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THE
A U G U S T 2, 1924
MUSIC
TRADE
51
REVIEW
IN THE WORLD OF MUSIC PUBLISHING
Conducted By V. D. Walsh
No Over-Production of Popular Prints
in Sheet Music Trade at Present Time
Majority of Purchases Made by the Legitimate Sheet Music Merchant at the Present Day Are
Made Strictly on Demand—Exploitation and the Publishers' Standing
' T H E statement that there is an over-produc- his goods. He will only complain that where
tion of popular prints is heard frequently the demand was created, co-operation was not
enough to be sometimes taken for a fact. If given.
calls for popular songs are somewhat under
The talk of over-production in the popular
normal the statement makes an additional im- field is mostly a myth. Dealers must be shown
pression because reference can be made to cur- the call for the goods or their past experience
rent sales. When business is at its height and with particular houses justifies them in accepting
there are five or six popular airs luring cus- the statement as to the merit of the offering.
tomers to the music counters, and all the sec- There can be no over-production of popular
ond-best numbers feel this activity, there is prints for neither the dealer nor the music-pur-
little or no talk of over-production.
chasing public is buying thirty-cent music in
Some years ago in the standard publishing quantities where publicity has not attracted them
field, both the publishers and dealers admitted to the offering. There may be some local in-
that there was far too many novelties issued stances where a number of counter sellers, or
each month. These, during the war and period what are purported to be such, find space in the
following, were greatly curtailed and they are music departments. But these can never ex-
now at a low enough figure to be readily ab- clude meritorious works and publications for
sorbed by both the dealer and consumer. There which a demand has been created.
was a very important reason why in the stand-
The successful publisher has only one idea
ard field over-production became a problem, but in view in his business with the dealer. That is
the same cannot be said for the popular end co-operation on the songs for which he has
of the industry. In the standard field the con- created a demand. There is no gamble in this
sumption by the dealer of a given amount of and when one has gone to the expense of ex-
issues was based upon his being a subscriber ploiting a tune on a wide scale he deserves
to new issues.
100 per cent co-operation. These are the num-
There is no such thing as a subscriber in the bers that bring people into the store not only
popular field; therefore there is no obligation on for the particular number desired, but for other
the part of the dealer to assume any respon- sheet music and musical goods. Any publisher
sibility for placing before music purchasers new who produces a number that draws people into
issues of second-grade or mediocre caliber.' So a retail establishment should expect, and should
there can never be any over-production of popu- get, the dealer's support. His number or num-
lar songs that will confront the retailer as a bers should be given a conspicuous display.
When the question of a window showing arises
problem.
Probably there.are not half a dozen popu- the number which creates sales should, and gen-
lar publishing houses that can gain the co-opera- erally is given preference.
There may be any number of houses pub-
tion of the trade on a new issue on the mere
announcement of its release, and in these in- lishing popular music from the writer who
stances the support of the dealer is obtained issues his own composition, and the houses with
through the fact that such given popular houses one or two selections, to those who have a
have never failed to make the goods purchased representative catalog carrying popular ballads,
move. That is a good enough criterion for any love songs, fox-trots, waltzes and blues—every
business man in order to induce him to buy type of offering for the popular music lover.
But none of these numbers nor the publishers
goods and extend co-operation.
As a matter of fact, the majority of pur- issuing them can be successful without having
chases made by legitimate dealers and others created a demand for their offerings. Having
since the adoption of a thirty-cent retail price too many sources of supply does not make for
for popular prints has been based solely on de- over-production in the sense that the market
mand. There has been no complaint from pub- is flooded with non-saleable goods. Works of
lishers on this score and neither should there little or no merit are certainly not purchased
be. The successful popular publisher adheres in quantities and the few music counters that
to the view that a demand must be created for may be stuck with half a dozen copies of
ZIECFELD
o.
p.
o
o
March Victorious
(Metzger-Wright)
Pacific Patrol
(Metzger-Wright)
Reliance March
(Clifford)
Victorious Eagle
(Rosey)
American Beauty March
(Williams)
Order Through Jobber or Direct
Hinds, Hayden & Eldredge, Inc.
Publishers
New York City
nondescript songs do not make an over-pro-
duction problem for the popular music publish-
ing industry. There is no way to keep anyone
who is so minded from having printed what he
thinks is a good song. Neither is there any
law to make a dealer purchase songs merely
because they are printed. In fact, he doesn't
do it.
It is true that during the past two seasons
there have been plenty of musical offerings from
which to choose but no one distribution point
should have an over-supply of any material.
There has been a very good reason for the
issuance of a great many numbers. When
dance orchestras in the larger dance palaces can
play easily from thirty to close to 100 numbers
nightly they must have a wide variety of mel-
odies to keep from becoming stale and to give
a diversified entertainment during any given
week.
Ferruccio Busoni Dies
BERLIN, GERMANY, July 27.—Ferruccio Busoni,
famous pianist and composer, died here to-day.
He was well known in America, having made
several concert tours there. He had been pro-
fessor at the Rerlin Music Academy since 1920.
Previous to that he taught for years in Italy,
his native land.
FOLLIES
]b,- o:; o - • o :-ro;; o ; ,.-ro' ?6f?o =
An ado/able Fox Trot Ballad
and the best song in the show/
School, Lodge and
Gymnasium Marches
o'
6
M Pepped Up
All ft** 1 * the ntle implies- full of,
pep and a corking fast Fox Trot/
Lyrics by
jbsEPH
MCCARTHY
M.usic b y
TIERNEY
.
You cavtt
go \Vron<} will
any F E I S T
Solid"