Variety (March 1956)

44 MUSIC PSrTSty Wednesday, March 21, 1956 Scopp Sees New Music Biz ; Continued from page 43 ; the standing of the yesteryear type of songsmiths, such as Gus Ed¬ wards, Harry Von Tilzer, Charles K. Harris, Fred Fisher, Joe McCar¬ thy Walter Donaldson, to mention a few of the pioneer crop whp went Into business on- their own. And even today, apart from such crea¬ tive business men like Irving Ber¬ lin, Rodgers & Hammerstein, and a handful of others, unless they have quasi-independent setups with Max Dreyfus (Cole Porter, and the like), they must still oper¬ ate through a major publishing arm.” Scopp is for that, as sound busi¬ ness, from both viewpoints. But, in reciprocity, the "servicing” should be as much to the writer as seems to be the 'present-day publishing operations’ concern of "servicing” everything’from plugs to licensees. -Whether ASCAP of BMI, none of these is possible without the init¬ ial regard for the established writer. Durable Catalogs Scopp says The Big Three, tradi¬ tionally, has had that obligation to its writers although he intends' to intensify that by pointing up the value of the popular standards and the durable catalogs. This, he feels, is the only answer to those "nerv¬ ous” widows and kin who, on occa¬ sion, have been charmed into veer¬ ing away from the original pub¬ lisher beause of an attractive ad¬ vance on the final 28-year renewal period. Robbins, Feist and Miller have little concern about preserving their copyrights but, as a matter of* observation, Scopp points up that already many of the defectors have regretted this because their royalties have been meagre. "Once that fat ‘advance’ is paid,” some¬ how the new publisher just waits until a. period picture or some other circumstance comes along to help them amortize the initial in¬ vestment. That’s the trouble — these new opportunistic publish¬ ers operate with copyright renewals like they’re ‘investments’ for long- range capital-gain, but meantime the widows and estates find their earnings from heretofore active copyrights suddenly retarded and lethargic.” Since l’affaire Olman sparked the renewed industry spotlight on payola, Scopp reiterates that if a film company wants to indulge in any "drives” or hypos on film tunes, then that’s the headache and and problem and economic invest¬ ment of the picture company. And let the picture companies pay for it any way they want. A music publishing company which has dominant Hollywood ownership (which is the case of Robbins, Feist and Miller, with Metro and 20lh-Fox in control) should not be simply an exploitation arm of a film operation. Ed Slattery Post The enlistment of Ed Slattery as "coordinator” of the Big Three is in line with Scopp’s plan to make Robbins (Murray Baker), Feist (Norman Foley) and Miller (Lester Sims) autonomously operative un¬ der its indicated top professional managers, along with Oscar Rob- ■bins for the standard exploitation. The Friday morning ’ cabinet meetings to review the past week dud plan the upcoming program, along with the screening of new material, is where Slattery will figure importantly. He is a season¬ ed music man-composer, conductor, arranger, -executive — with radio¬ television program and broadcast¬ ing background. He was long with Air Features Inc., of which Scopp was 51% owner and which he and Jim Sauter (his partner) long oper¬ ated in conjunction with Frank and Anne Hummert. At one time Music Corp. of America had bid $1,000,000 for Air Features; eventually Sauter and Scopp sold out to CBS. Where Metro-20th’s alliance with the Big Three can be affirmative, says Scopp, is in the greater utiliz¬ ation of the wealth of film scores from these two major lots. Ameri¬ can background music of the best calibre flows regularly from the soundtracks of these two studios and their performance revenue values are a huge untapped source. The British seem to have done much better in that connection, ac¬ cording to Scopp. ' Latter’s background's.accented by a statistical training, and as the watcher of the exchequer, for which purpose he was initially brought into Robbins-Feist-Miller by . Loqw’s Inc. veepee-treasurer Charles C. Moskowitz (Scopp’s brother-in-law). The new g.m. of the pubberies has'"assimilated a strong dollars-and-cents pei’spec- tive on the values of copyrights. ‘Fella’ ■ Continued from page 43 .. Davis Jr. starrer, which preems on Broadway tomorrow' (Thurs.) will be put into the groove by Decca. Davis is a Decca pactee. The "Mr. Wonderful” score was written by Jerry Boch-Larry Holofcener and George Weiss and is published by Valando. "Strip for Action,” an¬ other tuner headed for Broadway, opened in New Haven Saturday (17). Original cast album has been set by Capitol. Score by Harold Adamson and Jimmy McHugh is being published by Robbins Music, Big 3 firm. "My Fair Lady,” already an es¬ tablished Broadway smash, will be put into the groove Sunday (25) by Col. The Frederick Loewe-Alan Jay Lerner score is published by Chap¬ pell. Only other tuner to get an original cast album workover this season has been Rodgers-Haramer- stein’s "Pipe Dream” by RCA Victor. ASGAP Gleffers —- Continued from page 43 , handle problems arising from writ¬ ers’ classification may be put for¬ ward again at the ASCAP board. This proposition was originallly suggested by Harbach to the board and was supported by Herman Starr, Warner Bros, music head. It w'as generally acknowledged that the new post, if it was set up, was designed for Adams. Gilbert op¬ posed the move originally and has succeeded in getting general sup¬ port from the writers on the board. His stand, hov/ever, has reduced chances that the publishers on the board will support him for the presidency. Meantime, H. J. Lengsfelder, a persistent critic of the ASCAP ad¬ ministration, has proposed the set¬ ting up of a complaint committee of two publishers and two writers to handle grievances on classifica¬ tion matters. The committee would act in' an advisory capacity and would represent members before the appeals committee. Courts Nix Piracy Rap ; Continued from page 43 ; ment, because a record is not a copy of a musical cc mposition with¬ in the meaning o the copyright law and the sale "of that which is not an infringing copy is not a violation of the copyright law.” The manufacturer, on theTother hand, must pay the statutorjN2c._royalty'| rate to publishers for the use of copyrighted tunes. The judge stated that it was "Congress’ clear pur¬ pose to impose primary (if not sole) liability upon the manufac¬ turer of infringing records.” Judge Kaufman said he made his decision in favor of the defendants even though he was not moved “by defendants’ protestations of in¬ nocent intent.” The judge pointed out that everything about Krug’s operation pointed to the fact that he was "record pirate.” In deciding the case against the publishers, the judge threw the whole question of disk piracy into contention, especially if some pi¬ rate had the foresight to pay the 2c royalty on each tune. The judge said . . . “the question of whether a performer like Miller is pro¬ tected from such re-recordings has not yet been definitively settled.” In short, it's still an open question of whether a pirate can legally sell a Perry Como disk, for in¬ stance, if he pays a 2c royaty. Judge Kaufman’s decision also raised another question about re¬ cordings "not being copies” of a song. He^said: "With the current ■popularity of records as opposed 1 to sheet music, a practice has arisen of releasing musical selec¬ tions in recorded form before pub¬ lishing the sheet music. The ques¬ tion arises, is such a recorded re¬ lease a publication within the meaning of the copyright law which would deprive the composer of a. right to later file a ‘copy’ of his song and receive statutory protec¬ tion?” Judge Kaufman also dismissed the plaintiffs’ charges against the defendants that there were “un¬ fair trade practices” and. “unfair competition” as well as copyright infringement. Abeles, who was at¬ torney for the plaintiffs, stated that he would appeal the decision to the Circuit Court“of Appeals. Abraham M. Lowenthal, of Tel- sey, Lowenthal, Rothenberg & Mason, was legal rep for Goody, while Raucher & Leftoff handled the case for Portem Distributing. RETAIL DISK AND ALDUM BEST SELLERS yft&IETY Survey of retail disk best sellers based on reports ob tained from leading stores in 19 cities and showing com¬ parative sales rating for this and last week. National Rating This Last wk. wk. Artist, Label, Tit’e 1 HARRY BELAFONTE Harry Belafont* Victor -kPM-1150 2 CAROUSEL Film Soundtrack Capitol W 694 EDM 694 BENNY GOODMAN STORY Benny Goodman Decca DL 8252-3 ED 797-8-9 OKLAHOMA! Film Soundtrack Capitol SOA 595 FDM 1, 2-595 5 TROMBONES, 4 FRESHMEN Four Freihmen Capitol T 683 EAP 1,2,3-6831 [MAN WITH THE GOLDEN ARM |Film Soundtrack Decca DL 8257 ED 2335-6-7. JULIE IS HER NAME Julie London Liberty LRP3006 ■ 10 MUSIC FOR SWINGING LOVERS Frank Sinatra Capitol ' W '653