Variety (March 1957)

Vcdngidayi March 20, 1957 MUSIC .57 OLD FIX ON TV IN ASCAP ROW 4-; Wape’s TouDoiie BMI Wrw^’ Beef To Be A'red By SPA Board Next Week Ever since a group of song¬ writers within the Songwriters protective Assn, attacked the or¬ ganization for its alleged discrimi¬ natory outbursts against Broa(5^cast Music Inc., SPA execs have been tiying to meet them. Bernie Wayne, head of a group of SPA cleffers affiliated with BMI, has publicly criticized SPA leadership for its entry into the ASCAP cleffers' fight against BMI. Wayne, however, has not responded to in¬ vitations of the SPA board to ex¬ pound his position at its meeting of March 26. Wayne is. currently vacationing in Florida. ' I SPA has informed Wayne, in a letter addressed to him last Fri¬ day" (15), that, his complaints will be presented to the SPA council at its meeting whether or not he shows up. SPA prexy Abel Baer also informed Wayne of the organi¬ zation's basic policy that “song¬ writers must be entitled to partici¬ pate in all decisions, as well as in all proceeds, concerning composi¬ tions written by them." Baer said: “Unfortunately, the BMI operation does not recognize this right of co- adjninistration. It is the only im¬ portant organization throughout the world in which performance rights are administered which does not grant the creative talent at least equal representation.” Baer also cited a BMI circular letter to its affiliated publishers, advising them not to use the SPA basic contract. The BMI circular pointed out that the SPA contract, “contains a catch-all clause which provides that the author is entitled to 50% of all baynients received by the publisher, except monies distributed to the publisher by ASCAP on another society which divides royalties on the ASCAP formula.” The BMI circular noted that “BMI, of course, has no desire to reduce the payments made to au¬ thors by publishers and it looks with favor upon all such pay¬ ments. Publishers may, however, wish to consider whether,the pay¬ ments which they are td make to authors on performing rights should not be covered by an af¬ firmative. clause which sets forth the payments precisely, in lan¬ guage adapted to the BMI way of doing business, rather indirectly in a catch-all clause contained in a contract which appears to have been designed for use by ASCAP publishers. There may be other provisidns of the SPA contract form which also are not particular¬ ly appropriate in the case of BMI publishers.*’ ‘FAlIies’ Producers Eyeing Original Cast Album On Their Own in Majors’ Nix Charles Conoway and Mark Kroll, producers of the “Ziegfeld Follies,” are mulling a disk fling to put out their own original cast album of the revue. The major la¬ bels had nixed grooving the Bea Lillie starrer currently running at New York’s Winter Garden Thea¬ tre. , * The producers have been hud¬ dling with Mike Adrian, freelance album producer, to put the musical on wax. Before cutting the show, however, the producers would like to assurq, themselves of a tie-in with an established Company to handle the^ album's distribution. One of the o'ffers now being pitched is that if the disk conipany foots 50% of the production cost (an estimated $12,000) it would get a royalty deal on sales in the U. S. and complete European rights. There have been no takers as yet. The cast album of the “Follies” must be nrade within the next week or so because of contractual stipulations with Mickl Mario and Jane Morgan, ABC-Paramount and Kapp Records pactees, exclusive¬ ly. Both thrushes haye okays from their companies to get in on the original past set for. another com: I>auy Within a $pecificld time limit. Finkelstein, Hanson Set For UNKCO Commission Washington, March 19. Herman Finkelstein, general counsel for ASCAP, and Howard Hanson, director- of the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y., have been named to the U.S. Na¬ tional Commission for .the UN Educational Scientific & Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Appointments are for three years. The commission advises the State Dept, on American affairs in rela¬ tion to UNESCO. Stations Feeling ASCAP Axe On Fees & Licenses Recent crackdown by the Ameri¬ can Society of Composers, Authors & Publishers against radio stations performing its music without li¬ censes is continuing. In the wake of suits filed by ASCAP publishers against several radio stations last month, a new action was initiated last week against WEYE in San¬ ford, N. C., by Williamson Music, a part of the Chappell combine, and Leo Feist Inc., of the Big Three Music firm. . The suits against the radio sta¬ tions have been involving only small stations. It's understood that these stations have .been allowing tfieir licenses with ASCAP to lapse but still continue to play ASCAP music. In some cases, ASCAP is taking legal, action against stations which become delinquent in their license fee payments. Plaintiffs in the present suit, filed i^ the North i Carolina Federal Court, are asking for an injunction, plus damages of not less than $250, for each unau¬ thorized performance, together with court costs and attorneys’ fees. Chappell Music,, meantime, was given a $500 awatd last week in Maryland. Federal Coui't against Hiram E. Smith, owner'of a Mary¬ land spot who was charged