The new economics of roll perforation: a contrarian view

In the distant past, when player pianos and other mechanical music
devices were in vogue, there was a huge mass market for music rolls
of all types.  To satisfy this market, machines were designed to
punch many copies of a roll at once, and to punch them as quickly as
possible.  For the roll producers, turnover was excellent so it was
possible to maintain inventories of a large number of titles.  This
made good sense at the time.

The big problem with this model (i.e., using high-speed, multi-spool,
mechanical punches) in today's roll market is *inventory*!  The huge
mass market of yesteryear is gone forever.  If it is only economical
to punch 15 copies of a roll at once, then you either need to have
buyers for all 15 copies lined up or you have to store the unsold
copies until a buyer comes along.

The question of which music to punch is an extremely important
question.  Guess wrong and you're going to waste a lot of time and
effort, and you'll have a lot of dead merchandise on the shelf.
Compound this with the problem of incompatible tracker formats --
it gives me a headache just to think about it.  In the absence of
a mass market, it is ridiculous _in the extreme_ to expect that any
modern punching operation can afford to keep an inventory of a vast
selection of rolls and still sell single copies for $10-$15.  (As
anyone who owns a business knows, you are taxed on your inventory.)

Contrary to most of the previous discussion on roll perforation,
I believe the Holy Grail of modern roll perforation is _not_ faster
production of more rolls.  The new market ideal is the ability to
produce _one_ custom copy of _any_ roll quickly and economically,
and to do so while maintaining a zero inventory level.

To my way of thinking, here is the ideal situation for today's market:

Let's assume that there are four instrument owners: one owns an Ampico
B, another owns an Artrio-Angelus, another owns a Red Welte, and another
owns a Seeburg H.  (Note that the tracker scales are all both logically
and mechanically incompatible).

The Ampico B owner wants to buy a recut of an old standard (his is
completely worn out) but it's been "out of print" for years.  The
Artrio-Angelus owner (who has difficulty getting _anything_ for his
machine) wants a copy of a roll that a friend of his has, but hasn't
been able to find anyone to duplicate it.  The Red Welte owner is very
fond of a particular arrangement for Duo-Art, but it was never produced
for the Red Welte.  Finally, the Seeburg H owner has a MIDI file that
he has composed for his machine and wants to cut a paper roll, if he
can find a way.

Now imagine that there is some imaginary perforating company where all
four instrument owners can call up, _on the same day_, and place their
orders by credit card.  The MIDI file gets sent by e-mail.  This
imaginary firm confirms the order and schedules production immediately.
In less than a week, all four instrument owners receive their new rolls,
each one a single, custom-made copy.  Now imagine that the perforating
firm maintains _no stock_ of rolls, and all four orders were punched
without ever re-tooling!

Is this merely a Utopian ideal?  Just a dream?

No, it is not a dream!  Perforating firms of the type I describe above
will be possible in the very near future.  The capability now exists,
and I explain how in another message entitled "World's first laser
perforator -- a new paradigm"  [indexed as "Laser Perforator for
Music Media"].

Best regards,
Gene Gerety