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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
JANUARY 3, 1920
CONDUCTED BY V. D. WALSH
MAIL MATTER NOW RETURNABLE
New Post Office Ruling Will Facilitate Delivery
to Publishers of Sheet Music for Which Ad-
dressee Cannot Be Found
Of much interest to music publishers is a
recent act of Congress which makes provision
for returning to the sender or forwarding to a
new address undelivered mail matter of the
second, third and fourth classes. Heretofore,
publishers, when sending out sample copies and
other material, placed a memo on the wrappers
requesting the postmaster to notify them if the
parcel was undelivered, in which case they for-
warded the necessary stamps for its return.
Under the new law this delay will be avoided,
and an undelivered package, with the proper
instructions to the postmaster on the outside,
will be automatically returned to the addresser.
The full text of the law is as follows:
"That hereafter, under such regulations as
the Postmaster General may prescribe, fourth-
class matter of obvious value which is of a per-
ishable nature may be forwarded to the ad-
dressee at another post office charged with the
amount of the forwarding postage, and when
such matter of a perishable nature is undeliver-
able to the addressee it may be returned to the
sender charged with the return postage: Pro-
vided, That other undeliverable matter of the
second, third and fourth classes may be for-
warded to the addressee or to such other person
as the sender may direct, at another post office,
charged with the amount of the forwarding
postage, or it may be returned to sender charged
with the return postage, when it bears the send
er's pledge that the postage for forwarding and
return will be paid, such postage to be collected
on delivery: Provided further, That when the
sender refuses to furnish such postage in ac-
cordance with his pledge the acceptance from
him of further matter bearing such pledge may
be refused."
IRVING BERLIN'S LATEST SONGS
Irving Berlin, Inc., are now featuring the fol-
lowing numbers from the pen of Irving Berlin:
"Since Katy, the Waitress, Became an Avia-
tress," "Was There Ever a Pal Like You,"
"You'd Be Surprised," "I'll Always Be Wait-
ing for You." "Nobody Knows," "Only," "I
Left My Door Open and My Daddy Walked
Out" and "What a Day That'll Be."
H. L. Dupont is again with the sales depart-
ment of the J. W. Jenkins' Sons Music Co,
Kansas City, Mo.
Another Big One
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On
Llfl Shore
1
Words by
WILLIAM LE BARON
Music by
VICTOR JACOBI
CHAPPELL & CO., LTD., New York, London, Toronto, Melbourne
THIRTY CENT SHEET MUSIC AND ITS DISTRIBUTION
The Rapidly Increasing Number of Publications Listed at Thirty Cents Have Brought to the
Fore Some Problems Connected With Their Distribution Which Publishers Must Now Solve
The publishers who up to about a year ago
confined themselves to the publication of popu-
lar, or 10-cent music, but who are at the pres-
ent time featuring one or more numbers re-
tailing at thirty cents, have, of course, some
problems in distribution that were not apparent
when publishing at the more popular price.
While these problems are new to many pub-
lishers, they are not, however, questions that
have not already been solved. Some of the pub-
lishers seem to think that they have never be-
fore arisen, that they themselves are blazing the
way, and that they are coping with situations
entirely new. In this they are no doubt labor-
ing under a false impression of the real status
of the 30-cent numbers as published by p*opu-
lar houses formerly concentrating their efforts
on 10-cent music.
Some publishers assume because a number
retails successfully at 30 cents that it is what
is accepted by the trade as a standard work.
This, of course, is not true. It is true, however,
that most of the numbers selling in a big way
for thirty cents retail are works far above the
merits of some of our biggest hits in the popu-
lar field some years ago. This is because the
public's taste for popular numbers has greatly
improved and because . the writers themselves
have developed so that they are able to write
higher class works with popular appeal. This
latter is conclusively proved by the many popu-
lar writers who have in recent years developed
A Sure Tip to
into successful musical comedy and operetta
composers.
There have been cases of publishers who, un-
der the new conditions, have had successful num-
bers selling close to two million copies at the
thirty cent rate, and who felt that they were
dealing with an entirely different music-buying
public than was the case when they published
exclusively 10-cent works. This may be hard to
believe, but it is so.
Some have felt that they were catering to
music buyers of exclusive tastes, music buyers
who could appreciate only works of the better
sort, when as a matter of fact any number
that sells close to two million copies, or even
a million copies, is purchased by the general
public—music lovers, it is true, but the same sort
of music lover that purchased the popular hits
at 10 cents.
They are, after all, the same people that were
reached in the old days, and they can be reached
and invariably are reached by practically the
same methods that were used to present publica-
tions before them in days past. What, then, is
the changed condition? Only in distribution,
and as a matter of fact the distribution is not
changed to the extent that one would have pre-
sumed would be the case a year or two ago. In
the old days, the average retail sheet music
dealer either could not or would not compete
with the syndicate store, because the syndicate
siore was a better merchandiser, and therefore
Music Dealers and Jobbers:
Record Manufacturers and Dealers
Roll Manufacturers and Dealers:
The Trade in General:
ALREADY FEATURED BY
15,000 PROMINENT ORCHESTRAS OF THE COUNTRY
"SOMEBODY
SONG—ONE-STEP OF THE BETTER STYLE
RICHMOND
INTRODUCTORY PRICE 15c PER COPY
-PUBLISHER
14 5 West 4 5'!: st ff
HARRY COLLINS, Sales Manager