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IN THE WORLD OF MUSIC PUBLISHING
Conducted By V. D. Walsh
The Problems of the Present Which
Confront the Music Publishing Industry
Harold Flammer, President of the Music Publishers' Association of the United States,
Presents an Analysis of Conditions Existing Today
T
H E last two years have seen a decided
change in the music publishing industry.
Hand-to-mouth buying has been preva-
lent, and in fact continues to-day. The volume
of business done in 1926, while good, was spas-
modic, and the sudden spurts and let downs in
business during the year were such that it was
difficult to gage the market and keep publica-
tions in print. Nineteen hundred and twenty-
seven has started off with very little change
over 1926. Few concerns have shown any in-
crease in business over 1926 and therefore any
publishers who are showing a better sales record
and those who specialize in certain branches of
the industry will prosper more than those who
endeavor to cover all fields at once.
The public needs awakening. There is no
doubt of that. They are surfeited with music
morning, noon and night. Whereas one for-
merly listened to music with respect and quiet
attention, we now hear all kinds of music
belched forth from super-loud speakers placed in
open windows of drug stores and radio shops.
The result is that music is fed to us amid the
rumble* of traffic, and even in our homes radios
are rarely attentively listened to. Music at such
a time, when conversation is going on, is only
an irritation, and something must be done to
raise the respect of the public for music in it-
self.
Many of the publishers have begun to realize
the importance of educational music, particu-
larly in the schools. We have taken advantage
of this phase of our business to give the closest
attention to octavo music. This is a branch of
the industry which to my mind seems on solid
ground. The churches'continue and must have
music; the schools continue and must have
music.
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Many dealers who at one time were not at all
interested in octavo are now putting in octavo
departments and finding them very profitable.
Of course, there may come a tine when over-
production and competition will injure this
branch of the industry, as much as it has other
branches. But for the present it seems to me
the one branch of the industry which should be
given the most careful attention by every stand-
ard publisher and dealer.
Dealers who have not catered to octavo busi-
ness seem discouraged at the outlook of doing
business with eight, ten and twelve-cent items.
But samples of octavo take up little room and,
if well classified, will bring in quantity orders
ranging from five copies for quartets to five
hundred or a thousand copies for large choral
bodies, or community singing. Contests in
choral secular music, and seasonal sacred music
Mich as Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas,
are sources of additional business which many
dealers allow to slip into the hands of mail
order houses and publishers because they can
give no service to their customers along this line
or show any new material for selection.
In closing may I add a word of encourage-
ment to the dealer:? suggesting that they be fully
prepared to meet the demand of the public next
Fall when the season opens. If a dealer is in a
position to judge his needs with any certainty
for staple articles, it would benefit him to stock
up well. Hand-to-mouth buying only adds to
the overhead, injures service and loses cus-
tomers and sales.
Leo Feist, Inc., Will Observe Its
Thirtieth Anniversary During This Year
Famous Slogan, "You Can't Go Wrong With Any Feist Song," Adopted With First
Release of House, Now One of the Most Widely Known
T EO FEIST, INC., is this year celebrating
|
Harold Flammer
| *—* its thirtieth anniversary. It is interesting
without an increased overhead for the first five to note that the present-day Feist slogan, "You
Can't Go Wrong With Any Feist Song," was
months of this year are to be congratulated.
In my opinion, however, business is picking adopted with the advent of the first release of
up; in fact, the volume of business done by us in Feist popular prints,-which certainly establishes
the month of May without any particular drive a record in the music publication field.
The Feist slogan, by the way, is to-day
to stimulate it has been beyond all expectations,
widely accepted. After thirty years of use it
so that I consider the outlook for the rest of
is as familiar as the old "Smith Bros.," "Dutch
1927 as excellent.
Music publishing seems to run in cycles and Cleanser" and other well-known commercial
we often find in the standard end of the busi- names.
It is a remarkable tribute to the Feist or-
ness that all the publishers suddenly divert their
attention to certain types of music such as ganization that it has consistently adhered to
spirituals, Indian melodies, Tagore songs, etc., the high standards its slogan indicates. The
This is even more pronounced in the popular Feist organization has been responsible for
field with sudden outbursts of Mammy songs, tremendously popular hits season after season.
Mississippi, Alabama and Tennessee songs, In active or dull periods the firm carries out
vegetable songs, etc. It does not seem to me the same exploitation activities. It at all times
that the music industry is ever benefited by keeps its large basic organization intact and
publications of such so-called "timely" num- the larger portion of the Feist employes have
bers. There is every evidence at this writing been members of the organization for a long
that there will be at least 500 Lindbergh songs period of years. It continues at all times to
on the market before 1928; but when they have operate its numerous branch offices and in every
had their run no one's catalog will be any the center the Feist representatives are familiar to
richer for them. It is usually the slow-selling the theatres, the photoplay houses and to the
compositions which slowly build up year in and trade. And it might be said that invariably
they are welcome visitors.
year out that make for success.
Feist hits of the past few months are the out-
With the advent of radio and the attending
decrease in the sale of phonograph records, the standing successes "In a Little Spanjsh Town,"
publishing industry has been through a very "Sam, the Old Accordion Man," "If you See
trying time. Publishers must be alert to realize Sally," the song from "Rio Rita," "Honolulu
what these changes mean to business. On the Moon," "Thinking of You" and songs of like
caliber. More recently Feist has issued such
other hand, the great stimulus which has been
given to 'music through motion pictures has songs as "Lucky Lindy," "Love Is Just a Little
Bit of Heaven," "The Dixie Vagabond," "Lazy
been a tremendous boon to the industry.
This in my opinion is an era of specialists. Weather," "She's Got It," "Cheerie-Beerie-Be,"
31
"Oh, What a Pal Was Whoozis," "Collette" and
"There's a Trick in Pickin' a Chick-Chick-
Chicken."
4,000 Support Opera
The National Opera Guild, Inc., of 507 Fifth
avenue, formed several months ago to arrange
for the presentation in New York of standard
operas in English and to encourage American
singers and composers, announced recently
through its executive director, Semion Tomars,
that 4,000 members already had been obtained.
My Spirituals
By Eva A. Jessye
Editrd by Hugo Frey and Gordon Whyte
It is a book of ninety-six pages, con-
taining sixteen hitherto
unpublished
Negro Spirituals, bound in a handsome
cloth cover. This book is one of the
most important contributions to American
Folk Music in recent years. Every lover
of music will want and take pride in
owning this book.
LIST PRICE
$2.50
Reyular Dealer Discounts
ROBBINS Music CORPORATION
799 Seventh Avenue.New York
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