Variety (August 1954)

4 - payola HI—Worse Than Ever “Gee how I long for the olden .days of good clean payola. It's always been with us ever sinde publishers came to Jolson or Val- lee with cut-ins on songs, but that was a ‘clean’ payola because a great singer did do much for a song. But today, with the a&r setups being what they are, it looks like the job is a license to steal.” That is one publisher’s observation. “And why not?”, adds a songwriter, “considering that the a&r men figure they may as well get theirs while they can”’(One a&r man observes, “You know the mortality rate of these Jobs; while we have the hits we’re heroes but if the tide turns you can’t blame me for setting up a little side-business just in case.”) “It’s a garbage business and you’re bound to get filthy when you play with dirt,” adds BMI’s Bob Burton. “On the other hand, it’s the only one of the. show biz arts where a guy with a short bankroll can shoot the works and maybe come up with a fortune. There’s no exclusive patent on any guy who can. make a hit nowadays, so a few bucks here and there they figure pan achieve the proper plugs or recordings. But it is ridiculous for anybody to fingerpoint at Broadcast Music Inc. and say that because we pay off on performances this has stimulated the payola to rec- ords, record-makers, and record jockeys. As a matter of fact most of our publishers are country & western firms, where the artist is the publisher so, obviously, the payola figures with the major disk labels. And who goes after the top artists?—not us but the top ASCAP publishers. The hillbilly and country artists mostly do their own songs. “Incidentally, if the ASCAP songwriters’ suit has substance, that RCA and CBS can influence their Victor and Columbia disk- . ery affiliations into giving them preferential treatment with art- ists, then how do you figure they Should also be the targets of payola from publishers who want to achieve a greater amount of recordings?” ' A common complaint to Variety has been the insistence to “name names” and “don't make it -such a broad swipe at the entire industry.” MGM Records’ Harry Meyerson points up that “the evil is born of the fact that there's no such thing as ‘second money’ for anybody. It’s sudden death. With me they want Joni James; the pressure isn’t so great on our other artists. You’ll hear all over that publishers used to balk at Vaughn Monroe but now that his ‘Mambo’ is No. 1 at Victor they’re pressing him all over again. Tommy ^Edwards did ‘Secret Love’ fiTst for us but Doris Day on Columbia soon stole the entire market. There’s no such thing as ‘second money.’ Archie Bleyer walks away with ‘Hernando’s Hideaway’ on his indie Cadence even though Columbia has the album. And when Eddie Fisher goaled them with ‘Wish You Were Here’ for Victor, who else wanted to make the tune? Occasionally ‘Three Coins in the Fountain’ or ‘Moulin Rouge’ or ‘The High and Mighty’ get the cross-the-board treatment, but even that’s hazardous. You’d think that Sinatra, who did the original soundtrack in the film, would Wham ’em with his recording, so the Four Aces step out and take it away. That’s why the dealers and coin-machines don’t want anything but the one smash seller; and when we get a piece of material it’s a cloak & dagger whodunit, everybody’s sworn to secrecy, just to be first on the market.” “This too shall pass,” is the nice-Nellie wishful thinking of a name songsmith who at the same time deplores that “they butcher our copyrights; they want in on the very basis of our creative work. At least in the old days if wp put a bandleader’s name on the sheet music he did or didn’t get a third or the me- chanicals or the sheet music, but his name-power might have had a potent value in selling those records and sheets. Today they don’t want the billing; they’d rather have the payoff sub rosa.” The big question is “how do the executives at the top stand for this, unless of course they’re satisfied so long as the a&r men produce the hits. Maybe they’d rather have a hep guy with a little larceny than an honest character who doesn't know what it’s all'about.” The this-too-Shall-pass wishful-thinkers look to television as the panacea, pointing to Jane Froman’s “I Believe” as a sample of making a hit via video. The harker-backers, of course, can recall the “royalty” deals Max Dreyfus gave George White and Earl Carroll as-inducement for using his (Chappell’s) stable of writers. This was considered a legitimate business arrangement in the heyday of Broadway revues. Jhe earthier songwriters complain, “We used to squawk when they called us barflies, or hopheads, or dese&dose guys, but this romancing’ of the a&r guys, just to get a record, is even more degrading. How low must you get to land'a record nowadays; you gotta romance the executive, the artist, the disk jockey and everybody right down the line.” This is democracy at work,” says another music man, “when » guy with a manuscript and the enterprise to get it to the right rtist and the right recording company can