Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
IN THE WORLD OF MUSIC PUBLISHING
Conducted By V. D. Walsh
Popular Music in the Retail Music
Store Means Sales in Other Sections
Neglect of This Department by the Retail Music Merchant, as Shown in the Instance
of a Southern Dealer, Reflected in Sales of Other Departments
A WELL-KNOWN dealer of the old school in
^ • a Southern city recently gave a story to tin-
press in which he indicated that he personally
was shouldering the burden in his city of im-
proving the taste of music purchasers. He went
on to say, "While we keep jazz and light music
in stock it is not on display. It is stored at
the back out of sight and we never encourage
our customers to buy it. Frequently when
someone asks for a copy of light music (light
music mind you) I try to persuade him to buy
something more substantial, sometimes with the
result that the customer is so much pleased that
he will come back asking me to make another
selection for him."
Now this dealer prides himself on handling
talking machines, records, music rolls and musi-
cal instruments, but he takes greater pride be-
cause he specializes in music of the better grade.
Of course, a great number of his customers for
sheet music are teachers, organists and other
trained musicians.
He cannot be selling a very large number of
talking machine records unless he is handling
the popular dance selections and the popular
vocal numbers. He cannot be selling very many
harmonicas, ukuleles or saxophones, because he
discourages the prospective purchasers of these
instruments in buying popular music, and popu-
lar music and these instruments both have the
same appeal. They appeal not to organists or
trained musicians, but to the ambitious pro-
spective musician who, following the popular
road, may some day be a trained musician.
Of course, nobody would expect this old
school dealer to sell his teachers or his organ-
ists a particularly jazzy blues, but there are a
lot of popular pieces like "Spanish Town," "Be-
cause T Love You," "Sally," the songs from
such shows as "Rio Rita," "Peggy-Ann,"
"Honeymoon Lane," "Countess Maritza," and
"Rose-Marie," all of which are popular num-
bers, and others such as "Bye, Bye Blackbird,"
"Ting-a-Ling," "Lay My Head Beneath a Rose,"
"Always," "Barcelona," "Calling Me Home,"
"Drifting and Dreaming," "Idolizing," "That's
Why I Love You" and a long list of other good
clean "home" songs, which in their dance ar-
rangements are alluring fox-trots or waltzes,
music that appeals to the young and keeps them
at home or generally in good company.
You must have popular music if you want to
make sales to the great bulk of the younger
generation. You must encourage popular music
for those who are not acquainted with the bet-
ter type of music so that they may improve
their taste gradually for the better things. They
must start some place, and it is only the spe-
cially gifted and a comparatively select few
that are born with a desire for good music in
their earlier years.
How one can expect to sell a heavy volume
of talking machines and records and saxophones
and other small musical instruments to in-
dividuals not members of musical organizations
without taking into consideration popular music
is hard to figure out, for it is the popular things
that run up the sales total of this type of goods.
It is impossible for a music merchant to im-
prove the tastes of anyone just by merely shov-
ing popular music under the counter and trying
to foist off something that was not wanted in
the first place. The first thing a merchant
learns is to give, when possible, those things
that the customer wants. If you have not got
them, of course, it is wise to try and make a
sale with something else but to have merchan-
dise and discourage its sale is getting out of the
realm of good business practice. In fact, it is
just mere proselyting, not merchandising. Music
taste is not improved by any such activity and
its improvement is better left to teachers and
the orchestras, and others who are well able to
do such work without intrusion. A great deal
of the musical taste of this country has under-
gone a tremendous improvement in recent years
and that has been through the work of good or-
chestras in photoplay houses. Better music has
been presented by these organizations and taste
improved without the individual realizing that
he was being won over to the better things in
music.
No one would fight with a merchant for sell
ing standard music of all sorts, the books on
music, the biographies of the great masters, in-
struction books of all kinds, for this is desir-
able. But these sales are generally made to
people who have a desire for those things and
the sales of popular music are also made to
folks that want popular music, and generally
they do not want anything else. The old axiom
"you can lead a horse to water bul you can't
make him drink" holds true in a lot of things
in life and among these are "you cannot force
better type of music on people that have not
been aroused to a desire for these things."
Feist Production Songs
Having Wide Sale
Individual Numbers From "Rio Rita," "Lady
Do" and Other Productions Are Going
Well
Fhe catalog of Leo Feist, Inc., besides hav-
ing such important numbers as "In a Little
Spanish Town,'' "That's Why T Love You,"
"Take in the Sun and Hang Out the Moon"
(And Rock Me in a Cradle of Dreams), "Think-
ing of You," "Wistful and Blue" and other
popular successes, has numerous songs from
musical comedies, which are having a wide sale.
Some of the most important of these are the
songs froflii "Rio Rita," "Following the Sun
Around," "Tf You're in Love You'll Waltz,"
"Rio Rita" and "Kinkajou." In the new show
"Lady Do," Feist is publishing "Lady Do,"
"Dreamy Montmartre" and "Double Fifth Ave-
nue."
Tn its list of previous show numbers
that are still active, due to the fact that numer-
ous road shows are touring the country, are
the songs from "Blossom Time," and "Castles
in the Air."
In its semi-standard numbers are "Honest
and Truly," "Dorothy," "Calling Me Home,"
"Barcelona," "Alice Blue Gown," "Beside a
Garden Wall," "Adorable," "I Never Knew
How Wonderful You Were," "Your Heart
Looked Into Mine," "Sympathy Waltz" and
numbers of similar caliber. All these are doing
well.
Consult the Universal Want Directory of
The Review. In it advertisements are inserted
free of charge for men who desire positions.
39
Songs that Sell
Blue Skies
Irving Berlin
Here or There (As Long as I'm
With You)
Carolina Mine
Swanee River Trail
What Does It Matter
Irving Berlin
1 Never See Maggie Alone
That's My Hap-Hap-Happiness
My Sunday Girl
My Baby Knows How
Yankee Rose
C'est Vous
Some Day
Just a Little Longer—Irving Berlin
When the Red, Red Robin Comes
Bob, Bob, Bobbin' Along
Put Your Arms Where
They Belong
Always
Remember
^
I'm on My Way Home—
Irving Berlin
That's a Good Girl—Irving Berlin
I'm Tellin' the Birds
Tellin' the Bees
(How I Love You)
I'd C l i m b t h e H i g h e s t M o u n t a i n (If
1 Knew I'd Find You)
That's What I Call a Pal
So Will I
In the Middle of the Night
Because I Love You
Irving Berlin
At Peace With the World—
l'rving Berlin
How Many Times—Irving Berlin
I Never Knew What the Moonlight
Could Do
BOOKS THAT SELL
New Universal Dance Folio No. 12
Peterson's Ukulele Method
World's Favorite Songs
Tiddle De Ukes
Strum It With Crumit (Comic Uku-
lele Song Book)
IRVING BERLIN I,,,
1607 Broadway New York City
The "Alligator Crawl"
What is said to be a new rhythm in "blues"
has just been issued by the Triangle Music
Publishing Co. and called "Alligator Crawl."
The number has been specially arranged by
Frank L. Ventre, formerly a member of Charles
Dornberger's Orchestra. The number in sev-
eral try-outs given it by Joe Davis, head of
the Triangle Co., has caused favorable comment
justifying the publisher in entering it as one of
his "plug" songs of the Spring season in his
catalog.