Music Trade Review
Issue: 1921 Vol. 73 N. 10 - Page 47
Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
SEPTEMBER 3,
THE
1921
MUSIC
TRADE
47
REVIEW
FUTURE SHEET MUSIC PRICES
(Continued from page 45)
and also inasmuch as the syndicate stores have
seen lit to cut the retail price from 30 cents to
25 cents.
"I doubt if it would be advisable to raise the
wholesale prices at the present time, though such
a raise would be very beneficial.
"1 might say further that I think the dealers,
in their desire to force 100 per cent profit, are
making a very serious blunder, because if music
is to be retaiied at 25 cents their trying to force
the wholesale price to \2y 2 cents is simply going
to mean trouble. If the big publishers reduce
their wholesale price to \2 l /z cents some of the
small publishers will naturally reduce to 10 cents
or 11 cents, or possibly even less, and the syndi-
cate stores then, always being satisfied with a
smaller margin of profit than the dealer, will
possibly see fit to reduce their retail price to 20
cents, so the dealer isn't a particle better off than
he is to-day, because if once the price gets down
to 20 cents it is only a very small jump until
it gets into the 10-cent stores, which I think is
one of the most serious things which could hap-
pen."
Business Has Arrived at Turning Point
In commenting on the Fall situation Louis
Bernstein, the head of Shapiro, Bernstein & Co.,
said:
"it is customary for most business men when
writing about future prospects to be exceed-
ingly optimistic. However, about nine months
ago 1 became a regular pessimist, not based
merely on my own opinion, but on the opinion
of some very eminent bankers, both national and
international, whose views I listened to care-
fully in the matter and could not help but come
to the conclusion that business was going to the
dogs, and they certainly were right, because busi-
ness did go to the dogs since that time and has
been getting steadily worse until about two or
three weeks ago, when there came the sudden
turn that usually comes in the music industry.
"I have noticed in many years of experi-
ence that the music business slumps rapidly and
recovers rapidly. Whether the present sudden
recovery is merely a matter of just a little flurry
or whether it is the commencement of the per-
manent improvement no one living can tell or
correctly predict, but I frankly and honestly
believe that we have arrived at the turning in a
long lane and that the era of prosperity that was
Charley Straight and Roy Bargy s
Fox-trot Ballad Success
Published by
1
MeKinley Music Co.* -™
^Published by
Sherman,
lioSanr
San Fran cisc
ushered in a few weeks ago is just the com-
mencement and not merely a flurry.
"In the popular music industry publishers arc
going along at 100 per cent speed, unlike 99
per cent of the other industries of the country.
Demands are being created and the public is
commencing to buy. There has been a tre-
mendous increase also in the terrible slump
suffered by the mechanical reproducing inter-
ests. This is, of course, also an echo of the
change in the condition of affairs in the sheet
music business."
The Situation Summarized
Numerous other expressions were received,
all of vvhich tend to show that the prevailing
prices are permanent and must needs be under
present conditions.
Traveling men state that the dealers' slocks
are exceptionally low, if not practically de-
pleted, and the consensus of opinion soemingiy
is that too many are playing a "watchful wait-
ing" game which should soon give way to a
revival or at least a more active business.
Most popular numbers to-day are wholesaled
at a rate that allows the dealer to retail them at
25 cents a copy and when it is considered that
all of this is quick-turnover material the profits,
where there is activity, are liberal.
Regarding standard publications therf. will
seemingly be no attempt to decrease the price
and as a matter of fact the prices on such goods
have not varied in recent years to any great ex-
tent. Then, too, there has been no grea: slump
iii the demands for standard works—the usual
Summer inactivity and no more.
WOMAN MADE SALES MANAGER
Irene E. Richards Made Sales Manager of
Riviera Music Co.—First Woman in Music
Publishing Business to Head Sales Department
CHICAGO, I I I . , August 29.—After four years' as-
sociation with Forster, Music Publisher, Inc..
Irene E. Richards has resigned to take a finan-
cial interest in the Riviera Music Co., of this
city.
At a meeting of the board of directors of the
Riviera Co. Miss Richards was elected secre-
tary and made general sales manager.
This is the first instance in the music publish-
ing business, it is said, where a woman is at
the head of the sales department. With a large
following and her past experience in this particu
lar field Miss Richards is a valuable addition
to this progressive music firm.
BIG INCREASE IN ROYALTIES
That the efforts of the American Society of
Authors, Composers and Publishers in collect-
ing royalties due for the public performances
of the copyrighted music of its members have
proven very successful is indicated by the
amount of the second quarterly dividend for
1921 declared recently. The dividend was ap-
proximately 25 per cent more than that for the
first quarter of the year, and, in the case of what
are known as Class A publishers, amounted to
$1,000 each.
The Greatest Oriental Song
Ever Published
Starting to sweep the country
Featured by headllners all
over
(Fox-Trot)
By Al Le Bow and Ray Hibbeler
DEALERS—Be Prepared
Don't overlook these numbers
List'ring
(Fox-Trot)
"You Are The
Rose Of My Heart"
(Fox-Trot)
"Sunshine"
(Ballad)
12c Per Copy
Al Rose Music Pub. Co.
(Not Inc.)