get a hit and achieve Performances as anybody else, and not be afraid of iMax) Dreyfus or (Louis) Bernstein or ‘the Big 3’.” • Victor’s Manie Sacks says, “I purposely pay our people th° re w ^ eep ^em above temptation,” and Meyerson scoffs at Mr*? »i s her who complained about “a plug song.” Says the um a&r chief, “Outside of an office in Hollywood a publisher nri n 0nger »^ a ‘' an °® ic . e in Chicago, or Pittsburgh, Frisco or New myhe Ws a’ case of the tail wanting to wdg the dog. rial problem is to keep our artists alive. Without mate- vpnr i f re no 8°°d» And if a Joni James, who makes 12 sides a to J e us sa V v records four standards, and that leaves her eight that ’ We mu 5t make sure the material is right. She wants it anoth Wa u 1Sure » Jhaybe she is friendlier with one firm than for her” ^* riendsll *P biust be supported by the right material 1? even greater problem'to all concerned,” says an- » . i/ (Continued on page 49) & By MIKE GROSS The major record companies are beginning to buck each other on hit tune potentials. Heretofore, the top disk companies were interested primarily in exclusive songs and if a rival company broke through with a Click platter, they were will- ing to let it have the field to itself. In recent months, however, the majority of top artists & repertoire then have taken to lining up their top artists, to battle a. similar slotted disker on a rival'label with the same tune. Most of a&r men still believe that only one disk version of a tune picks up all the marbles and that second money seldom is worth the effort. Switch in thinking is based on the fact that now the a&r men believe that if they can get to market before the rival company’s disk has made any im- pact, their chances for a break- through are just about even. RCA Victor and Columbia are pointing up the new intensity of the battle for top shellac version of a tune. Both labels became aware of the excitement stirred up by Connee Boswell’s etching of “If I Give My Heart To You” on Deeca. Although the Decca disk didn’t step out, the tune created plenty of interest and Victor jumped in immediately with a. cutting by Dinah Shore. Columbia then rushed in with a slice by Doris Day. Another disk company battle is brewing on cuttings of “Smile,” Charlie Chaplin’s 20-year-old theme for the pic, “Modern Times.” London Records has cut it three ways, Frank Chacksfield, Lita Roza and David Whitfield. Victor has pitched in Sunny Gale for a vocal workover and The Melachrino Strings for the instru- mental version. In its desire to get in on the “Smile” bandwagon, Cap- itol Records scrapped one side of an already released Nat (King) Cole platter so it could, get out fast with his version of the song. Tune shelved, “Je Vous Aime Beau- coup,” has been scheduled for the next Cole release. There’s also a record company battle developing over the Zulu entry, “Skokiaan.” Tune broke put via the London Records’ waxing by* the Bulawayo Sweet Rhythms Band about two weeks ago and Capitol came in fast with a Ray Anthony .cut, Mercury joined in with Ralph Marterie and Victor is in for its crack at the “Skokiaan” coin with Perez Prado. Columbia got into the act with its top vocal combo, The Four Lads. CARLTON MAPS O’SEAS TREK ON VICTOR SALES Indicative of the growing realiza- tion of the importance of the in- ternational market, RCA Victor’s pop artists & repertoire chief Joe Carlton will trek to Europe next month for a hurried round of con- ferences with execs of His Master’s Voice and other overseas affiliates of the plattery. He expects to be gone about two weeks. Carlton will visit London, Paris, Rome and Berlin, discussing pro- motional plans, helping map sales drives and dickering for the ex- change of artists and materials- with the European platteries. Cap Sets Global Plug For Kidisk Artist Bozo Capitol Records has line up a global plug for Bozo, its kidisk artist, via a tieup with the U. S. Air Force. Bozo, the Capitol clown, will tour bases in England, France, Germany, Austria and pos- sibly Italy. The clown will ap- pear at post exchanges for the, children of armed forces per- sonnel.' Tour, which will run a month, will be kicked Off Aug. 16 when Bozo takes off from Westover Field, Conn. 4 * RCA Victor’s pitch for the fall Have Disk, Will Travel Something of a record for hedge-hopping was set by George R. Marek, manager of RCA Victor’s artists and reper- toire, in the interests of new overseas recording and domes- tic field contacting in behalf of the new Listener’s Digest. In three weeks this has been his chronological itinerary: a one-week quickie to London and Brussels, and upon his re- turn to Philadelphia, Newark, . the Chicago National Assn, of . Music Merchants convention, Los Angeles, Frisco, Portland (Ore.), Pittsburgh and .Mont- real. rn rrn lo Izena lune Mills Music won its battle against Cromwell Music over the rights to the tune, “Tzena, Tzena, Tzena.” In a decision handed down in N. Y. Federal Sourth last week, Judge Vincent Leibell upheld Mills’ claim that Isachar