<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
<META content="MSHTML 5.50.4522.1800" name=GENERATOR>
<STYLE></STYLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY bgColor=#ffffff>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>It was during World War II that a company in New
Jersey started publishing <BR>Tune Dex cards. These were songs printed on small
index cards. All royalties <BR>were paid and the publishers' names were
prominently displayed at the bottom <BR>of each card. Each tune had melody,
chords (from the sheet music) and <BR>lyrics. No guarantee that the harmonies
were correct. Jazz guys used to put <BR>down a player with the expression "he
plays tune-dex chords".</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Some "rocket scientist" with a printing press
decided to "gang up" the <BR>cards, (print more than one on a page), so they
would fit on 8.5 x 11 paper. <BR>The paper was three hole punched and put into
loose leaf folders. The book <BR>did not have a name, no title, but it did have
a slightly inaccurate table <BR>of contents. Usually there were three songs to a
page, sometimes two. I <BR>suppose there was some photo-reduction
involved.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>My source was a drummer named Ernie Krickett. I
purchased the books for one <BR>dollar each and usually bought two to five
hundred at a clip. The books were <BR>*never* copyrighted and mysteriously the
publishers' names disappeared.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Each year a "new and improved" issue appeared.
Union members got them from <BR>me at $2.00 each. I also sold to music stores at
the same price. The stores <BR>usually "brown bagged" the books and retailed
them at $35.00 and up <BR>depending. The three hole version eventually became a
spiral bound version.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Publishers would call me when each new issue
appeared. They were the first <BR>to scan the titles to see if their tunes were
included. Often, if their <BR>tunes were *not* included, they would give me
copies of the songs and almost <BR>beg to have them in the next issue. (as if I
had any say).</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>How come? If the songs were in a book that
professional musicians used on <BR>gigs, the A.S.C.A.P. rating went up and they
collected more royalties.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Now, as to the arrests etc. At worst a violation of
copyright suit was <BR>possible. The individual publishers didn't bother. What
could they sue for? <BR>The wholesale was $1.00. If they sued for their piece
.....</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>It was a great sales gimmick to publicize that
these books were printed by <BR>the mafia and the guy who printed them went to
jail, or some variation of <BR>that tale. To my knowledge, no one was ever sued
nor did any one go to jail.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>A brief aside. I quit the industry around 1970.
During that time a new <BR>publication appeared called the "Real Book", a play
on words, get it? This <BR>was put together by a few literate jazz people. The
transcribed tunes and <BR>chords (no lyrics), from jazz recordings. The chords
are "close" to the <BR>artists' conception and not the composers. We now have a
generation that <BR>thinks these are the tunes and harmonies.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>The smartest move was by Hal Leonard (Time Life,
Sony, et al) they published <BR>the Legit Fake Book in hopes of putting the bad
guys out of business.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Today; a different story. One company owns all the
former publishing <BR>companies. A few years ago I placed calls to a number of
small publishers, <BR>some of whom I worked for or at least knew the owners. All
answered with <BR>"Hal Leonard" or "Schirmer"! I saw the handwriting on the old
wall when I <BR>went to Chappell and ordered 50 copies of Oklahoma. The
receptionist asked <BR>me what group he played with. I was running a piano
school and placed a two <BR>thousand dollar sheet music order at the beginning
of each school year.<BR>Today Schirmer only leases music - no
publishing.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Any questions? send email.<BR>Thanks for putting up
with me.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><BR></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Cheers,<BR>Al<BR>Pianist, Composer, Arranger,
Conductor, Teacher and Music Prep.<BR>Please visit me at<BR><A
href="http://alevy.com">http://alevy.com</A></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>