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THE
MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
EDWARD LYMAN BILL - Editor and Proprietor
J. B. SPILLANE, Managing Editor
Executive and Reportorial Staff:
GBO. B. KEIXBK,
W. H. DYKES,
R. W. SIMMONS,
L. B. BOWERS,
B. BRITTAIN WILSON,
A. J. NICKLIN,
AUGUST J. TIMPB.
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Published Every Saturday at 1 Madison Avenue, New York
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An
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important feature of this publication is a complete sec-
•»*^*^****»»« tion devoted to the interests of music publishers and dealers.
Exposition Honors Won by The Review
Grand Prix
Paris Exposition, 1900
Silver Medal.Charleston Exposition, 1902
Diploma..Pan-American Exposition, 1901
Oold Medal.. .St. Louis Exposition, 1904
Gold Medal
Lewis-Clark Exposition, 1905.
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Cable a d d r e s s : M Elblll. N e w York."
NEW YORK, AUGUST 6, 1910
EDITORIAL
I
N a communication addressed to the various State Commissioners,
Lewis II. Clement, president of the National Piano Dealers'
Association, says that one price can best be established by the manu-
facturers themselves placing the retail prices upon their instruments.
The Review has claimed for years that this was the only true
solution of the one-price problem, and that such a move by the manu-
facturers would at once settle the status of the special brand pianos
by placing" them in their proper class.
If manufacturers generally adopted the plan of placing retail
prices upon their instruments and advertising" those prices broadly,
in a little while pianos with untraceable origin, which we commonly
designate the special brand pianos, would find their way well down
the line.
They would be pianos without name and without standing.
Then again, if manufacturers were to combine upon this move
it would do away with one chief source of misrepresentation in the
retail trade, that is, selling pianos out of their proper class.
It is a well-known fact that some dealers have placed extraordi-
narily high prices upon reputable instruments, making the gap so
wide between the high grade pianos and their own special bra/ids that
customers have frequently been prohibited from purchasing the
reputable instruments, being influenced largely in their actions by
the emphasis placed upon the special brand piano by the dealer and
the wide difference in price between the special brand and the high
grade piano.
It "is an easy matter for a dealer when there is no fixed price to
add an extra hundred dollars on the selling price of a piano in order
that he may urge the sale of the "just-as-good" to the exclusion of
the high grade.
In this way many sales which should rightfully be made of
reputable pianos are defeated—defeated simply because price decep-
tion is used.
Manufacturers whose good names cause people to gravitate
REVIEW
to the piano warerooms where their instruments are offered for sale
have frequently lost business because their piano names which em-
blazoned the windows acted as a drawing card and the people were
attracted, simply to be led to some cheaper, nondescript instruments
which have no standing, and yet, the whole sales emphasis is placed
upon these particular pianos because they afforded the dealer a large
margin of profit.
Then, again, manufacturers could place prices upon their own
instruments which would allow dealers a fair margin of profit and
the special brands would gradually be forced into their true position
well down the line.
Manufacturers of hats, shoes, cigars and many other luxuries
and necessities of life exploit broadly the retail prices at which their
products should be sold to the public.
Now, why should piano manufacturers hold back from a course
which has demonstrated its security in other lines?
There is no good reason that we have ever heard advanced why
pianos should not be sold on as good sound business basis as well as
other creations of human skill.
T
AKE talking machines, a line with which we are intimately
identified because of the fact that we publish the only exclu-
sive talking machine paper in this country.
The talking machine manufacturers have found that price main-
tenance has been the salvation of the business and no one is allowed
to cut prices on the standard instruments.
Manufacturers advertise broadly the prices at which their instru-
ments may be sold to the public and there has never been a complaint
on the part of jobbers or dealers of this course. On the contrary, it
has saved the business from crumbling under pressure at various
times, for there is always a temptation on the part of some men when
pressed for money to offer their merchandise at cut prices and if
there had been serious cuts in the trade in cities throughout America
the move might have become general and prices would have tumbled.
But no!
Manufacturers have not only set prices, but they have seen to it
that their dealers have lived up to all of their contractural relations
with them.
Some leading piano manufacturers, including Stein way, Knabe,
The John Church Co., and others have advertised the retail prices at
which certain styles of their products may be procured by retail
purchasers in various cities throughout the land, and with gratifying
results.
Now, why should this plan not be followed up by others?
When such distinguished concerns lead one may follow with
safety, and, in our opinion, if this plan is fairly tried out by 25 per
cent, of the manufacturers in America it would demonstrate such
strength and security to various interests that by the succeeding year
fully one-half of the manufacturers would adopt the plan of advertis-
ing retail prices broadly.
Then it would become a permanent feature in this industry, and
inside of two or three years men would begin to wonder why such a
course had not been followed sooner.
The possibilities are so great and the results so vital to the trade
as a whole that one price, and that fixed by the manufacturers, should
be the slogan of the trade everywhere.
It may be several years before this plan is generally adopted, but
sure as fate it is bound to come, and when it does reach us it will
come to stay.
Depend upon that!
M
A
I
OST everybody is open to influence by a common sense talk,
but make it common sense.
GLOSSY silk hat and an old gold necktie won't sell anything
unless there is force behind them.
T oft-times happens that a fellow gets a reputation for a genius
simply because he is too lazy to work, but the reputation is
lost unless there is quality behind it.
Y
OU do not have to shout to let people know that you are alive.
Low-voiced, mellifluous tones are a mighty sight more
attractive than a big rasping voice. They blend better with the
piano business—therefore are worthy of cultivation.