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46
TH
EDWARD LYMAN BILL • Editor and Proprietor
J. I . SPILLANE, Muagtag Editor
R. W. SIMMONS. Editor Music Scctloa
Pabllakcd Every Saturday at 1 Hadtom Avenue, New Yark
lOBSCUPTION. (Including poctaf*), United States and
Mexico, 12.00 p«r year; Caaada, |S.6O; all ether coun
*rl«i, $4.00.
Telephones—Number* 4677 and 4678 Gramercy
Connecting all Departments
NEW
YORK,
JULY
16,
1910
All matter of every nature intended
for this department should be addressed
The Editor Music Section Music Trade
Review, 1 Madison Avenue, New York.
COMMENTS B Y -
Business among the music publishers may be
said to be dull. In fact, during the recent days
which held the city in their hot, sticky grasp,
broiling the streets beneath a burning sun which
beat down with withering heat and melted the
asphalt pavements, while the good tempers of the
publishers and their staffs ran down their faces
and disappeared in steatn—in these days only the
flies droned busily through the offices. Heavy-
handed lethargy has opened the morning mail,
but found few orders for sheet music. We judge
that it has been much the same with the music
dealers, for only the professional singers and the
bandmasters are buying music in July. In the
lack of cooling breezes, however, it" is refreshing
to note that the month is half gone. It may
help a little, too, to reflect that, after all, this dull
season has not been so actually stagnant as it
has been in past years. In another fortnight some
faint signs of activity will be seen, and these will
rapidly develop into unmistakable business indica-
tions, clamoring for attention.
MUSIC
TRADE!
RELVIEW
When the change comes in such activities there
will be one condition remaining unchanged. This
will be the situation wherein popular music pub-
lishers will be selling sheet music at the lowest
prices which they could make for themselves and
yet leave anything at all for profit.
Unfor-
tunately, there are as yet no signs to be noted
that a change is to come in this respect. In this
matter.music publishers have shown the world an
example of the utmost limit of inaction. They
admit that prices are too low for safety, that
starvation profits or none at all must be the
portion of all but a few of the larger publishers.
But a spirit of jealousy, or exasperation, accord-
ing to past causes, prevents mutual action. We
regret this, for we should like to see every last
little music publisher prosper. It remains for
the music dealers to find some way out of the
dilemma, and as they themselves are dissatisfied
with the present scale of prices, retail as well as
wholesale, it is to be hoped that one of them will
prove to be the Moses who shall lead the rest out
of the pathless wilderness in w 7 hich popular music
prices are now lost.
Contrasts of the Old and New.
The contrast between the old and the new in
music publishing methods was described recently
by the "Tin Pan Alley" man, who termed the com-
petition of to-day "war to. the knife." In the
beginning there was no "Tin Pan Alley." The
business was not conducted on the wholesale
commercial basis as it is now. Songs were written
and published, and to a great extent had to push
themselves. The enormous publicity machine that
reaches all over the world to-day, with branches
in every town and hamlet, with an unrivaled
system for gaining the public ear, was not then
evolved. Or, rather, it was just beginning to be
evolved. Those who remember the early songs
cannot help but feel that the modern produc-
tions of "Harmony Belt" do not equal the old.
For one thing, it is seldom that the present song-
writers really touch an original chord. This may
be, however, because so many original chords have
already been sounded, and also because the writers
must continue to produce frequently, whether the}'
have proper material or not, to keep up with the
pace that has been set. Thus they become too
prolific. In order to keep up with the demand
they must turn off piece after piece, and they do
it so hurriedly that the work suffers. Verily, it is
war to the knife among the various houses. Com-
posers possessing the ability to turn off the kind
of songs that are whistled on the streets, played
by the orchestras, and heard at the beaches and
between the acts at the theaters are eagerly
sought. Contracts are made with them for their
work several years ahead. Every one of the big
houses has several such composers, and some of
these are paid large salaries when they are not
confident enough of their product to insist on
maintaining the old royalty agreements. Stage
people are sought in order that the benefit of
their patronage may be obtained, with the re-
sulting advertising. The singing of a song by a
well-known musical comedy star, for instance, is
certain to gain for it a wide circulation.
Needed Agreement Now a Chimera.
