Variety (December 1954)

RCA ‘PRICES FOR THE MASSES’ VICTOR’S BIG GAMBLE RC’A Victor may emerge the hero once again of the phono- graph business, as it did when It pioneered the 45s even though £ )r a time it created a confusing “battle of the speeds,” or it y take a big financial rap. The gamble in the new mer- chandising plan, as detailed herewith, may entail a $2,000,000 debacle for RCA. But if it achieves its purpose (1) of firming up the record busi- ness °s a going business; (2) of expanding the marketing sights; and (3) of closing the price gaps brought about by the incursion of the discount houses, then RCA Victor will have another feather in its bonnet. It will be as signal a coup for Frank M. Folsom, Manie Sacks, L a rr y Kanaga, Howard Letts, Bill Bullock, George R. Marek, et ai as when the industry stabilized and expanded its economic orbits with the introduction of the 45s and the 33s five and six years ago. This is not a cutrate proposition. It is a carefully and scien- tifically designed pattern to keep the existing independent dealer In business, and above all give incentive to new record retailing outlets. It is no secret that almost 100 choice dealer accounts have been recent casualties because their “service,” their local liaisons, their willingness to provide suitable listening rooms for the new platters, went as nought because of one thing: price. When a $5.95 LP album could be bought by mail order from Goody’s and kindred outfits for $3.50, how could the local dealer compete? But the uniformity of packaging, for example, of all 12-inch LPs at $3.98 can’t create so large a spread should a Goody cut the price to $3.25 or even $3. The ratio of discount may be the same but the money differential won’t loom so large in the public eye. These psychological and intra-trade nuances go hand-in- glove with the availability of merchandise to supermarkets, drugstores, chain stores, and kindred mass merchandising out- lets, so that the horizons are broader. But more important, the lowering of the costs should create a marked appreciation in the classical business. The lofty high- brow packages should come down to a more middlebrow and middle pocketbook appreciation—the latter even more impor- tant, because the price is the thing. A good show or concert album will be obtainable at less than the cost of the theatre ticket, for perpetual appreciation—not more, as now. Up to now the classical customer has been penalized, but the new price structure must increase the scope and area of appreciation. Ever buy an album? Almost gotta be a Quiz Kid to dope out the various brand series prices. Victor perhaps, because of its wealth of catalog from divers sources and variegated categories, had no less than 21 different prices. It’s now all simplified to five basic units. This alone simplifies customer-dealer relations. But the main thing is that he (she) will best appreciate one thing—it costs less. Merchandising-wise it gives the local dealer an enthusiasm and basis for improved economic raison d’etre. Of late he just hasn’t cared, to the degree that even certain key chain outlets cut down on their record departments. It’s primed to reach out to more people via more outlets. The greater the exposure of the commodities, the better the chance at point of sale. What the other diskeries will do is conjectural. It’s too sud- ji st W hile all 78 singles will go for den and still too new. The 32d floor of RCA Victor and its VIP gg c victor will continue to issue pipeline to the 53d floor of the RCA bldg. (RCA homeoffices) occasional special de luxe album resembled a 10 Downing Street-Pentagon intrigue for the past packages at higher prices. few months. Only top echelon with the company knew about ‘Deteriorating’ Morale Project TNT as it was called arbitrarily. Like TNT it has ex- Designated “Operation TNT plotted with great force on the trade. '' h hen , '* "»■ "“I**' about eight months ago, the price Like atomic energy, when harnessed, Victor’s Project TNT on revisions expressed the Victor the record trade may have staggering beneficial results. It looms company’* optimism about the like the biggest thing since the new speeds dramatized the re- potential of * the disk industry cording industry and impressed the differences in speeds and *’ bile » #t the , 8amc t i™f’ Jiff!?* Inf disk values on the public consciousness. Since then the record morale on both the business never had it sp good. This may be history repeating d p a } er and c K onsume r level. The . *• Abel. “deterioration” has stemmed from i...i the national inroads of the price- Cleffers Confident They PAUL-FORD TEAM DUE long-established dealers out of Will Wrap Up Pre-Trial BACK IN ACTION SOON SEH ''SSSzB FyAIIK in RMI Tnicl Quit Les Paul and Mfl ry Ford wil1 be knows when he’s getting the “best UHL , UDBU ^ ^ back » n action in another two bargain.” ^Uh the court ordering Broad- mon ths. Rumors of the team’s quit- vict ° r . fo ' es T/ cast Music Inc. and other defend- tin „ the bi _ SDran g UD a ft er the c 5* ease “ the disk n \ a ? ke } V, ? ants in the $150,000,000 antitrust 1 g th b sprang up aIler lh< ; the next few years and is gambling suit brought by 33 songwriters to loss of their baby girl several that the increased turnover will complete their examination be- weeks ago. A Capitol Records more than compensate for the low- fore trial in 30 days, the 23 clef- exec * however, claims that they’ll (Continued on page 36) lers still to be examined will be be making the in-person rounds available in New York for the again before the spring. 