who fell his availability rat 1 mg was less than it should be, and They argue that the three speeds j ^5 compared his catalog with in records are. forcing them to that of another pub in substantia ! build up inventory without a corre I sponding acceleration in sales, and claim the situation is further ag lion of his cla^m. The ASCAP board found it could not raise the protesting pub any higher, but de . . i i • ai 1 | •if* vyvuv*i*jj KU.W lliguviv MUV U V. gravated^ by constant shifts _ by j that in all fairness the cata manufacturers in distnbutorsh^s, ^0g with which it was compared injuring their credit setup. i had to be lowered. What made the ~ I matter even more uncomfortable was the fact that the publisher whose rating was dropped was a member of the board. With any adoption of a piib rating based 100% on performance, i Continued on page. 52) Hollywood, March 7. With the purchase of 140,000. . shares of; stock, Arthur R. Hogan ' has gained complete control of Universal Recorders. . Hogan bought out the interests of his partner, | Wesley I. Diimm. Universal is capitalized, at $500,000, with. $250,000 iri capital stock. MERCURY WINS 100,000 Chicago, March 14. , . . ,, , . . A quick decision by Mercury Dumm will retire Irom the busi*. Records to switch release date on ’ j ^ . • i. _ A. ! ^ • • JTw k « m .i . ness to devote his time to four y ^ “Swariip Giri,” Frankie Laine’s ; Frisco radio stations he . owns*, j jatest side; brought it an advance KSFO, KPIX^TV, KWID and ■ distributor order of ^100,000 disks. KWIX. Decision was made at Music — — : — . . . Operators of America meet here last week, wheri persistent rumors circulated to the effect that Co f Durante, Sinatra, Rooney 1 ••• ^ • VA& VllifAVUU ' VV VIJ.V VAIWVV Help Daitione in Jric oOW i lumbia musical director Mitch Milr Hollywood, March 14. ler was going to record tune* with . Vic Darrtone will break into pictures in Metro’s “They All Sing,” Frank Sinatra; Mercury pushed release date from April 1 to im tlie story of a singer breaking into mediate release and . secured or pictures. Film is slated for summer shoot ders from; distributors at meeting for 100,000 disks. Waxing was ing, with Frank Sinatra, Jimmy Miller’s last session at Mercury beDurante and Mickey Rooney play tore he took over present Columbia , ing themselves. PSong was written by Michael 1 Dick Kuhn Music Corp., N. Y., Brown, young '• pianist-singer-corri-1 changed name to Margold Music poser, now appearing at the Butr Corp., i^ccordirig to papers filed iri tery here. publisher is HillAlbany. i Uarige.