with performing two numbers without an ASCAP license. SYMPHOFAIRBACK ON DISKS VIA DECCA "fhe Symphony of the Air Or¬ chestra is making its .first fullscale bow on disks, since the late Arturo Toscanini retired from its leader¬ ship, on Decca Records this month. Under the baton of Igor Marke- vitch, the orch, known as the NBC Symphony during the Toscanini era, cut Brahms First Symphony. Another set by the Symphony of the Air and Mar^evitch, the Ger- - man conductor who recently toured the U.S., is due next month. Decca is also releasing its second volume in the “New Directions in Music and Sound’! series, spot- ! lighting contemporary music from j Germany. - ‘Face in Crowd’ Film Tracked Down by Cap Capitol Records, which had a hot film soundtrack set streak last year, has latched on to the Elia Kazan production, “A Face In The Crowd,” Pic stars Andy Griffith, a Cap pactee. Score for the film was written by Tom Glazer ^music) and Budd Schulberg (words)), latter also the scenarist. Plug tunes set by Music Publishers Holding Coro, (the War¬ ner Bros, firms) are the title song and “Mama Guitar.” All the major labels have readied etchings for an end-of-March kickoff. The pic is slated lot May $0 release* FEi yPSET OF POO PFF The pouring of old Holy wood films into video channels is sparking concern among some ASCAP publishers over a possible unbalance of performance credits in favor of the picture tunes. A proposal that tunes in such old films should not be credited for publisher performance coin has al¬ ready come up before ASCAP’s classification committee which re¬ jected it. There’s a possibility, however, that the matter may come up before an arbitration board for final disposition. Some of the publishers, without extensive catalogs of picture tunes, fear that if ASCAP treats the old pic tunes as a straight plug, the liayoffs to publishers will be thrown completely out of kilter. It’s held that only a. handful of big firms will benefit frm these pic plugs. The old pictures, are going onto all stations and* are being played repeatedly. Performance credits for pic tunes will be multiplying at a tremendous rate while plugs of other shows will be diminishing since there will be less program time available for such material. With ASCAP now weighting the video plug three times over a radio performance, the impact of logging and crediting the pic tunes will be to siphon the bulk' of ASCAP’s revenue into . fewer and fewer hands. That’s the argument of those 'seeking to stop payment on such plugs to publishers. There has been no suggestion made, how¬ ever, that writers should not get paid. ASCAP’s classification commit¬ tee, meantime, has taken the posi¬ tion that a performance is a per¬ formance and the Society cannot legitimately distinguish between a plug in an old picture or a new picture. Some members of the board, moreover, believe, that the pic tunes will not create as great an unbalance as feared. The base of ASCAP’s performance credits is too wide, they believe, for any particular type of plug to affect it deeply. Mezz Mezzrow No.l Hit At Berlin Jazz Concert Berlin, March 12. Another important jazz concert took place here last week (7) ^at the 7,000-seat Sportpalast. It was “Dixieland Jubilee,” a presentation arranged by the German Jazz Fed¬ eration and featuring Mezz Mezz¬ row along with the Michel At- tenoux band of Paris, London’s Crane River* Jazzband as well as Germany’s Two Beat Stompers, a dixie outfit from Frankfurt. In the main this was a big per¬ sonal triumph for Mezzrow, the U.S. clarinetist (who now lives in Paris) who is also acclaimed here as one of the founders of “dixie¬ land revival” in Europe. Next big¬ gest * applause went to K^insas Fields, drummer of the Attenoux' band, whom Mezzrow personally picked up in Harlem several years ago. The Crane River band and the Two Boat Stompers also proved winners. Holland Bisk Bestsellers Amsterdam, March 19. 1. Great Pretender. .Platters (Mercury) 2. True Love... Crosby-Kelly (Capitol) 3. Que Sera, Sera, ..Day (Philips) 4. Heimweh .Freddy (Polydor) 5. Two Moths.Manders (Decca) 6. Singine^ Blues.... Mitchell (Philips) 7. Society Calypso Armstrong (Capitol) 8. Happy. Gooyer-ICraaykamp (Telefunken) 9. See You Later.... .Haley (Brunswick) 10. Giddy-Up.Freddy Bell (Mercury) Trust Funds $3,900,000 for Tooters Culfo Concerts an All-Time Record Mickey Rooney’s Album 1-Shot for RCA Victor Hollywood, March 19. Mickey Rooney reports to RCA Victor next week to record a spe^ cial 12-inch album on a one-shoL deal. It’s his first ’'effort as a disker although he’s been heard on platters before via soujndtrack albums of MGM musicals in which he appeared. For the Victor package, Rooney, will cut six sides from the score of the forthcoming George M. Cohan spectacular on NBC-TV and six standards. Album will be re¬ leased around May 1, about 10 days ahead of the tv program. Van Alexander will conduct for the recording sessions. One-shot- ter was negotiated by Rooney’s personal manager, Red Doff, who is also discussing a regular record¬ ing* contract. Decca Todd Pic Set Taking Off; ' 10fl,WW in 2 Wks. Hollywood,'March 19. Decca package of the music from “Around the World in 80 Days” yesterday became the fastest seller in the history of soundtrack al¬ bums, Sales passed the 100,000 mark yesterday, two weeks after the Victor Young score was re¬ leased. On the basis of present sales, Decca expects the package to be an all-time champion in the sound¬ track field. Ironically, label almost didn’t get the package. Deal had been virtu¬ ally set for RCA Victor to -release the score of the Michael Todd pro¬ duction. LegaUtes decided however that since Victor Young was under contract to Decca at the time of his death and “80 Days” was one of his creations, Decca had the rights to the package. DORIS DAY COMING THISAWAY (CALYPSO) Daywin Music, publishing firm operated by Doris Day and her hus¬ band Marty Melcher, is hopping on the calypso vogue. A1 Kavelin, firm’s general manager, iias pur¬ chased six tunes by Sam Manning from Antilliana Music. Included in the buy are “Don’t Blame It On ElVis,” “Tickle, Tic¬ kle,” “Whoalay Whoala,” recorded by the Fabulous McClevertys (Verve); “Sugar Cane,” recorded by Geoffrey Holder (Vik); “Home Cookin’ Mama.” recorded by Count Bernadinb (Mardi Gras), and “Too Late To Cry,” 'which has not yet been put into the groove. Liberty Label Plots 16 March-April Sets Hollywood, March 19. Program of 16 new albums dur¬ ing March and April was outlined ito 25 of the firm’s 32 distributors at the first national sales meeting held here last week by Liberty Records on the label’s second anni¬ versary. Firm played host to some 1,500, including deejays, newsmen, publishers, writers and recording I artists at Liberty’s new transistor¬ ized- studios. Prexy Si Waronker presided over the session at which veepee Jack Ames and Mrs. Bobbie Deterle out¬ lined futui’e production and adver¬ tising and promotion plans. March and April releases, they reporte'd, will Include classical items and the firm is negotiating for sound¬ track albums from current films to add to tha catalog. The Music Performance Trust Funds, the centre of numerous law¬ suits 'in New York and Los An¬ geles, is making a record-breaking allocation of $3,900,000 for musi¬ cian employment for the year end¬ ing this June 30. That compares with $2,800,000 for. the previous year. The Trust Funds, which cover both the disk, and vidpix field, were set up in their current form* in 1948 when the disk companies, as a condition of their pact with the American Federation of Musi- ciAifs, set up the organization un¬ der an impartial trustee, Samuel R. Rosenbaum. Since then, tht Funds have been collecting a per¬ centage on each disk sold for the purpose of sponsoring cuffo con certs in parks, hospitals, etc. Vid pix companies using AFM musi¬ cians joined the setup in 195(5. The first legal attack against thi Fund was laupched in N. Yi in 1955 by a group oL stockholden in various major disk companies. The plaintiffs, in N. Y. Federal Court, have charged that th( Trust Funds are under AFM con¬ trol and contravene -the Taft-Hart ley law. The plaintiffs ask for sus pension of all disk company pay ments to the Fund. Pre-trial ex¬ aminations in this action were held from June to December of Iasi year, but no further proceedings have since been taken. * Last November, two groups o1 AFM musicians on the Coast ini¬ tiated suits against the- Funds, tin AFM and the disk companies and vidpix producers having agree- ments^with the AFM, The tooten hold that the payments made to the Funds should be made to the musi cians who ^originally made th« disks and vidfilms. Preliminarj injunctions against further pay¬ ments to the Fund have beei granted in the California courts. ' Meantime, Rosenbaum, as tht Fund’s trustee, started, action in tin New York Courts in December tc confirm the validity of the Trust Fund agreements. Rosenbaum haj not appeared in the California suits, being advised that he is nol j subject to the jurisdiction of thal court. If the decisions in the New York and Los Angeles actions are in conflict, presumably the whole matter may wind up. in the Federal courts for final adjudication. The fourth legal action against the Funds has been started by Re¬ public Pictures which signed the Television Trust Fund Agreement. Republic claims that the agreement is in restraint of trade. During 1956, the Funds provided ; coin for about 17,000 different proj¬ ects invoN^ing 249,500 dates for musicians. That. compares with 12,800 projects and 179,300 musi¬ cian dates in 1955. London Records Springs 'Baker’s Dozen’ for Its Dealers in Album Push London Records’ drive on its spring album line . will be based on a “Baker's' Dozen” campaign. The deal offers retailers 13 LPs for the price of 12. The program allows a dealer to buy whatever items he wants in the spring release package in un¬ limited quantities. The 13-for-12 offer will run through April 5 with price gulirantees extending to Aug. 31. Diskery also has set up a 100% return privilege on the packages in the drive. To expedite deejay program¬ ming for the eight LPs in the spring release, London is offering radio stations special copies at $1 each. Albums in the spring, release are “Ted Heath’s First American Tour,” Stanley Black’s “Red Vel¬ vet,” Edmundo Ros’ “Rhythms of the South,” Cyril Stapleton’s “Mu¬ sic For Dancing In The Dark,” Frank Chacksfield’s “Mediterran¬ ean Moonlight,” Lita Roza’s “Love Is The Answer,” Matt Monro’s “Blue and S.e^^timental,” anfi Chris Hamilton!* “inlying Fingers.”