Music Trade Review

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38
THE
MUSIC
TRADE
REVIEW
JANUARY 10, 1925
IN THE WORLD OF MUSIC PUBLISHING
Conducted By V. D. Walsh
Sheet Music Dealers' Association
Completes Plans for Clearing House
SONGS THAT SELL
Thomas J. Donlan, Secretary-Treasurer of Association, Outlines New Service Which Is to Be
Conducted Under the Auspices of the Music Industries Chamber of Commerce
C*OR some time past there has been discussed
by sheet music dealers, both in and out of
association ranks, the advisability of establishing
some sort of a central bureau or clearing house
through which little known music of various
types might be ordered or through which it
would be possible for dealers to secure quick
and accurate information as to where such music
might be obtained.
An attempt was made last year by a prom-
inent music jobber to establish a so-called guide
or general catalog of both popular and standard
music in which would be listed the publications
of all the various houses in the trade, so that
the information would he available to the dealer
readily and promptly, but although he accom-
plished much of practical value in his effort, it
has been felt that the general catalog idea might
be carried out to even greater lengths in the
future.
The ordinary popular prints and the better-
known standard numbers can be checked easily
by the dealer, for the lists of such selections
are quickly available and he is kept more or
less familiar with them. When one of his cus
tomers, however, demands a little known selec-
tion the owner is often required to write to two
or three sources before he can find the name of
the publisher, if at all, and then must place an
order, all of which takes time and considerable
expense. In fact, two letters written regard-
ing any single piece of sheet music eats up any
possible profits that may accrue from the sale,
which will then be considered in the light of
service to the customer and the promoter of
future business.
It is pointed out that in Germany, for in-
stance, there is available a complete general
catalog of all sheet music published, which
makes it a simple matter for the dealer to
order a number quickly and easily instead of
having it the most difficult part of his work,
as in this country. Even here in the book trade
there is published a general catalog carrying all
publications as issued, and it is estimated that
there are quite as many books published in the
course of a year as there are copies of sheet
music.
In the furtherance of this idea of a clearing
house for sheet music Thomas J. Donlan, sec-
retary-treasurer of the National Association of
Sheet Music Dealers, has sent out a letter to
the trade in which he announces that plans have
been completed for the conduct of such a clear-
ing house under the auspices of the Music In-
dustries Chamber of Commerce, and also for
credit and collection bureaus under the same
auspices, to co-operate with dealers in checking
the inroads of deadbeats and poor credit risks
whose activities constitute a material drain on
the trade, both wholesale and retail.
In the matter of credits it appears that cer-
tain concerns have peculiar views, one hesitat-
ing to participate at the moment for the reason
that its losses on bad accounts represented only
one-half of 1 per cent of the annual business.
When it is considered, however, that the net
profit of the business was less than 10 per cent,
that same loss represented over 5 per cent of
said net profit, a very material figure.
Mr. Donlan's letter explaining the plans of the
clearing house and the credit and collection
bureaus reads:
"The long-desired clearing house and general
information bureau for the retail sheet music
trade can be established early this year. A gen-
eral index of American music publications and
a retail credit rating and collection bureau will
be included in this establishment.
"The success of this forward step for the
sheet music trade is entirely dependent upon the
response from association members in the form
of subscriptions to the service. The general
index will first be in the form of a card system
in the clearing house. A printed catalog will
become a possibility after the card index is far
enough developed. In the meantime, informa-
tion concerning any publication will be supplied
on request to all subscribers to the clearing
house. All new publications will be listed on
cards as soon as they appear. Information con-
cerning foreign music publications will be sup-
plied if obtainable. Orders for miscellaneous
publications will be filled by the clearing house
or transferred to the proper publishers or im-
porters if desired. Foreign music that is not
obtainable in this country will be imported.
"The Credit Rating Bureau will distribute
once a month an alphabetical list of names and
last-known addresses of all delinquent debtors
reported during the preceding month, stating
the amount due from each delinquent.
"The Collection Bureau will endeavor to col-
lect all overdue accounts placed by subscribers
for collection, also such claims as may be handed
in for collection with the request that listing be
deferred until the delinquent has been asked to
pay.
"Information on all other matters pertaining
to the sheet music business will be systemati-
cally compiled and made available to subscribers
with a view to giving all possible assistance and
protection and reducing to a minimum the work
and worry in the carrying on of business, also
to increasing the volume of sheet music sales.
"The clearing house will be conducted under
the direction of the Music Industries Chamber
of Commerce, which has similar bureaus in sue-
ressful operation for the other branches of the
music industry.
"The operating of this new association activ-
ity will require the services of experienced
workers. As the present income of the National
Association of Sheet Music Dealers is inade-
quate for the financing of the project each mem-
ber who wishes to use the service is asked to
subscribe five dollars ($5) per month in accord-
ance with the resolution adopted by the associa-
tion in convention June 10, 1924. As soon as
enough subscriptions have been received the
clearing house will start operating.
"Ever since the association was organized
there has been an insistent demand for a clear-
ing house, a retail credit rating and collection
bureau and a general catalog.
"With the above-mentioned trade association
actively functioning the National Association of
Sheet Music Dealers will no longer be a trade
association in name only, but a real, live, active
organization."
Attached to the letter is a subscription blank
for the use of dealers who desire to participate
in the activities and the benefits of the pro-
posed new work.
Consult the Universal Want Directory of
The Review. In it advertisements are inserted
free of charge for men who desire positions.
All Alone (New), by Irving Berlin
Oh, Mabel (New)
. - ^;-
Charley, My Boy
Seventeen (New)
What'll I Do?
Show Me the Way (New)
Driftwood
Take Me (New)
I Ain't Got Nobody to Love
1 Can't Get the One I Want
Morning (Won't You Ever Come Round?)
Get Yourself a Broom (New)
When I was the Dandy and You Were
the Belle
—
—
BOOKS THAT SELL
TIDDLE DE UKES — Comic Songs for
the Ukulele
Universal
Dance Folio No. 8
X
Special 1925 Edition
Peterson's Ukulele Method
World's Favorite Songs
4th MUSIC BOX REVUE, 1925
—
In the Shade of a Sheltering Tree
Tell Her in the Springtime
Listening
The Call of the South
Tokio Blues
Rock-a-bye Baby
DIXIE TO BROADWAY
—
Mandy, Make Up Your Mind
Dixie Dreams
I'm a Little Blackbird
Hits from TOPSY and EVA
Rememb'ring
I Never Had a Mammy
IRVING BERLIN, Inc.
1607 Broadway, New York
Marks Orchestra Drive
With the opening of the new year the Edward
B. Marks Music Co. has placed in operation an
intensive orchestra campaign on several song
and dance selections, including "I Never Knew
How Much I Loved You," a fox-trot ballad;
"Way Down Home," Walter Donaldson's latest
Southern song; "Sob Sister Sadie," by the
writers of "Hard Hearted Hannah," and a nov-
elty blues fox-trot called "There'll Be Some
Changes Made." The orchestrations of all these
numbers have been arranged by C. E. Wheeler.
M. H. Hall Dies
On December 26 Milton Henry Hall, a popu-
lar minstrel of two decades ago and writer of
"Down Where the Cotton Blossoms Grow" and
"Cuban Star March," died in Denver, Colorado.
Despite his earlier honors and success he died
a very poor man.