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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
71
Conducted by B. B. Wilson
NEW BILL DESIGNED TO FORCE ROYALTY PAYMENTS.
WITMARKS LEASE NEW QUARTERS.
Measure Introduced Into Both Houses of Congress Would Compel Hotel and Restaurant Orches-
tras to Pay for Playing .Copyrighted Music—Covers Points Lost in Recent Suits.
Arrange to Take Two Floors in Building Being
Erected at 1562 Broadway, for Professional
Department—Adjoins Palace Theatre.
Following close upon the failure of several suits
for the purpose of forcing hotels and restaurants
to pay royalties for the playing of copyrighted
music by their orchestras, there has been intro-
duced, simultaneously into both houses of Con-
gress, through the efforts of the American Society
of Authors, Composers and Publishers, a new bill
designed to amend the present copyright law to
cover by statute the points that the composers and
publishers have failed to secure through the
courts.
The new bill, or amendment, which is now in
the hands of the committee on patents, to which
it has been referred, is as follows:
amend and consolidate the acts respecting copyright,"
approved March 4, 1909, is hereby amended to read as fol-
lows :
Section 62. That in the Interpretation and construction
of this act "the date of publication" shall, in the case
of a work of which copies are reproduced for sale or
distribution, be held to be the earliest date when copies
of the first authorized edition were placed on sale, sold
or publicly distributed by the proprietor of the copy-
right, or under his authority, and the word "author"
shall Include an employer in the case of works made for
hire, and the terms "public performance for profit" shall
Include any public performance in any place of business
operated for gain though no direct pecuniary charge or
admission fee to such performance is made unless such
performance is given exclusively for a religious, chari-
table or educational purpose.
The measure is most sweeping in its provisions,
and according to authorities, would force the pay-
ment of royalties for the playing of copyrighted
Be it enacted, by the Senate and House of Representa-
music even on a talking machine in a public place,
tives of the United States of America, in Congress as-
sembled, That section 62 of the Act entitled "An Act to and for profit.
PUBLISHERS FAVOR STEVENS BILL.
Executive Committee of Music Publishers' As-
sociation of the United States Passes Formal
Resolution Indorsing That Measure, at Spe-
cial Meeting Held at Hotel Breslin.
DITSON GET=TO=GETHER DINNER.
Employes of the New York House Have Enjoy-
able Time at Busto's —Louis R. Dressier as
Toastmaster—Some Interesting Addresses.
The employes of Charles H. Ditson & Co., New
York, held a get-to-gether dinner last Monday at
At a special meeting of the board of directors of
Busto's restaurant, which was marked by the good-
the Music Publishers' Association of the United fellowship and sociability which prevailed through-
States, held at the Hotel Breslin, New York, on out the evening. Frank Gould, manager of the
Thursday of last week, it was unanimously resolved Ditson wholesale sheet music department, was in
that the association go on record as strongly favor- charge of the event, and omitted no detail which
ing the enactment o-f the bill now before Congress might add to the enjoyment and pleasure of his
and known as the Stevens bill, which is designed to co-workers.
permit of the maintenance of retail prices on trade-
Louis R. Dressier, manager of the piano depart-
marked articles.
ment, officiated as toastmaster, and carried out his
Those present at the meeting were: Walter M. duties with signal skill and humor. Short ad-
Bacon, White-Smith Co., president; Michael Keane, dresses were made by a number of the heads of
Boosey & Co., vice-president; Walter Eastman, departments, including H. L. Hunt, manager of
Chappell & Co., secretary; E. T. Paull, treasurer; the musical merchandise department, J. M. Priaulx,
Clarence A. Woodman, Oliver Ditson Co.; Mr. retail sheet music manager, and others. An excel-
Andrews, G. Schirmer, Inc.; Walter Fischer, of
lent musical program was rendered by a Victrola
Carl Fischer; L. P. Maguire, White-Smith Co.; XVI.
