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THE: MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
TRADE CONDITIONS SATISFACTORY.
Demand for Machines and Records Has Been
Unprecedented—Dealers Hampered Only by
a Shortage of Stock.
November has been the best month in the history
of the trade. The demand for machines and
records by jobbers and dealers has been unpre-
cedented, and in this respect business has been
hampered by a shortage in the supply of stock.
Manufacturers are again running behind on or-
ders, notwithstanding every company have great-
ly enlarged their plants and multiplied their facil-
ities. The manager of one concern to give The Re-
view an idea of how their business ranked, said:
"Our company's business for October is two and a
half times greater than that during the same
month last year. We are falling behind on meet-
ing orders for records and also not caught up on
machines. It has really been the greatest sur-
prise, and the way December is going we will
make another high record. But every manufac-
turer is in about the same fix, if that is a proper
term to use. It has been evident for months that
the new additions to the list of dealers have been
many, while a great proportion of the estab-
lished houses report an expansion of their busi-
ness. This will be the banner year of the talking
machine trade."
TRADE NOTES FROM PHILADELPHIA.
I Special to The Review.)
Philadelphia, Pa., Dec. 12, 1905.
Recently the Columbia Phonograph Co. opened
new warerooms in Philadelphia in piano row,
which the firm affirm are the finest in the United
States devoted to their business, which is no
doubt true. They are gorgeous, and a very large
amount of money has been expended. They are
showrooms that are attracting attention more
than any others in Philadelphia, and are in*
charge of Mr. Marshalk. All of the latest Co-
lumbia phonographs are handled, and they have
cases with thousands of records up to date in
every way. Their business is enormous- at this
writing.
SOME LEGAL NEWS.
The long-drawn-out contest between the New
York Phonograph Co. and the National Phono-
graph Co., Thomas A. Edison, et al., on appeal
to the United States Circuit Court of Appeals,
New York, which was set down for December
5, was postponed until the 14th. Even then the
case may not be reached if the calendar is not
clear, though both sides are ready. The ap-
pearances were: Louis Hickss for complainant
appellee; Dyer & Dyer, F. H. Butts, William
Pelzer for defendant appellants.
BIRDS AND TALKING MACHINES.
Henry Oldys, of the United States Department
of Agriculture, spoke recently on "The Music of
Birds," and in the course of his remarks paid
tribute, as many others have, to the value of the
talking machine as a means of aiding him in his
investigations. When Mr. Oldys started he sup-
posed, as do most people, that all birds of a kind
have but the one song. But he soon found that
the field sparrow, for instance, has fifty to sev-
enty-five; a song sparrow had twelve songs in
fifteen minutes. "A hermit thrush sings with in-
tervals as perfect as could be heard on a violin
in the hands of a master," said Mr. Oldys, and he
proved this by exquisitely whistled reproduction.
He found among bird songs examples of repeti-
tion, modulation, antiphonal response in the
meadow lark and song sparrow, chorus singing—
among the starlings a light refrain after the
theme by the hermit thrush, and ballad music by
the wood pewee and the wood thrush. Sometimes
the thrush did not end on the keynote, but on the
second of the scale. One wood thrush sang in
ballad form in G flat with phrase, answer, modu-
lation to D flat minor, and back to the original
phrase, ending on the keynote. "Now that is no
chance combination of notes," said Mr. Oldys.
"What better musical for^m could you have?"
One dealer sold
$54,000 worth
of Victor goods in three months, and the population of
his town was only 100,000.
He saw the opportunity to get in on the demand
we create by our magazine advertising. He realized that
a part of the 46,000,000 people reached each month by
the magazines carrying our advertisements lived right
around him and wanted
Victor Talking Machines
and Records
But he didn't depend upon us to do all the work for
him. He pitched in and did some advertising on his
own hook in the local papers—told people he had the
Victor and would be glad to play it for them if they
came to his store.
Other dealers have been just as successful by work-
ing along these lines.
Why don't you try the same thing ?
Victor Talking Machine Company
Camden, N. J.
.—One of the most valuable " h i n t s " to a keen dealer is: Place
standing monthly orders for the new records with your distributor, and
push this feature. ( Keeps your customers calling at least monthly—they
look for them.)
Artistic Monthly Bulletins furnished free for this purpose.