3131* Douglas Blvd.,
Chicago
SEPTEMBER 3,
THE
1921
MUSIC
TRADE
47
REVIEW
FUTURE SHEET MUSIC PRICES
(Continued from page 45)
and also inasmuch as the syndicate stores have
seen lit to cut the retail price from 30 cents to
25 cents.
"I doubt if it would be advisable to raise the
wholesale prices at the present time, though such
a raise would be very beneficial.
"1 might say further that I think the dealers,
in their desire to force 100 per cent profit, are
making a very serious blunder, because if music
is to be retaiied at 25 cents their trying to force
the wholesale price to \2y 2 cents is simply going
to mean trouble. If the big publishers reduce
their wholesale price to \2 l /z cents some of the
small publishers will naturally reduce to 10 cents
or 11 cents, or possibly even less, and the syndi-
cate stores then, always being satisfied with a
smaller margin of profit than the dealer, will
possibly see fit to reduce their retail price to 20
cents, so the dealer isn't a particle better off than
he is to-day, because if once the price gets down
to 20 cents it is only a very small jump until
it gets into the 10-cent stores, which I think is
one of the most serious things which could hap-
pen."
Business Has Arrived at Turning Point
In commenting on the Fall situation Louis
Bernstein, the head of Shapiro, Bernstein & Co.,
said:
"it is customary for most business men when
writing about future prospects to be exceed-
ingly optimistic. However, about nine months
ago 1 became a regular pessimist, not based
merely on my own opinion, but on the opinion
of some very eminent bankers, both national and
international, whose views I listened to care-
fully in the matter and could not help but come
to the conclusion that business was going to the
dogs, and they certainly were right, because busi-
ness did go to the dogs since that time and has
been getting steadily worse until about two or
three weeks ago, when there came the sudden
turn that usually comes in the music industry.
"I have noticed in many years of experi-
ence that the music business slumps rapidly and
recovers rapidly. Whether the present sudden
recovery is merely a matter of just a little flurry
or whether it is the commencement of the per-
manent improvement no one living can tell or
correctly predict, but I frankly and honestly
believe that we have arrived at the turning in a
long lane and that the era of prosperity that was
Charley Straight and Roy Bargy s
Fox-trot Ballad Success
Published by
1
MeKinley Music Co.* -™
^Published by
Sherman,
lioSanr
San Fran cisc
ushered in a few weeks ago is just the com-
mencement and not merely a flurry.
"In the popular music industry publishers arc
going along at 100 per cent speed, unlike 99
per cent of the other industries of the country.
Demands are being created and the public is
commencing to buy. There has been a tre-
mendous increase also in the terrible slump
suffered by the mechanical reproducing inter-
ests. This is, of course, also an echo of the
change in the condition of affairs in the sheet
music business."
The Situation Summarized
Numerous other expressions were received,
all of vvhich tend to show that the prevailing
prices are permanent and must needs be under
present conditions.
Traveling men state that the dealers' slocks
are exceptionally low, if not practically de-
pleted, and the consensus of opinion soemingiy
is that too many are playing a "watchful wait-
ing" game which should soon give way to a
revival or at least a more active business.
Most popular numbers to-day are wholesaled
at a rate that allows the dealer to retail them at
25 cents a copy and when it is considered that
all of this is quick-turnover material the profits,
where there is activity, are liberal.
Regarding standard publications therf. will
seemingly be no attempt to decrease the price
and as a matter of fact the prices on such goods
have not varied in recent years to any great ex-
tent. Then, too, there has been no grea: slump
iii the demands for standard works—the usual
Summer inactivity and no more.
WOMAN MADE SALES MANAGER
Irene E. Richards Made Sales Manager of
Riviera Music Co.—First Woman in Music
Publishing Business to Head Sales Department
CHICAGO, I I I . , August 29.—After four years' as-
sociation with Forster, Music Publisher, Inc..
Irene E. Richards has resigned to take a finan-
cial interest in the Riviera Music Co., of this
city.
At a meeting of the board of directors of the
Riviera Co. Miss Richards was elected secre-
tary and made general sales manager.
This is the first instance in the music publish-
ing business, it is said, where a woman is at
the head of the sales department. With a large
following and her past experience in this particu
lar field Miss Richards is a valuable addition
to this progressive music firm.
BIG INCREASE IN ROYALTIES
That the efforts of the American Society of
Authors, Composers and Publishers in collect-
ing royalties due for the public performances
of the copyrighted music of its members have
proven very successful is indicated by the
amount of the second quarterly dividend for
1921 declared recently. The dividend was ap-
proximately 25 per cent more than that for the
first quarter of the year, and, in the case of what
are known as Class A publishers, amounted to
$1,000 each.
The Greatest Oriental Song
Ever Published
Starting to sweep the country
Featured by headllners all
over
(Fox-Trot)
By Al Le Bow and Ray Hibbeler
DEALERS—Be Prepared
Don't overlook these numbers
List'ring
(Fox-Trot)
"You Are The
Rose Of My Heart"
(Fox-Trot)
"Sunshine"
(Ballad)
12c Per Copy
Al Rose Music Pub. Co.
(Not Inc.)
3131* Douglas Blvd.,
Chicago
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