Music Trade Review
Issue: 1918 Vol. 66 N. 21 - Page 13
Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
MAY
25, 1918
13
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
A DECADE OF PROGRESS—(Continued
essential in the school for training the child mind in music, for
furnishing accompaniments to folk dancing and athletics, and
for numerous other purposes. Schools in over half the cities
in the United States are equipped with talking machines of one
type or another, and music supervisors are showing a full ap-
preciation of the educational value of the machines and records.
In the home the talking machine is recognized not only as
a means for providing amusement, but as an educator, bringing
as it does the best of music of all kinds—the voices of noted
singers from the opera and concert stage, the playing of virtuosi
on practically every variety of instrument, and the charming
melodies wrought by bands and orchestras—right to the fire-
side. Owners of talking machines are now able to speak famil-
iarly of composers, artists, and their work, regarding which they
would be in deep ignorance had not the talking machine en-
abled them to hear, study and understand what music really
has to offer.
The talking machine companies, by spending millions of
dollars for advertising and by the organization of well-conducted
campaigns, have been successful in acquainting the public with
these facts. Talking machine manufacturers have not sold ma-
chines and records so much as they have sold music, and their
success is not due so much to mechanical achievement as to a
proper understanding of selling campaigns, and a willingness
to go into those campaigns in a big way.
Perhaps the greatest tribute to the talking machine in its
various forms, or rather to talking machine records, is the fact
that whereas some years ago prominent artists, when they did
sing before the recording machine, did so under an assumed
name, the most famous singers and virtuosi of the day are now
only too anxious to have the opportunity of recording their
voices not only for the present generation but for posterity, in-
cidentally profiting by the publicity given to their names and
their voices thereby.
Sheet Music Trade
Although there have been many changes in the sheet music
trade during the past decade, the trade nevertheless remains to
a surprising degree in about the same condition it was in in 1908,
so far as general methods go.
It was about ten years ago that there came the first break
in prices. Then there came the dropping out of the bottom in
the price market, so it seemed, until the low water mark was
reached. With the coming of the war, scarcity of paper, and in-
creased cost of production, prices were of necessity again ad-
vanced and now we find the great majority of the successful
songs selling wholesale at as much, or more, as songs of the
same type sold for ten or more years ago. The decade, however,
saw, with the lowering of prices, the curtailment of the power of
the legitimate dealer as a factor in the marketing of popular
music, and the temporary ascendency of the 10-cent store. With
the return of higher prices, however, the straight music dealer
is again coming into his own. The same period, too, witnessed
the placing of the various professional departments on a syste-
matic, businesslike basis, in a way to concentrate effort in more
consistent work, and to eliminate the faker. It has also seen,
through the efforts of the Music Publishers' Protective Associa-
tion, the eliminating of payments to professional singers for
featuring certain songs, an accomplishment which would have
been ridiculed as impossible ten years ago.
During the period, too, publishers have come and publishers
have gone but the leading houses of ten years ago are for the most
part still in business, and also to be ranked among the leaders.
from page
11)
Perhaps the most interesting development has been the pass-
ing of the Copyright Law in 1909, which gave to mechanical re-
producers of music the right under certain conditions to use
copyright music upon the payment of a fixed royalty of 2 cents,
and although both sides of the controversy had, from time to
time, condemned the provisions of the law as unfair to one or the
other, the fact remains that' the manufacturers of music rolls
and talking machine records have found practically the entire
world's store of music open to them on this new basis, while, on
the other hand, publishers have realized very satisfactory sums
from the mechanical rights to their works.
Along lines of efficiency and the interests of economy there
have been quite a number of things accomplished in the last few
years, chief among them the substitution of the regular lead
sheet for the professional copy, thereby making this free music
useless except for the trained musician, and also the elimination
of the loose third sheet in popular music, saving expense of paper,
printing, mailing and shipping, and on top of that offering the
advantage of having all the music before one by simply opening
the sheet.
There has been little change in the type of songs that are
favorites. The ballad is still with us—the same old ballad. The
ragtime of ten years ago was little different from the jazz of
to-day, and war songs that are so plentiful are to be considered
only as the product of circumstances and not as the basis of
song style.
Musical Merchandise
The greatest changes during the ten-year period are to be
found perhaps in the musical merchandise field, for, where
America in the past depended upon Europe for the bulk of her
musical merchandise, the breaking out of the war and the cut-
ting off of imports has thrown the country on her own re-
sources. Importers, of course, have suffered, and some of them
have practically gone out of business. The more progressive,
however, have turned to home products and substitutes wherever
possible, and it is a notable fact that instead of importing the
bulk of our band instruments, for instance, from Germany and
France, our band instrument factories are not only working at
top speed to supply our army and civilian wants, but are called
upon to ship a good proportion of their products abroad, which
means a shifting of the trade balance to the-tune of several hun-
dreds of thousands of dollars a year, and this merely as a be-
ginning.
In Conclusion
Commercially, then, the music business in all its branches
has expanded marvelously. Technically it has improved
markedly in all directions. Wherever one looks the prospects
for future development are not less astonishing. Plainly, one
reason above all must be alleged to account for all this. The
musical taste of the public has wonderfully improved. This is
a basic fact and at this present moment gives us cause for re-
joicing at a time when some are inclined to feel gloomy over the
immediate prospects of the future. The American people will
be made more serious and therefore more truly music-loving
by the stern trials of war. Let us remember this and let us re-
member likewise that every fact that can be gathered pertinent
to it shows plainly that all our efforts should be directed towards
heightening and developing the more serious and the more en-
lightened aspects of public taste, whether in music, pianos, play-
ers or talking machines. We have before us an unlimited future.
