Jasper County Democrat, Volume 4, Number 15, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 July 1901 — GOOD POPULAR SONGS SCARCER [ARTICLE]

GOOD POPULAR SONGS SCARCER

Great Hit* Few Nowaday*, Although Music Publishers Are Hustling. “It is singular, but true,” said ft music publisher, “that there are very few big hits In popular songs nowadays, that is, tongs that have reached the million mark in sales such as ‘After the Ball,’ ‘Annie Rooney,’ 'Daisy Bell,* ‘Down Went McGlnty,’ ‘Two Little Girls in Blue’ and ‘Comrades.’ Many songs published since then have been very popular, to be sure, but they cannot be compared with the old-timers. "Many dealers have asked me the cause of this, but thus far I have been unable to explain it satisfactorily. It Is all the stranger when you take into consideration the fact that there are more singers and better facilities for pushing songs than in former years. “Years ago a good song would force itself upon the public. At, present a publisher has to humor the singers and do a lot of hustling. Some of the top liners require pay to sing songs. In the old days they were only too glad to get a good ballad. To cater to the whims of the singers a publisher must have at least three pianos in his establishment, employ expert players and vocalists to teach the songs, print professional cards and do a thousand other things. You see the competition is keen aud if you should hurt the feelings of any singer, especially a man or woman of reputation, you will have considerable trouble in making your songs popular. "Publishers have to take a lot of chances too. For instance, to popularize a song you must have slides made for stereopticou views. This costs quite a Kim. One publisher spent s4o® to take pictures for a set of slides for the song ‘Sing Again That Sweet Refrnin.* lie had to bmploy a troup of colored minstrels, a baud and a hall. Fortunately the song made money and he did not lose anything. There are other things to contend with, too, such as lawsuits, etc. There was a dispute over the ownership of one song, for Instance. After fighting in the courts for some time one of the firms concerned compromised by paying the other $2,000 in cash and the costs of the suit.”—New York Sun.