Variety (October 1954)

Wednesday, October 6, 1954 MUSIC 53 JAZZ PACKAGES’ PAYOLA PUSH Don’t Let It Happen Again It's no secret how much the network of disk jockeys can do and have done to plug a title song of a picture “to the b.o. bene- fit of the film, 'as well as merchandize the platter and the song delineator. So much so that from /‘The Third Man Theme,” "The Song From' Moulin Rouge’’ and “High Noon” to “Three Goins In The Fountain” and “The High and the Mighty,” there is evidence galore along those lines. Now come “It’s A Woman’s World,” “Rear Window Theme,” “Song of the Barefoot Contessa” and “Song From Desiree,” and with them crops up the spectre of a yesteryear cycle of “theme songs” which almost proved , the undoing of Hollywood musicals. It started in the era of “RamOna,” “Charmaine,” and “Diane,” and then snowballed into “Broadway Melody,” “Pagan Love Song” and the like. But Hollywood, With its three chunks of music publishing affiliates (and it still obtains today, via the Warner Bros., Paramount and Metro-20th-Fox groups of music firms), became shortsighted. The radio and disk plugs for ben- efit of the boxOffice were too easy. Almost every picture had to have a “theme song” and it reached its nadir with “Woman Dis- puted, I Love You” and the cycle’s extermination with “My Dy- mite Man, I Love You.” Don’t let this happen agai Abel As confidently expected by major 4 company execs when the cuffo disk jockey service was converted to 45 rpm platters early this summer, opposition to the move has now virtually disappeared. For the first couple Of months a. flock of New York stations squawked loudly over the switch, but now even this has been dissipated. Among the N. Y, indies, station WMGM. has gone 45, starting this Week. Move was made by the sta- tion’s director, Arthur M. Tolchini in order to keep abreast of all cur- rent releases by the major com- panies. Other N. Y. indies are following suit and it’s regarded as only a matter of time before a new 45 rpm single-speed standard in the pop field will be established among all radio stations. Station execs, who originally opposed the switcjj to 45 because of equipment difficulties, have since found that the technical problems are surmountable and are installing the ,45 rpm turntables. Likewise, disk jockeys who stated that they couldn’t handle the 45s With the same facility as the old- style 78s, are now getting accuse tomed to the’ small-sized disks. Single problem remaining is the replacement of the 78s in the sta- tions’ libraries. In some cases these libraries have valuable collections of old standards that are not avail- able on the new speeds. The disk- eries, however, are planning to lick this hurdle by steady reissuance of oldies in 45 arid 33 rpm form. GOULD ANKLES COL TO JOIN RCA VICTOR - In one of the major longhair talent switches in the last few years, Morton Gould has ankled Columbia Records for a spot in the RCA, Victor Red Seal roster. GoUld had been with Columbia for 14 years before, being; pacted by George Marek, Victor’s artists. & repertoire chief. Like Ferde Grofe and Aaron Copland,. Gould’s com- positions have beeri based ori Amer- icana themes that have given his works, a wider-than-usual longhair acceptance. He also has written a couple of Broadway musical shows Earlier this year, Nathan Mil- stein, one of the top concert vio- linists, left Victor to join Capitol Records. Cap Inks Laine Protege Hollywood, Oct. 5. Capitol Records has signed 17- year-old Bobby Milano of Buffalo, a protege of Frankie Laine. Latter discovered the youngster in the east and has been paying for his singing lessons with vocal coach Lillian Goodrrian. Understood that Laine, although under contract to Columbia, sug- gested that Capitol get first crack at the youngster and he was signed after one audition. Plattetfy signed another young singer last week, Danny Capri o' Ne\V York. Impulse Buying This could be one of the disk merchandising channels of the future. The U. S. Patent Office has granted a patent on a combina- tion jukebox and record-vend- ing machine. According to the blueprints, a person can hear the disk arid then purchase the record. Bernard Marder, of Far Rockaway, L. I., is listed as the inventor. Big Three Sets Special Dept to Push Standards; Oscar Robbins Heads It In a move to cash in on that ever-growing performance money from radio and tv, the Big Three music firm (Robbi , Feist & Mil- ler) has organized a new “stand- ard exploitation department” to promote plugs for the company’s catalog. Oscar Robbins, longtime plugger for the Feist Music firm, has been named to head up 0 the new operation. A similar department was launch- ed at the Warner Bros, combine the Music Publishers Holding Corp.,. about seven years ago when (Continued on page 58) Jazz package promoters and ni- tery operators are now gettirig into the payola act-—and the disk jockeys are/still on the receiving end. With a flock of. musical pack- ages now warming up for the fall- winter excursions around the key city coricert halls, the agencies and solo entrepreneurs are locking horns in the battle for exploitation and promotion.. Easiest way out, according to many promoters, is to “get to” the disk jockey to lay on the platters featuring the packages! headliners. Some of the dee jays are , even showing their gratitude by throwing in cuffo plugs an- nouncing the place and date of the engagement. Early season competition of the Concert jamup indicates■■■"'.that the ^agency and/or promoter with the heftiest coin outlay for promo- tion will get the exposure. Jocks are going to the highest bidder arid virtually shutting out the oppo- sition. Promoters also have discovered that they can get prime exposure for their talent via a legit method of buying special spot time on the stations. When the promoter lays out a tidy sum for the spots, the deejay gets word from the sales brass to give plenty of turntable time to the artists coming in with the musical