Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
16
THE
MUSIC TRADE:
REVIEW
PLAYER TRADE IN THE MIDDLE WEST.
which the player-piano is presented to them? If
3'ou go into a fine wareroom, crowded with beauti-
A Record of Observations Made During a Recent Trip in That Territory—West of Chicago the ful pianos, only to find that the players are huddled
Attitude Toward the Player Piano Is Entirely Different Than One Is Accustomed to in the together behind a dark partition, that the music is
East—Dealers do Not Care to Study the Player or Appreciate Its Facilities with Some in bad order, is either all trash or else quite un-
representative, and that there is not a man in the
Exceptions, of Course—Their Point, of View Is Somewhat Interesting.
place who can play well enough to give you any
Outsiders, we have been told from time imme- true that the public stays away from the player- representation of music as you have been ac-
morable, see most of the game. The aphorism is piano business because it is too expensive? (We customed to hear it, no matter how unrefined your
trite, but like many truisms, has a value out of all refer of course to the public in the territory under taste; if all this happens, as it does happen every
proportion to its commonplaceness. For, the out- discussion.) At first sight it would certainly seem day in the-territory under discussion (and else-
sider, so be it he has the power of impartial ob- that player-pianos costing from $500 upward would where also), then how on earth are you to take any
servation, joined to an expert knowledge of the be too expensive a proposition for a farming com- pleasure in the player-piano as a musical proposi-
subject which he proposed to investigate, is munity. Yet that same community will buy auto- tion? You cannot help thinking of all music pro-
enabled to approach the object of his inquiries mobiles, which cost a good deal more. Why? duced by a piano in terms of the music you have
in a manner sufficiently detached to obtain for his obviously because the automobile appeals as a thing always heard. And, when you hear player music
search results of a superior character. And whether of utility, while the player-piano has no such ap- unlike anything you ever heard before, music which
or not the outsider sees most of the game, there peal. Yet this lack of utility is not to be con- grates on your nerves, which makes you shudder,
can be no doubt that he sees most clearly.
sidered against the player-piano on the score of its which causes you to say that you always knew
It was in this spirit of reflection that the Editor being a musical instrument and, for that reason, these "machines" could never give real "playing,"
of the Player Section has recently made it his busi- considered as useless. For the farmer buys straight then no one must blame you if you do not see the
ness to investigate and observe most thoroughly the pianos. And the question therefore resolves itself $200 extra price.
state of the player-piano as manifested in certain into this: Why does the purchaser who realizes
But we are also told that the public will only buy
populous and prosperous parts of the Middle West. the value of a straight piano at $300, fail to see player-pianos on the same terms as the ordinary in-
What he then and there saw, the facts that pre- any value in a player-piano at $500. Mathematically struments, and that they expect to get them for
sented themselves to him, and the conclusions he it can be' proved to that purchaser that the $200 $10 a month. This makes a serious proposition for
reached; these are the subject matter of the pres- extra can be saved in music lessons, within a year the dealer, to be sure, but is it certain that no one
or so. Why then does he refuse to see the point? will buy a player on better terms? Is it not true
ent article.
The most unobservant man in the piano trade Clearly because the player-piano does not appeal to that people will buy players as soon as they see that
could not go through Nebraska, Iowa, and Kansas him intrinsically.
these instruments can be made easily to fill a long-
In effect, then, the first great trouble with which felt want? And, when they see this, will not the
without perceiving at once an entirely different
feeling towards the player-piano from that to the dealer is beset arises from a belief on the part whole situation as to terms be changed?
which one becomes accustomed in the East. From of the public that the player-piano is not worth Is it not true ^hat the player is too
the moment that Chicago is left behind there is to what is charged for it. To go a step further, it is new, too much misunderstood, too little
be detected a subtle difference in the manner seen to follow from this that if the public became regarded as a real musical instrument?
Is it
wherewith the subject is approached by all inter- convinced that the player-piano was even what it not true that the public has come to have a con-
ested people. One misses the note of enthusiasm, is claimed to be, the matter of cost would assume tempt for the player? Is it not then certain that
the air of confidence. One misses the familiarity. a secondary place. The trouble, then, is either in we must, if we are going to sell players at all,
And above all one misses most acutely the feeling the instrument itself or in the manner of its undertake to change this public opinion, and build
that the player is the coming thing, that it is only presentation.
up a new line of thought?
now in its infancy, and that it is the saviour of the
Those who have gone with us, in the columns of
The further complaint, on the part of dealers,
piano business. A different atmosphere prevails the Section, through the mass of musical and me- that tuners and repairmen are scarce, and that
and its first effect upon the observer is distinctly chanical facts so often presented here, know by player troubles therefore greatly hamper sales, is
disquieting.
this time that the fault cannot be laid to the player- even more serious. For the facts, as alleged, are
Chicago itself, to tell the plain truth, takes the piano itself. Everybody knows that this instru- correctly stated. There is just this dearth of com-
player less seriously than do New York, Boston, ment is capable of immense artistic achievements, petent men to keep players in order. The dealer,
and Philadelphia, although no one can find fault provided it is used by some one who understands however, must make it worth the tuner's while to
with the Windy City's trade on the score of it, and music. What then can we suppose, except acquire player knowledge, by assisting him in every
enthusiasm. It is rather in the lack of good that the public has taken a dislike to the very bad, way, while the tuner himself must, at all costs,
demonstrators, of careful and informed attention to the very careless, and the very slip-shod manner in make himself familiar with the player mechanisms
music roll libraries, of general understanding, that
one finds fault. But as soon as one gets away
from Chicago the whole situation changes, and one
finds an entirely different state of affairs.
First of all, one finds dealers complaining that
the player-piano is altogether too expensive. They
say that, in order to sell these instruments, they
must accept time payments averaging ten dollars
per month. And this, they claim, makes the burden
of carrying accounts unduly heavy. Then again
they complain of the trouble that players cause and
bewail the lack of tuners competent to repair and
keep them in order. Lastly, they seem to think
that the public, in their territories at least, cares
nothing for the musical possibilities of the player
but is concerned with nothing but its noise mak-
ing capacities.
The reader of this article will accept the assur-
ance that these words are not exaggerated. They
are written by a friend of the player-piano, by on«
who has made this instrument, its commercial
status and its musical possibilities, the subject of
closest study for a number of years. They are
therefore written by one whose natural impulse is
to see everything relating to the player business
through spectacles of rosiest tint. And they are,
for that reason, the more to be accepted as con-
servative.
It is the plain truth that far too few players are
sold, in the Middle West, outside of Chicago. There
is a reason; in fact there are several reasons. Some
of these are partially supplied by studying what
dealers have to say on the matter; as for instance
in what has been quoted above. Others are to be
found in a more careful analysis of these state-
ments, and others again in the results of impartial
outside observation. We may then group these
reasons in the manner outlined, to the end that we
may see clearly whither they lead us.
A leading favorite of the line of Cremona Electric Pianos (coin operated),
In the first place, how far is it to be considered
made by the Marquette Piano Co., Chicago.
MARQUETTE CO.'S STYLE A, ART CREMONA