[78-L] How did it work?

[Steven C. Barr]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "simmonssomer" <simmonssomer at comcast.net>
> The more ARC, Gennets, Orioles etc. I listen to, the more I wonder how 
> these
> tunes (if you can call some of them that) came to be recorded.
Don't you mean "Why?"
> In other words, how did the recording industry function?
> Did the publishers' salesmen call on record company execs and / 
> ororchestra
> leaders demonstrating their latest "hits?"
Prior to 193? (I'm trying to establish that date...?!) virtually all the 
record
companies franchised "dealers" to sell their,,,and ONLY their...machines
and records. At this time, record labels recorded various versions (vocal,
dance band, "salon orchestra." pipe organ, usw.) of ALL the songs they
guessed might become hits. These "dealers" seem to have received all
the label's releases (except those in specialized categories...i.e. race,
country, ethnic, usw.) on a regular (monthly?) basis...! Sometime in
the thirties, the concept of "multi-label" record dealers first appeared.
> Was there payola?
Probably not...records weren't played in radio until the mid-thirties (and
COULDN'T be legally!) and it wasn't until after WWII that the record
industry realized that air-play helped sell their product and started giving
free "promo" discs to radio stations/deejays...?!

> What was the relationship between the leaders and the publishing 
> companies?
>
The main aim of the publishers was to SELL SHEET MUSIC! It wasn't until
c.1940 that record sales became more important than the (disappearing) sale
of sheet music; Billboard magazine didn't start charting record sales until 
1942
(as a service to jukebox "operators" who wanted to know which discs would
draw more nickels?!).

> Did some of the leaders , depending on their popularity, make any 
> decisions.
> Did Columbia and Victor tell Whiteman or did he tell them?
>
In Whiteman's case I would suspect the latter; PW was one of the very few
bandleaders with a large enough following that his label was guaranteed a
substantial profit on each record he released! Otherwise, judging from the
vast number of "semi-anonymous" dance records (i.e. "Majestic DO, usw.)
virtually ALL record buyers were looking for favourite TUNES, not
artists...?! Grey Gull survived fairly well while issuing most (all for one
period) product anonymously...?!

> Were there A & R suits?
>
John Hammond was probably the first person to do that job (dunno if
he was identified with that title, though...?!). Again, record labels did 
their
best to issue ALL the songs they suspected might generate profits...up
until some unknown (to me) point in the mid-thirties...when record stores
ceased to be franchised dealerships for given label(s) and started trying
to carrt as many different records as possible...?!
> I can guess at some of these answers but would like to know from somebody
> who actually knows.
>
Who, sadly, AIN'T me...?!

Steven C. Barr