Music Trade Review

Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
40
THE
MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
popular, are sought after by that large section
of the public who patronize the legitimate dealer.
He in turn pushes the Bale of the number, having
previously stocked up with it, paying a larger
price wholesale than the 10-cent storekeeper sold
at retail. Of course the 10-cent store has already
robbed him of a great deal of trade, but by this
EDWARD LYMAN BILL - Editor and Proprietor time some new hit has entered the field, and so
the retailer has perforce to be content to eat
J. B. SPILLANE, Managing Editor
the crumbs which have fallen from the 10-cent
J . HAYDEN-CLARENDON. E d i t o r
store table.
Published Every Saturday at 1 Madison Avenue, New York
The Beginning of the End.
SUBSCRIPTION, (including postage), United States and
It
goes
without saying that the retail store-
Mexicu, $2.00 per year; Canada, $3.50 ; all other coun-
tries, $4.00.
keeper could have stopped all this long ago had
he wished to do so. In spite of the department
Telephones—Numbers 4677 and 4678 Gramercy
Connecting all Departments
store3 which exist in the cities and larger towns,
as well as the 10-cent stores which spring up
NEW YORK, AUGUST 1, 1908
like mushrooms in every likely profitable field,
the bona fide sheet music retailer is the back-
bone and mainstay of the publishers, many of
whom are to-day falling over themselves selling
to all and sundry who will buy a sufficient quan-
tity of their output to tide them over temporary
difficulties. It has been suggested by such men
as Leo Feist and Victor Kremer, who know the
Despairing of ever seeing a working agree- publishing end of the game in its Alpha and
its Omega, that a Sheet Music Retailers' Asso-
ment consummated between the publishers of
"popular" music, the retail dealer is fast awak- ciation could be formed for the purpose of con-
ening to the fact that it is he who really wields sidering among other important trade matters
the "big stick." The interview with Henry the advisability of selling the prints of publish-
ers who sell to 10-cent and cut-rate department
Krey, of Boston, which appeared in this column
stores. Of course, it is obvious that such an
last week, is but an echo of the cry heard from
organization, to be thoroughly effective, should
one end of the country to the other. "If," the
be entirely catholic. It is equally obvious that
legitimate retailer argues, "publishers can sup-
such an organization would take some consider-
ply a 10-cent store with popular music at from
able time to form. Why not, then, start the
6 to 8 cents a copy, why should I not be sup- movement by each individual town forming its
plied at the same figure, so that 1 will at least own Music Dealers' Association, for the purpose
have a fighting chance of competing with my of protecting themselves against the publisher
trade rival?" The answer to the question is not who with malice aforethought undersells them
hard to find. In the first place, 10-cent stores to rival stores which are to all intents and pur-
are almost invariably large corporations with a poses dealing illegitimately in a product which
number of branches, and therefore are able to is distinctly their own. This would undoubtedly
buy in large quantities. In consequence, the 10- be the genesis of a permanent and general or-
cent store is used by the publisher as a means ganization which would eventually swing the
of popularizing certain songs, which, when once
COMMENTS B Y - •
publisher into line or else swing him entirely
out of it.
A Minimum Retail Price.
Of course, there is a good deal to be said pro
and con before any decisive action can be taken
in the matter, but once a minimum retail price
is fixed, that price must be adhered to at all
hazards. No dealer is going to continue to sell
music below cost, and therefore the tricky pub-
lisher—and unfortunately such have been known
to exist—will have some sort of check upon him
should he enter into an agreement to sell uni-
versally at a certain price and subsequently vio-
late this agreement by underselling. The legiti-
mate retailers of any town who agree on a cer-
tain retail price for their sheet music can readily
leave the prints of those publishers who are
willing to supply 10-cent and similar stores to
the 10-cent class of trade, themselves exploiting
the output of the publishers who by supplying
them only, keep up prices to the agreed standard.
It is quite likely that it would not take the pub-
lisher supplying the 10-cent stores very long to
find out where his most profitable business lay,
and a short experience would no doubt teach him
that selling music to a legitimate retailer at a
legitimate price is a far better proposition than
selling cheap stores at practically the cost of
production.
The Suspended Sword.
The publisher who consistently sells at a
minimum rate has probably never realized that
a sword is suspended above his head which may
fall at any moment. That a successful 10-cent
store is a wonderful distributer of any commo-
dity of which it takes hold, is an undisputed fact.
What, then, if such men as Woolworth, Knox, or
Kre s turned music publishers. It is a well-
known fact that up to now the management of
the Woolworth stores has consistently kept from
interfering with sheet music trade interests, but
it is no easy question to answer how long this
state of things will last. What would be the result,
then, if one or all three of these powerful com-
mercial organizations corraled a few well-known
Each Succeeding Season We Supply The Dealer With His
Most Salable Music. And This Season Is No Exception
OUR FALL
NOVELTIES:
By CLARE KUMMER
By REGINALD De KOVEN
Vocal
w
"FOR YOU." (Words by Frederick T. Cardoze.)
The Ballad of the year
Vocal
CHEATING"
And the Novelty of Coon Novelties
Instrumental
"HIDE AND SEEK." Intermezzo.
"I DON'T KNOW WHO WROTE 'HOME, SWFfcl HOttE'
BUT HE MUST HAVE BEEN A SINGLE MAN "
By KENDIS and PALEY
" R A I N B O W " Intermezzo.
By PERCY WENRICH
One of the best instrumental numbers ever published. The
song "RAINBOW" founded on this intermezzo, (Words by
Alfred Bryan,) I S N O W R E A D Y
DON'T GO AWAY." Another Novelty.
Do You Remember "HIAWATHA" and " SILVER HEELS"
Well
By WILLIAMS and VAN ALSTYNE
A New Idea in Cowboy Songs
Neil Morct's "ROSE LEAVES"
Is the third in line
•• ROSIE RAMBLER "
A New Idea in Comic Songs
"IT LOOKS LIKE A BIG NIGHT TO-NIGHT"
" MARSOVIA." Waltzes by Henriette Blanke.
A New Idea in Novelty Songs
and
" I WANT SOMEONE TO CALL ME DEARIE "
SWEET VIOLETS." Intermezzo by W. C. Powell.
Sheet Music is not like a good wine; it does not improve with age. Therefore, BUY WHAT YOU CAN SELL. THAT'S ALL
The trade supplied by all first class jobbers or direct from
JEROME H. REMICK & CO.
DETROIT
68-7O Farrar Street
NEW YORK
131 West 41st Street
CHICAGO
Grand Opera House Oulldlng