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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
In tHe World of Music Publishing
CONVENTION OFJUJSJC PUBLISHERS.
A Successful Reunion of the National Organization — Report of President Bowers—Important
Matters Discussed by the Secretary—Report by G. W. Furniss on Piratical Publications—
Regarding Uniform Size of Sheet Music—Important Letter Anent Copyright — Officers
Elected—Other Business Transacted.
It may interest our members to know that our as-
Heretofore the Music Publishers' Association sociation
was present by invitation at the meeting of
of the United States have held their annual con- the National Piano Manufacturers' Association held at
Atlantic
City
month, at which meeting your presi-
ventions in some comfortable hotel, where the dent had the last
honor of presenting an address bearing
our business, which address you will find in the
creature comforts and the social features could upon
account of the proceedings given by The Iteview of
be properly looked after. This time the tenth May 28.
Our association is honored at this meeting by being
yearly meeting convened in Aeolian Hall, New invited
to hold its deliberations in the most beautifully
appointed
music trade emporium in the world. We are
York, the reception parlor of Recital Hall being
under obligations to the Aeolian Company of this city,
occupied. The atmosphere was decidedly musi- which I trust will be fittingly acknowledged.
trust this gathering will be harmonious and fruitful
cal, and the surroundings truly artistic, but the of I much
good to our association. The reports of the
members were apparently not en rapport, for various officers will make clear to you the exact stand-
ing of the association and the scope of its work. Our
they have a preference for the genial glow of
membership is in fairly satisfactory condition, but not
much as we would like it, nor as much as it should
the public hostelry, where they will assemble so
be. Our copyright contention and our copyright af-
fairs,
in general, are in good condition, all necessary al-
hereafter.
lowances being made for unavoidable delays. I wish to
thank you all for the cordial support given by you to
Tuesday, at 10.30 a. m., in the absence of
administration.
President Bowers, H. S. Gordon, the vice-presi- the
SECRETARY BAYLY DISCUSSES IMPORTANT MATTERS.
dent, called the meeting to order, and presided
Secretary Bayly reported that three members
during the sessions.
had resigned, four new members had been re-
The following new members had been placed on ceived and that there were fifty-two names on
the membership roll by the executive committee, the roll. Also, that the following letter, under
which had met the previous day: Anthony Bros, date of September 4, 1903, and enclosure was re-
and A. J. Bouvier, Fall River, Mass.; F. B. Havi- ceived from Howley, Haviland & Dresser:
land Publishing Co., New York City, and C. W.
"Enclosed find copy of the newspaper clipping
Thompson & Co., Boston, Mass.
which was published August 20. This seems to
The following were present: Fall River, Mass. upset somewhat our theories of entry at Sta-
—Bert R. Anthony and Howard M. Anthony, of
tioner's Hall, covering Canadian copyright. Have
Anthony Bros., and Albert J. Bouvier.
you heard anything about it?"
New York City.—Sol Bloom; N. Griggs, of
The extract is subjoined:
Boosey & Co. (also England); Chas. H. Ditson,
"The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council,
and E. S. Cragin, of Chas. H. Ditson & Co.; of England, has just decided that British copy-
Hamilton S. Gordon; Thos. B. Harms, of T. B. right does not run in Canada, but protection
Harms & Co.; Chas. K. Harris; Isidor Witmark must be had through copyright taken out in the
and Jay Witmark, of M. Witmark & Sons;
colony. The case is that of Henry Graves &
George Mollineux; H. W. Gray, of Novello, Ewer Co., Limited, against George T. Corrie, for in-
& Co. (also England); J. P. Rechten, of E. Schu- fringement in Canada of their copyright on a
berth & Co.; Maurice Shapiro, of Shapiro, Rem- print after a picture of Maud Earl, called 'What
ick & Co.
We Have We'll Hold.'
Philadelphia.—Fred E. Speare, of J. E. Ditson
"Canadian courts were appealed to but decided
& Co.
that Graves & Co. having failed to take out a
Boston.—Walter Jacobs; Walter M. Bacon, C. Canadian copyright could not get damages; now
A. White and B. M. Davison, of White-Smith
this decision has been confirmed in London, and
Music Publishing Co.; Geo. W. Furniss and C. the appeal dismissed with costs. It remains to
A. Woodman, of the Oliver Ditson Co.
be seen what steps, if any, Canada will take to
Washington, D. C—C. B. Bayly, of John F. protect British art publishers."
Ellis & Co.