Some of the houses, too, maintain "enter-
tainers," who go around to entertainments of
various kinds, smokers, receptions, dances,
musicales, and so on, for the express purpose of
pushing the productions of their respective
houses. The moving-picture business, it would
almost seem, is an advertising appendage of the
music publishing business. The value of the ad-
vertising gained through an illustrated song has
proved to be great in some instances, but. on the
other hand, if the song is distinctly not a catchy
and tuneful one its faults are presented glaringly
to the audiences, and any persons who might
have bought the music are given warning and
good cause not to do so. Meanwhile, demonstra-
tors are hard at work, in the publishing offices or
among the big stores, and if there is any other
channel through which activity might lead to
sales that is not being followed by the publishers,
the heads of firms would gladly explore it if its
course and direction were but hinted at to them.
The fierce rivalry is just what prevents any
concerted action as to prices. The situation
presents a paradox, but it is true that the pub-
lishers of popular music are so energetic in
getting business, and so afraid of someone getting
ahead of them that they have actually cut down
their own profits. And so distrustful are they of
one another that they feel it would be of no
use to come to an agreement as to a minimum
price, each feeling that the other would break
the price as he saw fit. So they go on and on,
bitterly complaining of the "evils" of the busi-
ness. The music publishing business has no
SOME OF OUR REAL HITS
MESSRS. CHAPPELL & CO., Ltd.
are the publishers of
THE REIGNING MUSICAL SUCCESS
THE ARCADIANS
Music by Talbot and Monckton
(Produced by Mr. Charles Frohman)
FRANZ LEHAR'S NEW OPERA
THE MAN WITH THREE WIVES
"THE
CUBANOLA
GLIDE"
(.^Vli)
" M Y
SOUTHERN
ROSE"
song)
" K E E P YOUR FOOT ON T H E SOFT P E D A L " sonp
"THE
YIPDISHA
R A G " ( ]n %Z 9m %nD
"HIP-HIP-HYPNOTIZE
M E "
son 0
" G I V E M Y R E G A R D S T O M A B E L " isong)
HARRY VON TILZER MUSIC PUBLISHING COMPANY
AD D R S S
N E w Y oRli L o"ncE TO
125 West 4 3 d Street, New York City
(To be produced shortly by Messrs. Shubett)
IVAN CARYLL AND LIONEL MONCKTON'S
SUCCESSFUL MUSICAL PLAY
OUR MISS GIBBS
(To be produced shortly by Mr. Charles Frohman)
LONDON^ LATEST CRAZE
THE BALKAN PRINCESS
A Musical Play by Paul A. Rubens
(To be produced by Mr. W. A. Brady)
CHAPPELL & CO., Ltd.
37 W . 171fa St.
NEW YORK
THEODORE MORSE'S NEW HITS !
"MOLLY LEE"
"KITTY CRAY"
"HE'S A COLLEGE BOY"
" R E D C L O V E R " (Song and Intermezzo)
" B L U E F E A T H E R " (Song and Intermezzo)
You could have had these once for 5 cents. Take
our new issues and you'll get better ones.
a t ^ P " PHONOGRAPH RECORDS ARE - ^ M K
H W
MADE FOR ALL OUR SONGS ^ ^ &
Theodore Morse Music Co.
1367 Broadway, New York
SHEET MUSIC
DEPARTMENT
THE MOST POPULAR
PIANO PIECES
A collection of 35 stand-
ard piano pieces ar-
, ranged and in some in-
stances simplified by the
famous American com-
p o s e r and musician,
George Rosey, intended
especially for the use of
second and third year
piano students, and for
the use of amateurs who
wish to have good piano
music which they can
play without any great
degree of technical ability.
The contents include a
wide variety of compo-
sitions and is of such a
nature as to appeal to
every lover of piano
music. Price 75 cents.
Published by
HINDS, NOBLE & ELDREDGE, 31-35 West 15th Street, New York
WILL ATTRACT MORE CUSTOMERS TO YOUR STORE THAN
ANY OTHER MEDIUM YOU COULD EMPLOY
Write for catalogue and particulars as to how to
' make a sheet music department a money-maker
Address nearest office
McKINLEY MUSIC CO., 185 Harrison St., Chicago, III.
NO. 80 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK, N. Y,