Th Copyright Broadcasting Again HE question of the responsibility of the broadcaster to the creator of the material used is raised again in the Federal Courts, and Judge Knox has given a preliminary opinion which seems rather to confuse than to clear up the issues. Jerome H. Remick & Company, music publishers, brought suit to prevent the General Electric Company from broadcasting copyrighted songs and music. The broadcasting was done by having a receiver in the New Kenmore Hotel in Albany, where the orchestra was playing the copyrighted piece. The General Electric Company has asked for dismissal of the case, but, in denying that, Judge Knox said that, in his opinion, the decision would depend on whether the performance which had been broadcasted had been properly arranged for. If public playing of the music had been properly arranged for, the broadcaster, in his opinion, did not infringe by carrying it to a larger audience. "So far as practical results are concerned, the broadcaster of the authorized performance of a copyrighted musical selection does little more than the mechanic who rigs an amplifier or loud speaker in a large auditorium to the end that persons in remote sections of the hall may hear what transpires upon its stage or rostrum. Such broadcasting merely gives the authorized performer a larger audience and is not to be regarded as a separate and distinct performance of the copyrighted composition. If a broadcaster procures an unauthorized performance of a copyrighted musical composition to be given, and for his own profit makes the same available to the public, he is, in my judgment, to be regarded as an infringer. It may also be that he becomes a contributory infringer in the event he broadcasts the unauthorized performance by another of a copyrighted musical composition." The means by which a composer of music obtains the return from his work are so little understood that a case such as this one is not easily followed by the general public. Perhaps twenty years ago writers of popular music obtained their incomes, first, from selling it to musical shows and, second, by selling the sheet music. The player-pianos and phonographs came in and made a new distributing agency, and the Copyright Law of 1909 specifically provided for the composers' obtaining royalty on these productions. Soon after that, the cabaret shows developed, and later the moving picture houses put in orchestras. The cabarets proceeded to take the music that was most popular at the big musical shows and to use it without payment in order to attract custom to their own halls. This was immediately detrimental to the value of the music as a theater performance, and the authors organized to collect on such use of their product. It is quite obvious that for the composer or his publisher to sell one sheet of music to the orchestra for its own use and orchestration would bring no adequate returns for the value provided by the composer. The Composers' Society began to collect by establishing a fee for different types of cabarets and hotel orchestras and by setting a fee for moving picture houses, based on the size of the house-10 cents per seat per year for all the music controlled by the society. Such a method was especially necessary at the moving picture houses, where the performers often play music from memory without having purchased a single sheet of music. The hotels and moving picture houses have continuously fought against paying anything for the music they use, and, altho the principle has not been invalidated, the difficulties of collecting have been great. An understanding of this situation is necessary in order to understand the opinion of Judge Knox, who says that the extension of the audience would not mean further recognition of the author's rights. In the case of the moving picture house, it can be pointed out that the larger the house, the larger the fee, tho it is a very small fee per seat. It would be obviously impossible to get 10 cents per year from the listeners-in on broadcasting, and the composer must get his income in some other way. The broadcasting programs have cut down the business of cabarets and moving picture houses using music and decreased the sale of sheet music. If there is no return to the composer from the broadcasting use, he is going to. suffer a decided loss. It is these facts that make the present attack on the fundamental principles of copyright, so serious for the composer. The question as to the copyright of printed matter spoken over the broadcasting instrument is one that affects all writers. The present law does not protect writing as it does music from public performance. An editorial by Frank Crane could be put out over the wires on the same night it appeared in the newspapers without any infringement of copyright, and yet the damage to Mr. Crane's rights would be very great. Editorials, foreign despatches, Edgar Guest poems, all such syndicated material is suitable for broadcasting programs, and, if the creator of the material is not properly protected, he is due to suffer a very considerable financial loss. It is this analogy between the situation of music and of literary material which makes this case of copyright so important to the publishing world. THE Rotary and Reading HE great interest of the Rotarians in boys is rapidly spreading to include an enthusiastic interest in boys' reading and the facilities which the community supplies to the boys who want to read. The big New York Rotary Club has been especially active in this and has had the advantage of