Well, I guess it was just a matter of time until I was going to put in
my 2 cents worth on this thread, no?  :-)

I've been reading a lot of interesting points of views and, funnily,
I can agree to almost every angle taken on the subject so far.

With a little bit of a grain of salt, that just maybe, we are really
only talking about "Fair Organs", if not only the common large organs
(fair and band/military) within the territory of North America, I shall
still never the less weigh in with what I got to say.

Correct: These instruments will perform best what they were designed
for playing at the time they were built.

Correct: Most instruments will perform better when the arrangement was
specifically made with the disposition of said instrument in mind.

Correct: New (good/excellent) custom made arrangements are not cheap
to get.

It is also correct that it might not be the newest hit that will
intrigue the "new" audience the most, but rather whatever oddball tune
you have which brings your instrument to shine brightly...

What got me going, though, was the last side-note of Greg Filardo's
comment, which said, "A model T Ford is not built to drive on freeways.
=> much of the music from the last 30 years just will not cut it."

It is wrong to dismiss the options straight out.  If I had a Model T
Ford, I probably would be crazy enough to even take it out on a spin on
the freeway!  The police may stop me, as it is a LSV (low speed
vehicle), or I might need to trick the poor thing out and put a
Turbo-Charger on top and re-fit it with a Nitrogen-tank...

Okay, I probably wouldn't do all these things, but the point being is
I *could* do these things.

There are plentiful examples from -- of course -- Dutch instruments out
there on YouTube, which will show you that a lot of the music from the
last 30 years works just like a charm when done right (especially what
is called "house music")!

Personally I have gone as far as punching a Heavy Metal tune for our
street organ.  Agreed, my fellow older generation organ-enthusiasts had
the pitiful ignorance to comfort me on my supposedly "broken" organ and
offered their help to "fix" it, but for the audience who knew the tune,
it wasn't only recognizable, but absolutely mind-blowing, that I was
able to get the organ to play said tune.

In recent years I have not had as much time on my hands to arrange more
stuff, but if I was to arrange something right now, it probably would
be a tune out of the current hit-charts... whether rap music or not...

One of the key interest points that kept me with our hobby was exactly
this one *fact*: no matter what music style it is, I can play it!
There are not many pianists out there who could just as quickly as I
can on the organ switch from classic to rap to salsa, and every nuance
in between.

One of the wisdoms in the field of music is that, with every
generation, there is also a comeback of the music from 20 years back.
As such you just have to "keep your ears open"...  Yes, there might
be a commercial on TV at this very minute and if you listen closely,
it has got a tune you probably have on one of your rolls out there on
the shelf of your archive.

May it be the revival of ABBA music or what have you: If it just
recently has been put back into the spotlight, your chances are good
that the audience will also recognize it once again when played on your
instrument.

My conclusion here shall be that I have to wonder how enthusiastic
these so called enthusiasts really are, if they are not even willing
to spend the extra dollar here or there for a first class brand new
arrangement?

You only have to have your "music smarts" and decide on what you think
will last from today's songs to be the evergreen of tomorrow!  And if
that is too much to ask, then at least trust your roll provider to know
what's "good" for you and your audience.

Musically,
Ingmar Krause
Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada