![]() They should gladly respond to any reasonable request that does not violate copyright laws. You could also follow the links I have on most of these pages to other ragtime musicians and write to them. As for the eccentricity, this provides an increased possibility of discovering great tunes that might have otherwise gone unnoticed. They are also more likely to know your taste, or suggest a few tunes. They are usually more than willing to share pieces of their collection. Make friends with a dedicated musician, preferably one who has eccentric tastes.It is even worse when the bids suddenly rise because of a certain few bidders like myself who show interest in an otherwise obscure piece, although since eBay started hiding identifications during bidding this has changed to a degree. It was not my intent to create this phenomenon, as I also occasionally suffer the consequences when looking on-line for items of interest to purchase. The author finds himself quoted quite often in eBay, with a reference to some recordings that are on his site. The exposure given these pieces by the few ragtime sites that post them, particularly those with cover images, has raised the demand because musicians and other buyers now have a better idea of what they are getting. In the early 1990s, pieces like Lion Tamer Rag or the Pastime Rags were rarely heard by the average ragtime collector or enthusiast, and were therefore easier to obtain at single-digit prices. The original edition ofĪ development that is both flattering and mildly alarming is how ragtime sites such as mine have actually impacted pricing, particularly on eBay. I use a combination of factors, including what I or my peers have paid either on-line at auctions or at antique malls/shops, and the books like those of Marion Short that have pricing within, adjusted for inflation and changes in buying patterns since publication. Over the past two decades, many of you have asked me how I ascertain prices and why many pieces seem to be much higher in estimated value than they used to be. Congress in 1998.Īn additional note to this section on pricing. Even now, much of the material that has become available in collections in the 21st century had been released from copyright restriction in 1998, meaning pieces dating to 1923 and later are still under copyright protection due to the so-called Bono/Disney legislation in the U.S. When Vogel died in 1980, his family released the rights (they were about to enter Public Domain anyway), and the book was re-released as the " Complete Works". So there are two distinct sides to that story. It is possible that he was never offered compensation as such to his liking, but his sales for those three pieces thrived as a result of the other publication. The "Collected Works" ofĪs told to me by to historian Edward Berlin, he did not want to simply give the rags to the project, but wanted some form of compensation for publication rights, as he was still publishing the pieces in sheet music form, which was a fair request from a business perspective. Jerry Vogel, the single copyright holder for Searchlight Rag, Rose Leaf Rag and Fig Leaf Rag was not amicable to releasing the copyright at the time of publication (1971). 2 contained the songs with lyrics and the score to Treemonisha). A great deal of music was still under the 78 year copyright restriction (now extended), and not in the public domain, so inclusion in a folio or as a single sheet was an often expensive proposition.Ī good example of the latter problem involves the release of the Vera Brodsky Lawrence edited version of the rags of Scott Joplin, which initially was called the " Collected Works" (Vol.Songs generally saw much wider distribution. Ragtime piano, in particular, was highly regionalized, so with the exception of a handful of popular rags, they were rarely available outside of a specific publisher's sales area, which may include several states.New discoveries were still coming to light, as evidenced by the fact that They All Played Ragtime was still being updated, and Silver Swan (presumably composed by Scott Joplin) had just been discovered.A great deal of the music was not in circulation, and would be disseminated largely through estate sales as their owners and/or heirs would die.Even more of the music was not known to be collectible yet as demand had not risen to the level of supply.Much of the music had never been collected into an organized format.The second "Ragtime Revival" was just beginning, so interest was still light.
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