having John Martin on its committee on boys' work. Last year this committee published a tentative list of books suggested for boys, and a special committee including John Martin, Myron T. Scudder and James Roe has been giving close attention to the problem of a more complete list which is now about to be published. A list of 250 books is to be printed under the heading, "Good Books for Boys. A Guide for Those Who Know the Necessity of Good Books for Our Boys." The list includes 50 titles for boys of from 4 to 8; 100 for boys of 8 to 12; and 100 for boys of 12 to 16. It includes the books of over 40 publishers. The list will be printed without annotations, but with publisher's name and price, and will be attractively decorated with a cover in two colors. The New York Club is printing 10,000 copies for a first edition, and is sending copies free to the president and secretary of 1800 Rotary Clubs. With each one of these is to be sent one of the cards prepared by the Year Round Bookselling Movement with the heading, "Let Us Read Together," a card prepared for just such a campaign. The proposal is to be made to other Rotary Clubs, and a large edition will probably be printed and sold to such clubs at cost for use among the boys' work committees. This movement will be a most valuable episode in the fostering of children's reading. "The colyum has drifted into decadence. After all, how can one be clever every day?" -Doctor Clifford Smythe in the International Book Review. The colyum can not live alway, Tho colyumists be gay and blithe, We can't be clever every day, Nay, nay, says learned Doctor Smythe. It can't be sunny every day; Into each life some rain must fall; One can't be always bright and gay, So why should one be bright at all? Our end we can not long delay, For madly as we frisk and frolic, We can't be clever every day, It's mortal to be melancholic. Our colyums all have feet of clay; The stern old critic with the scythe. Like grasshoppers so fat at play, Procrastination is time's thief. We can't be clever every day; So let's make hay while shines the pun, Gather we wheezes while we may, The frost will soon be on our fun. Keith Preston in The Chicago Daily News. FIFTEEN GAY TROOPS OF "HOBBY RIDERS" HAVE BEEN COSTUMED AND MOUNTED BY International Book List IF the proposal of Dr. Hagberg Wright of the London Library should be finally accepted for a Committee on Intellectual Cooperation by the League of Nations, there would be published each year under proper editorial supervision a list of 600 books representing the world's most important publishing, during the twelve months. Such a plan has been approved by a subcommittee and now goes before the Plenary Council. According to the plan, each country would contribute to the general list according to its total output of books, and Dr. Wright estimates that a country which publishes 10,000 books a year would have 40 books on the list and others pro rata. This would make the United States proportion about 32 books a year. He has suggested that the selection should be made by the librarians of the country involved. The subjects especially important to consider are history, economics, political science, art, science, typography, travel, literature, theology, philosophy and works of reference. The list would be submitted not later than March 1st, published on June 1st and sold for about 2s. 6d. to cover expenses. Books Needed for Mexico THE HE visit to the United States of the President-elect of Mexico during the past week has renewed public interest in the republic to the south and has attracted increased attention in the book and library circles to the great strides that Mexico is making in educational fields. Under President Obregon, the appropriation for educational purposes was increased tenfold, and there is little doubt that President Calles will continue or extend this emphasis. It might almost be said that education has become the religion of Mexico. Men and women of the educated classes are cheerfully devoting their time and energy, at great sacrifice, to educational projects, planning new school systems and serving as pioneers in taking education to the distant valleys. Such progress means a great deal in unifying the country, increasing its sense of self-respect and making it a neighbor of even more friendly relationships. A group of people has organized as "The Friends of Mexico" to see if the United States can't take a more active part in helping the forward-minded groups in the neighboring country. Such men as Thomas Mott Osborne, George Foster Peabody, Frank Tannenbaum and others are taking Census of Music Publishing THE Department of Commerce has just released the data in connection with the 1923 census of music printing and publishing. These figures show 4.1 per cent increase over the previous census year of 1921. printing than formerly, and, as now organThere are less firms doing their own ized, more than half the firms have their printing done outside of their own offices. As would be expected, New York is the center of the industry with 48 establishments, Illinois second with 17 and Massachusetts third with 10. The figures are as follows: part in this movement. They point out MRS. NOLAN, the only woman repre quite rightly that the United States has drawn wealth and riches from Mexico and in turn has given her very little. They suggest that the new impulse in education in Mexico offers an especially favorable opportunity for giving aid and encouragement that will count. One project is to organize a library of American books