Hi all, The Vincent Lopez article (by Julian Dyer) in 230912 MMDigest,

about who actually "recorded" these stellar performances, made me dig

out my trusty copy of the "Ampico Recording Artist Contract Book", a

photocopy of an existing ledger (Picture 1) that shows when recordings

were made and when issued (Picture 2), and the amounts paid by The

American Piano Company and date (Picture 3).



This ledger basically covers the 1928 and 1929+ years. While I do not

have access to a previous ledger (although I have been led to believe

that there was one), nor a subsequent one (I don't think that there

was one), this specific ledger does give some answers to some of the

questions that were raised by the Dyer article.



If you look at the second document, it shows the Date Recorded, Title

of Recording, Date Issued and Remarks. During the years 1928 and 1929,

Vincent Lopez was under contract to issue two recordings per month.

The first six titles listed do not have recording dates connected to

them. I am uncertain if they were included in a previous Contract Book

or if they were mechanically arranged. (You may be able to get clues

for this information, if you wish, by checking on-line to determine the

copyright date of specific pieces of sheet music.)



The next two titles, "Blue Grass" and "In A Bamboo Garden", were

recorded on Aug. 3rd and Aug. 16th of 1928, respectively. The next

two were recorded in Oct. 1928, but no specific dates were recorded.



The next ten titles seem to have sprung up from the pen of whomever

was working for Lopez/American Piano Company. The last four titles,

"Weary River", "Deep Night", "I Kiss Your Hand Madame" and "You Were

Meant For Me", were recorded on March 12, 1929 and April 1, 1929.



The third page is an accounting of the monies paid to Vincent Lopez.

From Dec. 31, 1928, through Jan. 30, 1931, he was paid a total of

$880.06. If you notice, his royalty rate was 10% of the Wholesale

selling price. The retail price of most single tune popular rolls was

$1.25. The wholesale price was probably $.60 per roll. Therefore he

would get $.06 for every roll sold (if he was lucky).



These are just my thoughts, based upon the information in the Ampico

Recording Artist Contract Book.



Mike Walter



 [ Book Cover

 [ https://www.mmdigest.com/Attachments/23/09/14/230914_073744_Vin%20Lopez%203.jpg 



 [ Recording date and issues dates for recordings

 [ https://www.mmdigest.com/Attachments/23/09/14/230914_073744_Vin%20Lopez%201.jpg 



 [ Payment dates for recordings made

 [ https://www.mmdigest.com/Attachments/23/09/14/230914_073744_Vin%20Lopez%202.jpg