package. Either Way, it’s gotten so that it’s the promoter who spends who’ll get the spins. On. the s nitery level, the boni- faces are s getting to. the jocks to give the. spiris to the* artists fea- tured in theirdubs, It’s strictly a local condition but the disker who comes in for an in-person stand has to make sure that the nitery owner or his own backers come to a mutual understanding with the deejays. Many of the agencies are getting their licks in here, too. If the percentery is in- tent on building a new artist, it us- ually gets to the jock via its own contact-promotion man or shells out on a 50-50 basis with the night- club owner. To 18%; $4, Bill Farrell To Merc Chicago, Oct. 5, Bill Farrell has been signed to Mercury records^vith his first ses- sion in Chicago tomorrow (Wed). Deal Was set by Art Talmadge of Mercury arid Farrell’s new man- ager, Martha Glaser. Farrell for- merly sliced for MGM Records, with Granz Legal Payola Memo to disk sales execs who may have been worried about the payola angles: According to the Kipliriger Washington Letter, "store clerks can now take ‘push’ money from companies to push sales at their counters, under a. new ruling by the Federal Trade Commission. Formerly FTC frowned on the practice because it ‘deceived , the pub- lic,’ but now it’? ok for manu- facturers to pay clerks ori top of store Salaries for putting some extra pressure on behalf of the favored products.” Irving Berlin Hits Road To Promote Those Jockey Plugs for ‘White Xmas’ Irving Berlin is. going bally high on “White Christmas” with a tour of key cities and a solid rOund of conferences, luncheons, receptions, etc., with and for exhibitors, dut- ies, editors and disc jockeys. He did the. entire score for the Para- mount picture. Berlin is impressed with the ex- ploitation impact of the platter- chatterers, “They can do more for a picture" selling or a song than anything I’ve ever experienced,” is the vet songsmith’s reaction. “I noticed that pronto following my metropolitan New York disk jockey appearances, reflected in sales and calls for ‘White Christmas’ score than anything since ‘Annie Get; YoUr Gun’,” Berlin, accompanied by his press, rep,’ Helme Kressa, got Underway Monday (4) in Boston with (1) a luncheon at the Ritz Hotel, (2) a press interview at the same loca- tion, (3) a cocktailery at the Shera- ton, and (4) gab bouts with various platter spinners of the hub city. He closed the day with a trip to Philadelphia with much the same agenda arid will be in Chicago to- morrow and Friday for ditto. Addi- tional cities ori his itinerary are now being set. He’ll undoubtedly do the same for his soon-due “No Business Like Show Business” (20th-Fox),. Berlin is due back in New York for the American Jewish Tercen- tenary dinrier at the Hotel Astor, N. Y., Oct. 20, where he will sing his “God' Bless America.” Hollywood, Oct. 5. Members bf the American So- ciety of Composers, Authors & Publishers will, get a slightly larger chunk of the annual dividend, be- ginning this quarter, Coast mem- bers were advised at the semi-an- nual meeting last week at the: Hotel Statler here, Added coi stems from the fact that the over- head has been cut from the 20% of several years standing to 18%. Society has been distributing about $4,000,000 per quarter among writer and publisher mem- bers. This year a gross take. will probably be slightly under the $20,- 000,000 marker, a new peak for ASC’AP. About 400 coast members gath- ered for the session chaired by L. Wolfe Gilbert and heard reports by comptroller George Hoffman, general attorney Herman Finked stein and prexy Stanley Adams. Adams announced that ASCAP’s television licensing -now encom- passes, a total of 352 stations—of which all but two are on a blanket license basis, In the days of radio licensing only, ASCAP frequently had stations which preferred to be licensed on a per program basis. Here for the meeting, along with Adams, Hoffman and Finkelstein were directors A. Walter Kramer and Bernard Goodwin, both on their first trek here. A Special Edition of ASCAP will be month Tourism’s tieup with disk jbeb eys, a proiriotional wrinkle that cropped up last year, is again i . full swirig this fall, with a flock of eastern deejays pitching Big City “glamor” trips to their fans, most- ly teenagers.. Organized by a Bos- ton outfit called Jiminy Cricket Tours, the $29.50 weekend treks give the kids a fully-covered week- end in New York plus a Saturday night stage show.. Next trip from Boston to N. Y. is set for the Oct. 16-17 weekend arid has tied in with about 20 jockeys, mostly in the New Eng- land area with a couple from Bal- timore arid Washington. A special show for the visitors has. beeri set at St. Nicholas Arena Oct. 1.6 with Jan Murray as emcee and a flock of disk vocalists skedded to appear. COL RECORDS NOW JUST A DIVISION OF CBS In a bookkeeping maneuver, Co- lumbia Records Inc. was dissolved last, week and its activities will be carried on as a division of the Columbia Broadcasting System. Heretofore Columbia Records Inc. had operated as a corporate sub- sidiary. According to Di\ Frank StantOri, CBS prez, move was made to simplify the . corporate strUctur and to permit greater integration between the diskery and the net. Charige in the diskery’s status now completes a reorganization of the major individual units Of CBS So that all now are divisions of the parerit: company. No personnel switches were made in the shift. ^ Jazz Takes Lead in Col’s Package Division Sales jazz has taken , over as leader in Columbia Records’ package divi- sion. With Dave Brubeck’s “Jazz does To College” pacing the field and Turk Murphy’s albums follow- ing behind, the jazz sets hit a hot summer sales fackup and are still going strong. The Brubeck package, which was released last June, already has passed the 38,000 sales mark, pass- ing Col’s strong album-seller, Lib- erace. The jazz sets are packaged by Col’s pop album artists & rep- ertoire head, George Avakian.