Miron, formerly known as Michrovsky, was the orig- inal composer of the melody. Cromwell, a Howie Richmond sub- sid, alleged that the melody was in public domain. As a result of the decision, Crom- well is discontinuing publication of its version of the tune contain- ing an English lyric by Gordon Jenkins. Tune was turned into a disclick a few years back by Jen- kins and The Weavers on the Decca label. The case had been pending in Federal Court since 1950. The trial took place in Feb- ruary, this year. Cromwell attor- neys currently are studying the de- cision and an appeal is contem- plated. Palitz To Head Up New BMI Pubbery For Gale Moe Gale is expanding his pub- lishing activity next month with the formation of another BMI firm. The new pubbery will be tagged Stratton Music, and Gale is bring- ing ex-Decca artists & repertoire chief Morty Palitz as general man- ager. Gale’S other pubbery, Shel- don Music, will continue to be managed by Goldie Goldmark. ' The Palitz move into the pubbery field follows the line already taken by two other a&r men. Ex-RCA Victor a&r chiefs Joe Csida and Charlie Green are now in the pub- lishing biz together under the Trinity Music banner. Palitz, who takes over Stratton Sept. 1, re- cently was a musical director at Bell Records. Rynd Renamed Prexy Of Audio & Video Firm Charles E: Rynd was reelected chairman-of-the-board and prexy of Audio & Video Products. Corp. at firm’s annual stockholders’ meet recently. Conclave also reelected the board of directors; Irving Buckley, Max Graff, Edward V. Otis; Ber- nard Smith, Sidney K. Wolf and Erwin Wolfson. The reelected offi- cers of A&V are Thomas Merson, v,p.,. Richard Rynd, v.p.-treasurer, and Joseph G. Connolly, secretary. Miller’s N.Y.-LA. Mitch Miller, Columbia Records pop artists & repertoire chief, heads to the Coast this week for a series of recording sessions. He’ll be gone about 10 days. Joe Carlton, pop artists & rep- ertoire chief at RCA Victor, ar- rived back at his New York desk Monday (9) after a quickie trek to i the Coast. album trade hinges on more than wax alone. In its upcoming pack- age push, diskery is going, all-out on new disk showmanship tech- niques, which includes specially designed laminated album covers, emphasizing art work, and liner texts by top writers. Victor is tagging -its fall drive “1954’s Best Buy Program” in a program based on. “Four Keys To Greater Profits.” The new line will feature five new Toscanini albums, a series of four top songs of the years between 1926 and 1945, three longplay mood 4 music plat- ters and -a flock of new high fideli- ty albums waxed in label's “hew orthophonic” sound technique. To get the new sets off to a fast start on the dealer level; Victor is offering a special bonus platter plan. For every $30 of “Best Buy” merchandise bought, diskery will cuffo a $6.95 album. Victor is not limiting the number of bonus albums to the dealers but the offer applies to. the initial “Best Buy” order only. Five “Best Buy” platters have been set aside for the bonus offer. The cuffo sets are Melachrino’s “Music For Two - People Alone,” “Music For Day- dreaming,” and “Music To Work or Study By,” Toscanini’s work- over of Schubert’s Ninth Symphony and a special “Adventure in High Fidelity” set. Hi-Fi The “Adventure in High Fideli- ty” album will come boxed with a booklet explaining the new re- corded sound vogue as well as a (Continued on page 48) Big Play Set On 'Star* Pic Album Hollywood, Aug. 10. Columbia is planning 'the most diversified packaging in its history for the original soundtrack album of “A Star Is Born,” the Judy Gar- land starrer. Set will be com- pleted this week with the inclusion of the final “Born in a Trunk” production number, which runs ap- proximately 14 minutes. “Star” album will occupy both sides of a 12-inch LP and is the biggest soundtrack album ever of- fered. Co.umbia is scheduling a deluxe package which will include a story of tne film and a biography of Miss Garland as the leader. It will re- tail for around $10, In addition, there will ne a 45 EP album, a standard 12-inch LP and a con- densed 10-inch LP as well as a 78 rpm album Score, by Harold Arlen and Ira Gershwin, has seven new tunes in- cluding “The Man Who Got Away,” which is already breaking for a hit. It also includes bits and snatches of almost two dozen standards. ’ London’s Fall Push To Stress Packaged Goods London Records is following the line already set by the major U. S. diskeries by gearing its fall push on packaged goods. On London’s fall agenda are 12 hew 12-inch longplay sets. Among the diskery’s pactees highlighting the fall pro- gram are Frank Chacksfield, Ted Heath, Stanley Black, Bob Farnon and Edmundo Ros. The fall drive, which will kick off in October, also will include counter rack merchandise as well as dealer sales and promotion aids. Label’s annual summer sales pro- gram winds up Sept. 17. The sum- mer plan includes a special 10% discount and payment in October, November and December on orders taken during the July 26-Sept. 17 drive.