Music Trade Review

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THE: MUSIC TRADE
EDWARD LYMAN BILL - Editor and Proprietor
J. B. SPILLANE, Managing Editor
Executive and Reportorlal Stall:
GLAD. HENDERSON,
A. J. NICKLIN,
H. E. JAMASON
AUGUST J. T I M P E ,
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JOHN H. WILSON, 324 Washington St.
Telephone, Main 6950.
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R. W. KAUFFMAN.
C. CHACE,
B. BRITTAIN WILSON,
W M . B. W H I T E ,
L. E. BOWERS.
CHICAGO OFFICE:
E. P. VAN HARLINCEN, 37 South Wabash Ave.
Telephone, Central 414.
Room 806.
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ADOLF EDSTEN.
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ST. LOUIS:
CLYDE JENNINGS
DETROIT, MICH.: MORRIS J. W H I T E .
INDIANAPOLIS, IND.: STANLEY H . S M I T H .
MILWAUKEE, W I S . : L. E. MEYER.
LONDON, ENGLAND: 1 Gresham Buildings, Basinghall St., E. C.
Published Every Saturday at 373 Fourth Avenue, New York
Entered at the New York Post Office as Second Class Matter.
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On quarterly or
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REMITTANCES, in other than currency forms, should be made payable to Edward
Lyraan Bill.
Departments conducted by an expert wherein all ques-
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t j o n s o f a technical nature relating to the tuning, regu-
lating and repairing of pianos and player-pianos are
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UllClllS. dealth with, will be found in another section of this
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paper. We also publish
a number of reliable tecnical works, information concerning which
will be cheerfully given upon request.
Exposition Honors Won by The Review
Grand Prix
Paris Exposition, 1900
Silver Medal. . .Charleston Exposition, 1902
Diploma.... Pan-American Exposition, 1901
Gold Medal
St. Louis Exposition, 1904
Gold Mcdol. .Lewis-Clark Exposition, 190ij
LONG DISTANCE TELEPHONES-NUMBERS S982 5983 MADISON SQUARE
Connecting all Departments.
Cable address" "Elbill, New York."
NEW YORK, JUNE 8, 1912.
EDITORIAL
HE story of successful business men to-day is the story of
men who have been able to reconstruct their individual en-
terprises to fit new influences and anticipate new factors. This is
exemplified as effectively in the music trade industry as in any other
commercial line. Take the piano merchant, who some time ago
realizing the great trade possibilities of the talking machine and
the player-piano, so arranged his plans and business quarters as to
give these instruments an adequate representation, and you will find
him enjoying a business to-day of large proportions—a business
that is netting him a nice clean profit on his investment.
This merchant's success centers wholly and entirely on the
words, "adequate representation," for many piano men saw a future
in the player-piano and sound-reproducing machines, but lacked the
foresight to give them proper representation on their wareroom
floor, or in advertising, with the result that their business has moved
along indifferently, and they have wondered why.
The secret, of course, is to be found in the fact that one man
understood how to adapt his business to changing conditions, and
the other failed to properly grasp the requirements of the situation.
When the talking machine was first introduced hundreds of
piano merchants throughout the country took on these instruments
as side lines. They put them in the back of the store, like banjos,
guitars, etc., in order to supply a demand if it should materialize.
They failed to departmentize them, or put a man in charge
who knew anything about them, and did little to introduce them to
public notice. As a result the talking machine was voted a failure
as far as the piano merchant was concerned and the business went
largely into the hands of small dealers outside the piano field who
gave their undivided attention to the talking machine, worked in
harmony with the manufacturers, with the result that an immense
trade was built up for these products.
Success was brought about by concentration, and by placing
the business in charge of competent men.
Naturally, in time, the members of the retail piano trade saw
REIVIEIW
the immense business which had been developed by the individual
talking machine dealer, and realizing the mistakes of the past
have fallen into line, so that to-day mostly all the leading piano
merchants of the country are handling talking machines with a
great deal of profit. They have won success, however, only b j
adapting themselves to the changing conditions—by awakening to
the fact that every department of the business must be given special
consideration and be placed in charge of an expert, or at least a
man who thoroughly understands the business and its requirements.
It is also worth noting that the piano merchants handling
player-pianos, who have won the largest measure of success, are
those who have realized that the men in charge of the department
should possess not only sales and executive ability, but a thorough
knowledge of the instruments which they are handling—not a
superficial knowledge, but a complete understanding of the con-
struction of these players so that they may be able to meet all de-
mands made upon them in the matter of information.
Adaptability is an American trait and one that has contributed
largely to the development of the leading men of our industries, but
it is becoming clearer every day that adaptability must be backed
by knowledge to win that larger measure of success which all de-
sire. And this is just as true of a salesman as of the head of a
business. Hence it is that The Review has long advocated that
player-piano salesmen should know, not merely how to sell pianos
and players, but everything about their construction and the com-
plete possession of technical knowledge which is now largely over-
looked.
This is particularly necessary in the player-piano domain, for
the buying public is very much interested in the special functions
of the player-action and*how to play the piano, as well as a hun-
dred and one other details which come up for consideration from
time to time in the sales department of a business. The salesman
or manager who is able to answer such inquiries intelligently and
comprehensively is undoubtedly a more valuable man to his house
than the man who quibbles and pretends to know that which he
does not.
At no time in the history of our country was technical knowl-
edge so essential in the success of business as to-day. The leading
music trade associations of Germany and England are strongly
advocating a more active participation on the part of the sales
force in courses bearing upon the technical or construction side of
the industry. These are excellent suggestions and well worthy of
simulation by the leading trade associations of this country. The
old copybook saying, "Knowledge is power," has an added weight
for the piano salesman, especially when the knowledge is technical,
for it supplements the talent or ability of the average salesman in
a manner to make him a powerful asset to the business with which
he is connected.
A LTHOUGH the 1912 conventions are now something of the
1*
past, it is interesting to note in the reports appearing in the
small town papers, and even in the papers of the larger cities, that
a comparatively small number of piano men, the smallest number
gathered together in the history of the associations, can impress
the news writer as being a veritable host. One modest paper
states that there were 1,200 piano men of all classes present at
Atlantic City, while another gravely states that the attendance at
the meetings was made up of 6,000 manufacturers and 8,000 deal-
ers, a modest total of 14,000. That such a host could gather in
the Solarium of the Marlborough-Blenheim, with a floor space of
little more than 2,500 square feet, and still have plenty of room to
spare, would indicate that Barnum's living skeleton was far from
being in a class by himself. While truth in press reports is most
desirable, the exaggerations as to the numbers of those at the
conventions is to be appreciated as lending added dignity and im-
portance to the piano trade as a whole in the minds of the public
at large.
SERIES of important technical works on piano building,
A
tuning, repairing, as well as on piano player mechanism,
and the regulation and repair and operation of the player-piano,
have been put forth by this trade paper institution and they have
met with the unqualified endorsement of eminent experts not only
in this country, but abroad. Thousands of copies of these books
have been sent forth, and it is generally recognized that our work