This makes sense. Now that I think about it, I have read many times about the small fees paid to artists on a per-recording basis. And certainly, Edison was not one for prizing artists to the point of desiring long-term contracts. It seems that his more devoted artists were drawn to their own sense of prestige for recording on the inventor's label (at least in the earlier days). Apart from that, Edison's staunchest artists must have been the ones who appealed most to Edison's record-buying clientele, making money for the Company and a steady if not lucrative income for themselves.
Thanks for your observation. Best, Andy On Sep 19, 2006, at 10:04 PM, Robert Wright wrote: > I tend to discount the fourth possibility based on my assumption > that only > Victor contracted (a few) artists long-term (and Columbia had a > few, like > Frank Crumit). From what I understand, all the other labels hired > performers for a fee per record, no contract as we know it today (I > remember > seeing a budget sheet from Edison that Jack Palmer was kind enough > to send > me, with a list of performers, recording matrices, and fees paid for > services rendered -- but it is a somewhat distant memory, > admittedly). This > one-time-payment practice, plus the fear of radio taking the jobs of > performing artists both live and on record, was the impetus for the > formation of ASCAP (to which the formation of BMI was radio's answer). > > I love a good mystery! Wonder if we'll get to the bottom of this one, > however. > > best, > r. > > > >> So there are four possibilities for these records with the unfinished >> edges(?): >> Tone Test record >> Test Pressing >> Factory Reject >> Cancelled artist contract resulting in a small number of records >> being unfinished because distribution has been cancelled. >> >> This last seems somewhat unlikely compared to the first three, and I >> only bring it up because of the same artist appearing on two >> different unfinished records. >> >> Andy >> > > _______________________________________________ > Phono-L mailing list > [email protected] > > Phono-L Archive > http://phono-l.oldcrank.org/archive/ > > Support Phono-L > http://www.cafepress.com/oldcrank
