[78-L] Sinatra and other singers and the 1942-1944 AFM ban

[David Weiner]

Some of it had to do with logistics - the bands and singers had to be
within reach of NY, LA or Chicago in June-July 1942 in order to cut
sessions for the majors before the deadline.  And none of the labels
envisioned the ban continuing for 2-1/2 years! No amount of stockpiling
could cover that time frame.

On 1/1/14 2:24 PM, "Mark Bardenwerper" <citrogsa at charter.net> wrote:

>On 1/1/2014 1:08 PM, Julian Vein wrote:
>> On 01/01/14 18:20, Jeff Lichtman wrote:
>>>> Were the artists under some legal
>>>> obligation to the record companies to fulfill a contract before the
>>>> deadline? If not, then it seems it wasn't in the artists' interests to
>>>> do this. It would have defeated the purpose of the ban. Wouldn't they
>>>> have wanted the action to be have been felt immediately? If say,
>>>> coalminers vote to go on strike, they are unlikely to build up stocks
>>>> before doing so.
>>>>
>>>>        Julian Vein
>>> This is true at a group level - the ban would have been more
>>>immediately effective if the record companies hadn't had a stockpile of
>>>new material. However, it was in the short-term selfish interest of
>>>each individual performer to get as much money in the bank before the
>>>ban went into effect. A strike requires a bunch of people to endure
>>>short-term individual hardship for the long-term good of everyone in
>>>the group. There is always the temptation to "cheat" - to let others in
>>>the group carry the burden. Unions have ways to prevent this when a
>>>strike is actually happening (bad things happen to scabs). But there is
>>>no enforcement mechanism before a strike is declared, so union members
>>>are freer to put their individual interests ahead of the group.
>>>
>>>
>>>                          -        Jeff Lichtman
>>>                
>> ==========================
>> Jeff,
>> I guess that was the answer I was expecting, although there is another,
>> possible, explanation. It could be that many of the musicians, or at
>> least the bandleaders, were opposed to the ban.
>>
>>        Julian Vein
>>
>
>Were there some small labels that defied the ban? What about Elite
>(Hit)? Were there others?
>
>Hit was sort of hit and run, no?
>
>-- 
>Mark L. Bardenwerper, Sr.
>
>Technology...thoughtfully, responsibly.
>
>Visit me at http://citroen.cappyfabrics.com
>
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