Hi all,  I recently discovered one of my Rythmodik rolls has some
unusual features.  The roll itself is a regular production roll
(no. V102723, "Can It Be Love At Last?" played by Fuiks), however
it is hand-stamped with the copyright symbol and CE451494, and the
date May 23, 1919.

The underside of the roll is where things get really interesting --
there is a large pair of musical staves printed for the entire
duration of the roll, with a key signature and 'Tempo 6 feet per
minute'.  The staves line up with the perforations, but the lines
are not evenly spaced, suggesting it wouldn't be possible to 'read'
as sheet music.

Searching Google Books reveals the copyright number corresponds with
that issued to the roll itself in the "Catalog of Copyright Entries -
Musical Compositions" for 1919.  I therefore conclude this is the
actual copy of the roll deposited with the Library of Congress, and
the printed staves are some form of legal trickery to transform the
roll into something, in theory, readable by humans, perhaps thus
allowing copyright to be granted on the arrangement or interpretation.

Has anyone else come across these rolls?  Another collector has an
Ampico roll dated December 1923 with exactly the same features.  It
appears that only Ampico/Rythmodik and Imperial bothered to claim
copyright in this manner.

I assume that if my theory is correct the Copyright Office disposed
of the rolls either when copyright expired or when it became clear the
player roll industry was dead and buried.

Regards,
Robert Perry
Auckland, New Zealand