The secretary then continued:
Toronto, Canada.—W. R. Draper, honorary
"On this subject Mr. Raymond, the attorney
member, Canadian-American Music Co.
for the Canadian-American Music Company, a
Communications were read from G. H. Munroe gentleman eminent in his profession and a spe-
& Co., Fall River, Mass.; E. T. Paul], of E. T. cialist in copyright laws, says: 'You will cer-
Paul! Music Co.; Wm. A. Pond & Co., Willis tainly not confuse copyright in musical publi-
Woodward & Co., New York, and M. D. Swisher, cations with copyright in any other kind of pub-
Philadelphia.
lications. I refer to this because I have observed
PRESIDENT REPORTS PROGRESS.
that whenever there is a decision upon a copy-
The report of President Bowers was then read right, although it may have, no relation what-
by the chairman, as follows:
ever to copyright in music, many music pub-
GENTLEMEN :—It affords me pleasure as president of
lishers erroneously assume that the law of mu-
this organization to extend to "you. and each of you, a
hearty welcome, and to congratulate you on the fact
that we have suffered no diminution in our ranks dur-
ing the past twelve months. Our gatherings are a
source' of pleasure and profit to all of us, and I hope
this year's session will be no exception to the rule. Our
association has held together extremely well in spite
of marfy difficulties and drawbacks, and our hopes should
be to extend and strengthen it until every publisher in
this country is an interested member.
It would seem to me that, as the public taste is under-
going a radical change, our members who make a spe-
cialty of popular music, or music of the day, should
govern themselves accordingly. It is to be deplored that
we can renort no progress in the matter of the preven-
tion of the almost indiscriminate cutting going on
among some of the members of our association. I beg
to suggest that in view of the altered conditions now
ibtaining in the demand for popular music that some
steps be taken looking toward some form of remedy for
a line of policy which, if pursued to its logical end.
means the ultimate destruction of the business of many
of our members. This note of warning has been sounded
so often that it may seem like a waste of time, but con-
ditions just now give it special emphasis.
It remains a subject for regret that so many of our
members see fit to slaughter their valuable properties
for no material gain or benefit. A little more considera-
tion, a little better understanding, a better reliance on
agreements to maintain prices would accomplish won-
ders in our business. Our members should recollect that
the public itself does not demand cut or slaughtered
prices on music. This is shown by the fact that the
largest houses in the country obtain good prices, not
only for their own publications but for the publications
of others. I refer here to what are known as the pub-
lishers of standard and classical music.
POPULAR
R UMMER
ORDER
A
ONCE
sical publication is affected thereby. For ex-
ample, such a mistake occurred in the recent de-
cision in the Privy Council in England, in the
case of Graves vs. Corrie, a case which related
to copyright in pictures and not to music at
all.'"
Since the last annual meeting the secretary
succeeded in getting possession of a "piratical"
edition of a piece of music called the "Star Edi-
tion" published by Harry W. Sparks, of To-
ronto, Canada, at which place it was sold for
ten cents and mailed direct into this country-
The secretary received through B. F. Wood, a
letter from Henri Morel, International Congress,
Berne, Switzerland, stating that the fifth ses-
sion of the International Congress of Publish-
ers is definitely settled to take place at Milan,
Italy, in 1906.
Having been informed that the Secretary 57
the Treasury of the United States had recom-
mended Congress to make certain changes in
the law which would ultimately discontinue the
publication of the "Copyright Catalogue" by the
Librarian of Congress, Mr. Bayly brought the
matter to the attention of the president of this
association, Mr. Bowers, who promptly prepared
a formal protest in the name of the association,
and forwarded the same to the chairman of the
Committee of Printing, of the House of Repre-
sentatives, at Washington City, D. C.
The secretary also called attention to the
work of the Bureau of Information of the Music
Publishers' Association, which has saved its
members a great deal of money by notifying
them periodically of the condition of certain re-
tail music dealers.
The recent death of J. J. Maguire, an efficient
and faithful employe of the White-Smith Music
Publishing Co., of Boston, Mass., members of
the association, was announced.
Treasurer Cragin made a detailed statement
of moneys received and expended during the
year, showing a healthy balance on hand.
REGARDING "PIRATICAL" PUBLICATIONS.
Geo. W. Furniss, of the Oliver Ditson Co., of
Boston, Mass., special committee on what is
known as "piratical" publications of American
copyright music, reported that there was very
little or no infringement of American copy-
rights; that since W. R. Draper, the manager of
the Canadian-American Music Co., of Toronto,
had become, in a measure, identified with the
music publishers of this country, that gentle-
man had made a fight and was known as "the
great copyright pirate chaser," and was so effi-
cient that soon Canadian piracy will become one
of the lost arts. Mr. Furniss then referred to
the terrible condition of music publishers in
London, Eng. He stated that more than 63,000
copies of pirated music were seized in London
alone last month, and on the 28th ult. the Musi-
cal Copyright Association, with the assistance
Follow the Crowd on a
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MORRISON & ARMSTRONG.
Down on the
Merry- Go - Round
By HAL KENT A LYN UDALL, Composers of "Just
One Girt," and "Just as the Sun."
Kate Kearney
By FAY & OLIVER, writers of "Goodnight,
Beloved,
Goodnight."
M. Witmark & Sons
NEW YORK
CHICAGO
LONDON
ILLUMINATED TITLE PAGES FREE
SPECIAL INTRODUCTORY PRICE IN QUANTITIES
Do you Handle " WITMARK" PUBLIC A TIONS 7