Musical Pirates.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXX, Issue 27, 3 July 1902, Page 29

Musical Pirates.

London has been enlivened of late (writes a correspondent of the Melbourne ' Advocate ') by the raids upon the musical pirates. Perhaps you do not know what a musical pirate is. I don't think there are any in Australia. A musical pirate is a man who stands on the kerbstone and sells to passers-by for twopence the words and music of a popular song, for which you would ha\o to pay two shillings m a shop. At first sight it Would seem that he is lather a. public benefactor than a pw.uU", but that is not so He defiauds the author, the composer, the publisher, and the- retail music-seller of many thousands of pounds e\ery >ear It may puzzle \on to undeistand how he can sell at a profit for twopence in the street what costs two shillings m a shop But the explanation is easy. You see. the music-sellinn business is a huge lottoy Nobody can tell, not e\en the most expert musician, that ever lived what song is goim> to catch the public taste. Sometimes the most idiotic things, such as ' Ta-ra-ra-boom-de-ay,' catch on, while miper.ioi songs fall flat A song may be a failure at first, and afterwards a world-wide success. Such was the experience of ' The soldiers of the Queen,' which was written and composed by a young Irishman named Barrett while he was organist of a Birmingham Catholic Church. Ho has now changed his name to Leslie Stuart, is established in London, and is- rolling in wealth dciived from his songs and his successful operas — ' Florodorn. ' and ' The Silver Slipper.' The well-known song, 'Queen of my heart,' did not make any impression whatever when it was first sung hero 'in the Ciaiety Theatre ; but when it was transferred to the Prince of Wales' Theatre, and introduced into the opera of ' Dorothy,' it made a tremendous hit, and became the success of the season. When «a song does catch on, the rush for it is enerinous Such universal favorites as 'The Holy City,' ' The Star of Bethlehem,' etc , are veritable gold mines to all concerned in their production The net result is that, out of every hundred songs that are printed and published, 89 or 99 aio commercial failures The one that doea succeed has to pay for the

losses on all the others. That is why the music-publisher charges the public two shillings for what) actually costs him in production less than twopence Now you see where the pirate conies in. He doea not touch any of the failures, but the moment a song becomes a great success he pounces upon it and does a roaring trade as long as its popularity lasts. There are thousands of these pirates in London and all the largo provincial cities. The present raids upon them aic the result of the phenomenal success of a melodious ditty, 'The honeysuckle and the bee.' It has been all the rage here for some time, and doubtless is now being warbled all o\qv Melbourne and Sydney. A Bill for the suppression of these pirates is now passing through Parliament, and, if not crowded out by the congestion of Government business, may become law before the end of the session. The author, the coonposer, and the publisher of a success*, ful song ha\ c certainly the same right to protection from piracy that novelists, painters, and sculptors,* now enjoy