Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE
MUSIC TRADE
A
DVERTISING to-day is recognized as the most powerful busi-
ness propelling force in the modern world. It is one thing
to create a product and quite another proposition to successfully
market it. Looking over the field broadly it must be conceded that
the concerns which have been the most liberal and persistent ad-
vertisers have won the highest positions and have been specially
favored with generous bestowals of gifts at the hands of Dame
Fortune.
It is astonishing, too, how advertising has developed during
the past decade and to-day it is attracting some of the most brilliant
minds in the country, because there is a distinct art in telling, in
an intelligent form, the story of a special product to the public so
that new markets may be created.
Some of the great business establishments pay high prices for
advertising ability and it should be emphasized that the advertising-
style in which there is simplicity of language and distinct utterance
of each thought is the kind that pulls. The trouble with too many
men who begin to write advertising is this—when they start to
write, they write in an unnatural fashion, something like a man
having his photograph taken. If they would write as they would
talk to a customer they would come pretty near hitting the adver-
tising nail squarely on the head.
When the advertising writer steps too high, he passes over the
readers who would be attracted by a simple, cogent line of argu-
ment.
One of the men who assisted to place advertising on its present
high plane and who was a pioneer in the particular line was George
P. Rowell, who recently passed away. When Mr. Rowell com-
menced his advertising business nearly half a century ago, the ad-
vertising men had no standing in the business world, he was a sort
of three-card-monte man, but Mr. Rowell, with keen business fore-
sight, saw that if advertising was to be made a dignified occupation
and o*ne that deserved the confidence of merchants and manufac-
turers, it must be conducted by self-respecting and decent men and
he concluded to do what he could to brin*>- about this end.
M
R. ROWELL won the confidence of the publishers and con-
vinced advertisers that the business was no longer a hold-
up game, but a legitimate and dependable means for the sale of
goods. He established the first newspaper directory and persuaded
the publishers to give sworn statements of their circulation. He
saw the volume of advertising increased from a few thousand dol-
lars to over three hundred millions a year and to-day the men en-
gaged in soliciting, writing and placing publicity are of the best
type everywhere and command respectful attention, because they
are regarded as the representatives of the greatest power for the
creation of business—the public press.
When Mr. Rowell started in business there were no trade
papers worth}- of the name—simply a few house organs scattered
here and there, which had no standing, but they, too, have evoluted,
and the American trade papers in every industry are conceded by
business men to be a powerful selling and educational force. In
the main they are run by men of character and position.
The blackmailer and the holdup man has been gradually rele-
gated to a rear position, unti-1 to-day people in most industries are
comparatively free to place their trade newspaper advertising with-
out the fear that they may become attacked by the blackmailing
trade paper editor.
Unfortunately, the music trade industry is not entirely free
from creatures of this ilk and, while the most notable example of
hold-up newspaper journalism is tottering well in his decadence,
yet he is not wholly removed from the zone of action. The only-
way, however, to completely exterminate these knavish creatures is
to show the holdup music trade editor the door, cut out patronage
and refuse to see any of his representatives. They are all tarred
with the same stick, for to obey the dictates of a dishonest newspaper
proprietor is to warp one"s moral functions to such a degree that
they would not be recognizable in an assemblage of decent men.
D
l ' k l X G the past week the \ T ew York dailies have contained
attractive advertisements put forth by leading local music
trade establishments, who have presented to the public some tempt-
ing offers in the piano line. Such publicity must not only draw
trade to the establishments putting forth these announcements, but
they have a tendency to set the public generally to thinking about
the importance of purchasing pianos.
REVIEW
IN LIGHTER VEIN
Worry continues to be the best anti-fat.
The narrow way is where we walk when on parade.
Never jump at a conclusion—it might knock you down.
Love makes the world go round because it intoxicates a fellow.
The lazy man lets the other fellow take advantage of his opportunity.
The matrimonial prize seems to be the only thing that the muff can
catch.
It costs a lot of money sometimes to know many people are not
worth knowing.
Marriage is the lottery which gives more prizes than any other game
of chance.
The pessimist says, "Business is not half as good as it would be if it
was twice as good as it is." The optimist says, "Business is twice as good
as it would be if it was only half as good as it is."
It was Henry Watterson who said that the editor who would criticize
a typographical error in the columns of some contemporary never would
amount to much—his brain was so small that it would rattle in a mustard
seed. True, and editors who devote space to the criticism of technical
errors of contemporaries have never advanced beyond the kindergarten
stage. They are just where they were years ago—little, cantankerous
critics, whose papers never can reach positions of importance.
UNWISELY CONTINUED.—Judge—Have you been arrested before?
Prisoner—No, sir.
Judge—Have you been in this court before?
Prisoner—No, sir.
Judge—Are you certain?
Prisoner—I am, sir.
Judge—Your face looks decidedly familiar. "Where have I seen it
before?
Prisoner—I'm the bartender in the saloon across the way, sir.
Donald Brian, the clever young tenor in "The Merry Widow," is fond
of "kid" humor, and vouches for this:
Four-year-old Harry was spending the day with his aunt. Dinner was
late, and the child began to grow restless.
"Auntie," he said finally, "does God know everything?"
"Yes, dear," answered his aunt.
"Every little thing?" he persisted.
"Yes; every little thing," was the reply.
"Well, then," he said in a tone of conviction. "God knows I'm
hungry."
THE DOCTOR'S VOICE.—At an entertainment given in Scotland
everybody had contributed to the evening's amusement except a certain
Dr. MacDonald, whom the chairman pressed to sing. The doctor declared
he could not give them a song. "My voice," he said, "is like the sound
caused by the act of rubbing a brick along the panels of a door."
The company attributed this to the doctor's modesty, and told him
that good singers required a lot of pressing, so at last he remarked:
"Well, if you can stand it, I will sing."
When he had finished there was a painful silence, and then a voice
spoke as follows: "Mon. your singin's no up to much, but your veracity's
just awful. You're richt aboot that brick."
A TACTFUL TUTOR.—It is told of the youth of a young German
prince, many years ago, and presumably the present Emperor of Germany,
that upon one occasion, his tutor having been changed, the newcomer in
examining the young prince asked:
"Can Your Highness tell me how much is nine times twelve?"
"Seventy-two," replied the prince with royal promptness.
The tutor paled, but soon recovered his equanimity.
"Permit me to state to Your Highness that Your Highness's former
tutor, whom I have had the honor to succeed as an instructor to Your
Royal Highness, appears to have been a person of rather limited capabili-
ties," he said.—Harper's Weekly.
In that entertaining book. "Leaves from the Journal of Sir George
Smart," we have new evidence that William IV. fulfilled the saying, "Once
a sailor, always a sailor."
In 1834 Sir George presided over the musical festival in Westminster
Abbey. The King and Queen Adelaide were present, and the King, as
was his wont, slumbered peacefully whenever the music was sufficiently
soft to permit it.
While the duet for basses was being sung in "Israel in Egypt," the
Queen woke him up suddenly by remarking, "What a fine duet! 'The Lord
is a Man of War.' "
The King, not thoroughly awake, caught only the last words.
"How many guns does she carry?" he eagerly asked.
I