E. S. Cragin, C. H. Ditson & Co., and H. P. Main,
of Bigelow & Main. Messrs. Bacon and Wood-
INCORPORATED.
man came over from Boston especially to attend
the meeting.
Among the incorporations filed this week with
Tn addition to taking the action on the Stevens the Secretary of State at Albany, N. Y., was that
bill, the committee discussed business conditions of Kalmer, Puck & Abrahams, Consolidated, Inc.,
generally at an informal luncheon held after the for the purpose of conducting a music publishing
meeting.
business and amusements. Capital, $20,000. In-
The action taken in the matter of the Stevens corporators: M. D. Josephson, A. S. Levy, A. M.
bill is in line with that taken by many other busi- Wattenberg, 233 Broadway.
* * * *
ness organizations, prominent among which are the
talking machine manufacturers, jobbers and deal-
The Fischer Music Shop, of Kalamazoo, Mich.,
ers. The .piano men, through their several associa-
has been incorporated with a capitalization of
tions, have also indorsed the bill.
$15,000.
M. Witmark & Sons last week signed a lease for
the first and second floors of the building now be-
ing erected at 1562 Broadway, New York. The
new building adjourns the Palace Theatre, where
the United Booking Offices are located, on the
south, and it is also next door to the present Wit-
mark professional rooms. The structure is ex-
pected to be completed and ready for occupancy
about May 1, and the Witmark professional rooms
will be moved to the new address as soon after
that as possible. The lease is for a long term of
vears.
ASSOCIATION TO EXPAND.
Musical Merchandise, Talking Machine and
Music Roll Men to be Admitted to Music
Publishers' and Dealers' Association.
For its second year, as provided by the by-laws,
the Music Publishers' and Dealers' Association of
Greater New York will include in its membership
several talking machine jobbers and dealers, whole-
salers and retailers of musical merchandise, repre-
sentatives of manufacturers of music rolls and
others in what may be termed allied branches of
the trade. Several of those engaged in the depart-
ments referred to have filed their applications for
membership and will attend the next meeting and
dinner of the association, to be held on Febru-
ary 15.
200 TIMES FOR "HIP, HIP, HOORAY."
B ; g Hippodrome Production Still Continues to
Hold Active Interest for Public—A Most
Successful Concert on Last Sunday Night.
The two hundredth performance of "Hip, Hip,
Hooray," the wonderfully successful Dilling-
ham production at the New York Hippodrome,
was given on Tuesday of this week, with the public
interest in the spectacle apparently unabated. At
the concert last Sunday night, at which Kathleen
Parlow, Julia Culp and Mr. and Mrs. Vernon Castle
were the attractions in addition to Sousa's Band,
every seat in the great playhouse was sold out and
it was necessary to place several hundred people
on the stage. The demand for the music of the
production, which is also featured considerably at
the Sunday concerts, continues to be very heavy,
according to reports from T. B. Harms & Francis
Day & Hunter, the publishers.
T H E SMASHING MUSICAL SUCCESS O F T H E S E A S O N
THE SONG NUMBERS OF THE PIECE
CHARLES FROHMAN Presents
WHEN CUPID CALLS (The Rat-tat-tat Song) . . 60
SYBIL
3
Now Playing at the LIBERTY THEATRE, N. Y.
Music by Victor Jacobi
Starring
Jos. Cawthom, Julia Sanderson and Donald Brian
LOVE MAY BE A MYSTERY (The Waltz Song) . . 60
I Like the Boys
go
Lift Your Eyes to Mine
60
The Colonel of the Crimson Hu*sar«
60
Girls, You Are Such Wonderful Things
.60
Following the Drum
60
Letter Duet
60
Good Advice
60
Two Can Play That Game
60
Selection, Waltz and Vocal Score
and
Cawthorn and Golden's Song
I CAN DANCE WITH EVERYBODY BUT MY WIFE.. .60
(Published by T. B. Harms Co. by arrangement with Chappell & Co.)
CHAPPELL & CO., Ltd., New York