for the City of Mexico. The Department of Education has agreed to house it and maintain this library as a separate unit in Mexico City. It would there serve all those who read English and the increasing number who are learning English, as it is now a required language, even in all the elementary schools. Americans who can give to this project either money or books, particularly books, should send packages to the Library for Mexico at II Broadway, New York City. Educational and reference books will be especially acceptable, but any works in biography, fiction, poetry, history, economics, science, technology or the like are needed. sentative in Congress, has come out strongly for price standardization bills and is quoted in a recent interview as saying: "I have in my possession a list of women's clubs which have passed resolutions officially endorsing standard price legislation. It includes two hundred well-known organizations situated all over the United States and representing almost every state in the Union. "Legitimate price changes," she says, "seldom come suddenly. They are due to fundamental changes in production and distribution. Sudden retail price reductions are almost invariably due to an effort to attract trade by selling standard articles sufficiently below the normal price to create a sensation. The merchant loses on the sale of these popular articles, but he more than makes up on the loss on sales of unadvertised and unknown goods upon which the merchant can safely tack an exorbitant profit and which the consumer buys under the false impression that they are equal bargains. In the end the consumer loses." November 8, 1924 TH Book Market Tips HE hopes of discovering the identity of the mysterious E. Barrington, author of "The Ladies," "The Gallants" and "The Divine Lady" have again been shattered. The Atlantic Monthly Press, at the request of the author, denies that Mrs. Emilie Barrington, sister-in-law of Walter Bagehot, is the E. Barrington. They say that the author of "The Ladies" is a totally different person, unconnected in any way with Mrs. Emilie Barrington. a AMY LOWELL'S "John Keats" will be published in November. The nucleus of the biography was a commemorative address on the one hundredth anniversary of Keats's death, delivered at Yale University in February, 1921. So much unpublished material was then discovered by Miss Lowell that she continued her researches and has expanded the hour's lecture into a complete been Miss Lowell has biography. Keats collector for many years and has one of the largest, if not the largest collection of Keats material in existence. Reproductions of some of this rare material will form one of the appendices of the book, including the first draft and first copy of "The Ode to Autumn"; the first draft of the "On Looking Into Chapman's Homer"; unknown and canceled passages from "Lamia"; some unpublished or only partly published poems. JOSEPH CONRAD'S American publishers, Doubleday, Page and Company, announce that G. Jean-Aubry, the distinguished critic whose translations of Conrad's works into French are well known on the continent, is preparing, with the approval of the executors, an authorized collection of Conrad's letters. Jean-Aubry was a close personal friend of the great novelist, and is editor-in-chief of the French translations of Conrad's works, of which he will bring out eventually a complete edition. The executors of Conrad's estate, who under the copyright laws are sole owners of the copyright to all unpublished letters, are especially desirous that none of his letters shall be published either in magazine or in volume form prior to the publication of the authorized edition. A CURRENT REPORT from the German book market says that the Tarzan books are the best selling titles in middle Europe. The doctrine of the superman is going forth in American style. THE WOMANS PRESS publishes annually a calendar that contributes materially to book interest. It is entitled "The Modern Readers Calendar," and consists of appropriate excerpts from many modern authors. Calendars of this type are excellent for the shop bulletin board. ARTHUR S. HILDEBRAND, author of “Blue Water" of last season, has brought out this year a new volume, a biography of "Ma gellan: His Life and Adventure by Land and Sea." CUNNINGHAME GRAHAM, whose work is in some favor with the collector, is having published by the Dial Press a reissue of his life of "Bernando De Soto." Both these volumes seem to show a present-day interest in the great age of discovery. AN EXCELLENT and brief book on French literature has just been published by Knopf, entitled "An Outline History of French Literature." It is compiled in a form that will make it valuable to the bookseller as a reference book, and as an aid in selling books of French literature. CROWELL has just published a handy volume edition of Roget's "Treasury of Words." This will be important news to cross word puzzlers as the price is $1.00. SIMULTANEOUSLY two leading magazines for girls have opened book departments for the discussion and stimulation of reading. In the American Girl, published by the Girl Scouts, a page is now regularly conducted by Mae Lamberton Becker of the Saturday Review and in Everygirl's a page is conducted by Mildred C. Smith of the Publishers' Weekly. Both these magazines have been giving strong support to the general discussion of reading and girls' home libraries, and the editors believe that their readers will find very genuine interest in a book page built to cover their own special interest. |