9- and a. legalistic*. John Schul- Meantime, Cap is hitting the 33% CUT ON IP Folsom Sees 15% Upbeat in 1955 TO AID DEALERS With the double aim of vastly ex- panding the market and buttress- ing the disk industry’s shaky deal- er foundation, RCA Victor is open- ing 1955 with a radical revision of its price structure. The new prices are designed (1) to make disks a mass consumer commodity rather than a luxury item and (2) to knock out the oldstyle 78 rpm plat- ters as soon as possible via a price hike. It’s expected that the other major companies will be compelled to follow Victor’s lead with similar price revamps. The Victor price setup, effective Jan. 3, now consolidates 21 price classifications, ranging up to $5.95 for a single 12-inch platter, into five main categories with the top price of $3.98 for 12-inch platters whether classical, jazz or pop. Reductions not only represent a 33% slash in lists but also mark a long step towards filling the w idely-recognized industry need of simplifying the complicated price schedules on the retail level. While cutting its price on the 12-inch LPs to a uniform $3 98 price, Victor also stabilized its 10-inch LP and double EP prices at $2.98. with single EPs at $1.49. All 45 rpm singles, which heretofore ranged up to $1.16, will now have an 89c i Col Lifts Freeze Columbia Records yesterday (Tues.) wired its distributors around the country that the guarantee to hold its prices on 12-inch LPs for the next six months was cancelled. The guarantee had been made be- fore the Victor announcement. Decca, meantime, was still huddling on the Victor price structure change. Col will an- nounce a new statement of pol- icy within the next few days. Capitol expects to make a statement within the next two days. A Cap exec claimed that the new price would probably hold back its expansion in the classical field. MGM stated that the Victor cut is in line with its regular price levels. London Records is waiting word from its headquarters in England. Disk Sales; Hi-Fi a Big Factor Frustrated First ■ataman Harry Ruby hat an amusing assay an Noah ITVftsfer, Dr. Johnson, Funk & Wagnails & I (Or, the Meaning Behind the Meaning) * * * a bright bylina piaca in tha forthcoming 49th Anniversary Number itself. Abel. Cleffers Confident They Will Wrap Up Pre-Trial Exams in BMI Trust Suit PAUL-FORD TEAM DUE (Continued on page 36) •nan, attorney for the plaintiff market this week with the latest tunesmiths, stated they “w r ere all Paul-Ford coupling, "Song In Blue’’ • arin' to go and they will be avail- and “Someday Sweetheart.” able when wanted.” —— According to the court decision, VI L II 0 IV Li T examination Td^vfUr K£m! B,00m US ' ***** T ° elides ■33TS FeS*V?. Parisian ‘Chagrin’ Click MARY MARTIN ROAMING FIRD ON RIVAL DISKS Mary Martin is spreading herself on wax with tunes from two cur- rent legituners on rival labels. Al- ready out on the RCA Victor label with the original cast album of “Peter Pan,” Miss Martin pacted with Mercury last week to etch Ibe deadline. Schulman will then Vet publisher Ben Bloom has f our songs from “Fanny.” < ''liuuct the pre-trial examinations nabbed'the U. S. lights to the Deal includes Miss Martin’s „ B.V1I and the broadcasters'for Paris click, “Chagrin.” Tune will daughter, Heller Hallidav, with Hie songwriters. be released here as “The Dragon,” whom she’ll duet on “Be Kind To with English lyrics by Gladys Shel- Your Parents” and “I Like You.” Don Rrvii-. . tv i v. „ ley- Melody was penned by Aime Harold Rome, composer of “Fan- Popular danJJ!* R , ambo ^ Ballroom, B arelli. ny,” has altered the title song lyric ivcstofHalsey^NtdT'burnvd to’the Bloom acquired the rights from to fit a femme rendition. Other ground last week, ’cause ts un- PuMUation, Francs, Day & tune ^ h f, ^co^Home/ OVT NEXT WEEK Cap Steps Up EP Push With Special Gleason Package Capitol Records is stepping up its extended play disk promotion drive with a special “Jackie Glea- son Presents” package. The pro- gram is pegged for the jukebox and one-stop operators. Diskery has propped two pack- ages of identical mood music cut by Gleason. One package will con- tain 20 single 45 rpm selections, while the other package will con- tain 10 EP disks, with two tunes on each side. Each kit will include a fan photo of Gleason and a set of title strips to accompany the plat- ters. The tunes cut by Gleason’s "Music For Lovers Only” orch are all standards. Cap kicked off the drive Monday (27). Although