MAY
25, 1918
13
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
A DECADE OF PROGRESS—(Continued
essential in the school for training the child mind in music, for
furnishing accompaniments to folk dancing and athletics, and
for numerous other purposes. Schools in over half the cities
in the United States are equipped with talking machines of one
type or another, and music supervisors are showing a full ap-
preciation of the educational value of the machines and records.
In the home the talking machine is recognized not only as
a means for providing amusement, but as an educator, bringing
as it does the best of music of all kinds—the voices of noted
singers from the opera and concert stage, the playing of virtuosi
on practically every variety of instrument, and the charming
melodies wrought by bands and orchestras—right to the fire-
side. Owners of talking machines are now able to speak famil-
iarly of composers, artists, and their work, regarding which they
would be in deep ignorance had not the talking machine en-
abled them to hear, study and understand what music really
has to offer.
The talking machine companies, by spending millions of
dollars for advertising and by the organization of well-conducted
campaigns, have been successful in acquainting the public with
these facts. Talking machine manufacturers have not sold ma-
chines and records so much as they have sold music, and their
success is not due so much to mechanical achievement as to a
proper understanding of selling campaigns, and a willingness
to go into those campaigns in a big way.
Perhaps the greatest tribute to the talking machine in its
various forms, or rather to talking machine records, is the fact
that whereas some years ago prominent artists, when they did
sing before the recording machine, did so under an assumed
name, the most famous singers and virtuosi of the day are now
only too anxious to have the opportunity of recording their
voices not only for the present generation but for posterity, in-
cidentally profiting by the publicity given to their names and
their voices thereby.
Sheet Music Trade
Although there have been many changes in the sheet music
trade during the past decade, the trade nevertheless remains to
a surprising degree in about the same condition it was in in 1908,
so far as general methods go.
It was about ten years ago that there came the first break
in prices. Then there came the dropping out of the bottom in
the price market, so it seemed, until the low water mark was
reached. With the coming of the war, scarcity of paper, and in-
creased cost of production, prices were of necessity again ad-
vanced and now we find the great majority of the successful
songs selling wholesale at as much, or more, as songs of the
same type sold for ten or more years ago. The decade, however,
saw, with the lowering of prices, the curtailment of the power of
the legitimate dealer as a factor in the marketing of popular
music, and the temporary ascendency of the 10-cent store. With
the return of higher prices, however, the straight music dealer
is again coming into his own. The same period, too, witnessed
the placing of the various professional departments on a syste-
matic, businesslike basis, in a way to concentrate effort in more
consistent work, and to eliminate the faker. It has also seen,
through the efforts of the Music Publishers' Protective Associa-
tion, the eliminating of payments to professional singers for
featuring certain songs, an accomplishment which would have
been ridiculed as impossible ten years ago.
During the period, too, publishers have come and publishers
have gone but the leading houses of ten years ago are for the most
part still in business, and also to be ranked among the leaders.
from page
11)
Perhaps the most interesting development has been the pass-
ing of the Copyright Law in 1909, which gave to mechanical re-
producers of music the right under certain conditions to use
copyright music upon the payment of a fixed royalty of 2 cents,
and although both sides of the controversy had, from time to
time, condemned the provisions of the law as unfair to one or the
other, the fact remains that' the manufacturers of music rolls
and talking machine records have found practically the entire
world's store of music open to them on this new basis, while, on
the other hand, publishers have realized very satisfactory sums
from the mechanical rights to their works.
Along lines of efficiency and the interests of economy there
have been quite a number of things accomplished in the last few
years, chief among them the substitution of the regular lead
sheet for the professional copy, thereby making this free music
useless except for the trained musician, and also the elimination
of the loose third sheet in popular music, saving expense of paper,
printing, mailing and shipping, and on top of that offering the
advantage of having all the music before one by simply opening
the sheet.
There has been little change in the type of songs that are
favorites. The ballad is still with us—the same old ballad. The
ragtime of ten years ago was little different from the jazz of
to-day, and war songs that are so plentiful are to be considered
only as the product of circumstances and not as the basis of
song style.
Musical Merchandise
The greatest changes during the ten-year period are to be
found perhaps in the musical merchandise field, for, where
America in the past depended upon Europe for the bulk of her
musical merchandise, the breaking out of the war and the cut-
ting off of imports has thrown the country on her own re-
sources. Importers, of course, have suffered, and some of them
have practically gone out of business. The more progressive,
however, have turned to home products and substitutes wherever
possible, and it is a notable fact that instead of importing the
bulk of our band instruments, for instance, from Germany and
France, our band instrument factories are not only working at
top speed to supply our army and civilian wants, but are called
upon to ship a good proportion of their products abroad, which
means a shifting of the trade balance to the-tune of several hun-
dreds of thousands of dollars a year, and this merely as a be-
ginning.
In Conclusion
Commercially, then, the music business in all its branches
has expanded marvelously. Technically it has improved
markedly in all directions. Wherever one looks the prospects
for future development are not less astonishing. Plainly, one
reason above all must be alleged to account for all this. The
musical taste of the public has wonderfully improved. This is
a basic fact and at this present moment gives us cause for re-
joicing at a time when some are inclined to feel gloomy over the
immediate prospects of the future. The American people will
be made more serious and therefore more truly music-loving
by the stern trials of war. Let us remember this and let us re-
member likewise that every fact that can be gathered pertinent
to it shows plainly that all our efforts should be directed towards
heightening and developing the more serious and the more en-
lightened aspects of public taste, whether in music, pianos, play-
ers or talking machines. We have before us an unlimited future.
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