the package has been made especially for sale to the juke ops and one-stop outfits, Cap is also making it available for consumer purchase. COL’S SPECIAL PLAQUE FOR AUTRY’S 25TH ANNI Columbia Records proxy James B. Conkling w-ill commemorate Gene Autry’s 25th year with the label by the presentation of a spe- cial plaque on the cowboy-croon- er’s CBS Radio show Jan. 2. Diskery estimates that Autry has racked up 35,000,000 disk sales in 25 years. Autry’s etching of “Ru- dolph, The Rad Nosed Reindeer” alone is nearing the 4,000,000 sales mark. Decca Religiose Proves Fast-Breaking Platter Decca Records is going into 1955 with one of the fastest-breaking platters in its history. Disk is the Cowboy Church Country School’s slices of two religioso tunes, “The Lord Is Counting On You” and “Open Up Your Heart.” both of which were defied by Stuart Ham- blen. Released early this month, the disk has shot over the 500.000 marker in sales and has been gain- ing momentum steadily. The juve choir originally did the soflg on Hamblen’s video show on 1 WPTZ, Los Angeles, early this year. The broadcast version was taped and Paul Cohen, Decca’s country and western chief, bought the masters from Hamblen. A six- year-old, Sue Ann, does the solo pkrts on the platter. MUSIC STAFFER SWITCHES Jerry Wagner, music librarian i at WMCA, N. Y., for the past two years, has moved to^WNEW, N. Y., as music department staffer. Irv Fasco, Wagner’s predecessor • at WNEW, has switched to the CBS music department. WMCA has made no replacement as yet. ♦ A sales upbeat of 15% during 1955 for the disk industry is fore- seen by RCA President Frank M Folsom in his year-end statement Folsom said that the disk biz con- tinued its “impressive” growth in 1954 with a rise of nearly 20% over the previous year. Folsom said that the acceptance of the 45 rpm system, which he was instrumental in introducing a little more than five years ago. can be measured by the 200,000,000 of 45 disks that have been sold since 1949. He stated that more than 50% of all disks sold are in the 45 rpm speeds and phonographs with three speeds are increasingly popular. Folsom saw the major mer- chandising achievements of the year as follows: (1) Growing impact of high fidelity as a major factor in boosting industry sales; (2) intro- duction of Victor’s "Listener’s Di- gest.” a package designed to broad- en the market with condensations of the classics; (3) rapid growth of self-service and “island display” merchandising techniques for in- creasing record sales; (4) packaging of disks with art reproductions I suitable for framing, which demon- r strate the close affinity between great art and music, and <5) mar- P keting of the second volume of the 1 Glenn Miller Limited Edition, ■ which sold an unprecedented 170,- - 000 albums, at $25 each, and which K doubled the sales of the first Glenn Miller edition. Folsom predicted that “new and t improved products in virtually all l * lines of radio, tv and electronics— '• coupled with continued vigor in merchandising that proved so suc- s cessful during the past year— e should spark an outstanding sales >f volume in the next 12 months.” He t- said that development of color s television into its commercial phase e will move ahead in 1955. Folsom stated that the Federal y. manufacturers’ excise tax on both s radio and television is continuing o at discriminatory levels despite s. cuts made on other products by >r Congress. He said that the tax on color tv sets will produce only small revenue and only penalize the customer. “I think,” he said, “the Government would do well not to try to harvest the field at [I least until industry has completed sowing it.” Paramount Music Plans Pop Tune, Pic Theme Concentration Next Yr. Paucity of fllmusical product due from the Paramount lot dur- ing the coming year, is spearhead- ing a concentrated push in the pop tune field by the Paramount- Famous publishing combine. Here- tofore, tunes from the film scores received priority treatment by the publishing subsid Only big musical skedded by Par so far is “The Vagabond King.” Firm already has the Rudolf Friml score in Its fold and will also pub- lish additional songs now being penned by Friml and Johnny Burke. Current Par pix, “White Christmas” and “Country Girl,” have scores published by other firms. “Christmas,” with an all Irving Berlin score, is being pub- lished by Berlin’s own firm, and “Country Girl," with tunes by Harold Arlen and Ira Gershwin, is being published by E. H. Morris Music. Par-Famous, however, plans a hefty push on the theme music from upcoming Par releases. Among the themes, which will be given a pop drive are “The Bridges At Toko-Ri.” by Lyn Murra”; “Strategic Air Command,” by Vic- tor Young; “To Catch a Thief,” Lyn Murray, and ‘The Trouble With Harry,” composer not yet set. Meantime, Eddie Wolpin, Par- Famous general manager, heads out to the Coast Dec. 29 for hud- dles with studio execs. He plans a Las Vegas stopover, before re- turning to his New York desk in mid-January.