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10
THE
MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
THE C0MM0NSENSE OF PLAYER ADVERTISING.
Absence of Ideas in Player Publicity—The Necessity of Appealing to the Common Emotions
Is Vital to Good Player Advertising—Several Fundamental Mistakes Have Been Made Which
It Is Time to Remedy—Some Important Suggestions That Are Well Worth Consideration.
i V
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listen to you. Tell a man that he can play "Old
Black Joe with Variations" so that he will see in
his mind's eye the old plantation, and the ancient
atraceous Joseph, and the banks of the Missis-
sippi, et id genus omne, and he will listen to
you. If your talk is right yotT can make him
think that he will see all this. Then you will
make him interested in music. Then, too, you
will sell him player-pianos.
•
Points to Emphasize,
This appeal to common emotions is a vital neces-
sity of good player-piano advertsing. Equally im-
portant is the appeal against prejudice. You must
never forget that the player-piano is generally an
instrument for the perpetration of musical crimes.
Most intelligent people dislike player-pianos, even
when they own one.
They cannot justly be
blamed for this, because the player-piano, with its
devilish mechanical correctness in unskilled hands
and its absence, in the same' hands, of anything
else, is an instrument of torture.. To remove this
prejudice it is useless to attempt to avoid the
obvious pitfall, namely, that a certain amount of
musical knowledge is essential to a proper manipu-
lation of the player-piano. But it. is a maxim
of wise advertising that a weak point can always be
so exploited .as to make it a strong one.. This
very idea of work, of study, of patience, of atten-
tion, is horrible to the mere seeker, after enter-
tainment, when crudely. put. But when well put
it becomes an additional inducement. ,
One can, and should, talk about the pleasure of
getting at the heart of music.. One should point
out that music is something that it pays to know
pretty .well. One may draw comparisons, and
point out that the player-piano, with its perma-
nent opening of a gate into continual pleasures
and joy, takes far less time to master than the
game of golf or bridge or the game of driving an
automobile. One should show that the player-
piano brings a permanent knowledge of big things,
of new sensations. One should urge that music
is itself a bringer of new ideas, new sensations,
new pleasures. The sated and jaded man and
woman of these modern days wants new sensa-
tions. Then, play up the art of music as a
bringer of new hypnoses, of new titillations to the
worn-out, nervous system. Why should not music
be a fad? Why, in fact, should not the produc-
tion of music by means of the player-piano be a
fad? Bigger .'fads have started on. less.
Here are some suggestions regarding the player
advertising. May they be wejl thought out and
digested.
;
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. .
What a lot of good would be done if we all put forth. All good advertising is simply the art
used a little commonsense in player advertising! of persuasion applied In the broadest manner. It
The statement is true of all advertising. How is persuasion applied to great bodies instead of
much more is it true of our own player business 1 to individuals. The political orator who wishes
: In one way or another more than a million dol- to sway a great audience to his views must make
lars are spent every year in the United States in use of arguments which appeal to the collective
buying space, etc., for advertising player-pianos. mind of this mass of people. He cannot, on the
If one were to say that one-half of this enormous one hand, be too subtle, lest his points be unin-
sum is, to all intents and purposes, wasted, one telligible to the majority of his hearers. Nor, on
would run the risk of being dubbed a hair-brained the other hand, can he be too obviously platitu-
exaggerator.' Yet the assertion would be very dinous, lest what he says be deemed uninterest-
close to the truth. The plain fact is that player ing. He must steer a happy middle course, mak-
advertising needs above all things the injection ing his platitudes in subtle expression and his
into- it of a - strong dose of commonsense. As subtleties in homely platitude. What is true of
most of us are incapable of original thought, but the orator is true of the advertiser. He, too, must
prefer to be' copyists, deeming the position safer, ap , p eal to masses of people. He, too, must re-
so the endeavors which we make in the field of member that the majority of his audience are
advertising are usually tinged with a sameness not thinkers, but are nevertheless convinced of
highly distressing to the independent mind. If one their own cleverness. And so he, too, must say
examines' carefully the advertisements appearing simple things, but not say them too simply; must
|n any one - day throughout the country, all de- at times be subtle, but not so offensively subtle
voted to the playe,r-piano, one notes an extraor- that the efforts toward subtlety is apparent.
dinary and lamentable absence of ideas. Words
Player advertising has not, as a general thing,
there are. in plenty, but ideas are few. In fact, it kept these principles in view. One fundamental
would seem that the greater part of our adver- mistake has been made, as will be obvious to any-
tising is based' on one idea; that of talking vaguely one who thinks seriously of the matter. Player
about the possibility of playing any sort of music, advertising has either been over-technical or it has
whether one knows anything about it or not.
been childish. On the one hand there has been
' The statement is not at all exaggerated. Truly too much musical jargon, and on the other hand
il may seem to be so, but careful examination of
there has been a lot of talk about things which
tlie facts proves to 'be anything but this. It is, the veriest novice knows to be nonsense. There
in fact, .rather an Under-statement than an over- is no use in talking to the general public about
assertion. What could be mare ridiculous than the great masters, about interpretation, about
to spend untold- gold on the purchase of space, phrasing, about the niceties of playing; for these
merely in order to .tell people that they can do things are as a foreign language to them. On
something that the majority of them are not even the other hand, there is less "use in telling the
public how they may become great masters of the
conseious that they want to do.,
'• It is surely about; time that the player trade piano without knowing one note of music from
began to recognize that the majority of people the other (to quote the usual formula). Neither
have but the slightest interest in music, saving of these lines of talk is right. Both are faulty.
only that sort of music, which neither requires The first is unintelligible. The second is insin-
nor has any relation with thought and feeling. cere. Yet the general run of player advertising has
On the one hand it may be asserted, as doubtless taken neither one or the . other tack right along.
it, will be, that there never was such' a demand as
The Solution Is Simple.
there is to-day for high-class serious music. On
The solution, fortunately, is simple. Perhaps
the other hand, it is equally legitimate to submit this is the reason that it has .been so generally
that there never was such a demand for trash ignored. It rests upon the simple fact that when
and vulgarity. The impartial observer must admit one comes to talk, about njij^ic. one must know
that the latter demand is infinitely greater than exactly what one is saying,. if or otherwise the
tfie former. And he must also admit that the results will be disastrous. The public cannot be.
fornrer-. is alsp, almost entirely a demand for the made enthusiastic about music unless they know
PATENTS ELECTRIC ATTACHMENT.
services -of artists,.and hardly at all for personal something about it, and precisely this is what they
(Special to The Review.)
individual- study and. practice. In other words, do not know. Hence, in order to produce an
Washington, D. C, Jan. 20, 1913.
those conscious of the appeal "confine their desire enthusiasm for the player-piano, one must produce
John L. Black, Hamilton, 0., is the inventor of
t6 the hiring of artists to play and sing for them, an enthusiasm for what the player-piano does, an electrically operated attachment for pianos, one-
without a notion, apparently, of doing more than namely, for the playing of music. One must try half of which he has assigned to Geo. J. Lang,
passively listening, and actively raving afterward. to show that to; play'th* piano is .not merely an same place. The patent number is 1,048,798, and
And does not this consideration apply with im- interesting thing, bait the most interesting of
the objects of these improvements are to provide
mense force to the matter of player exploitation? •things. One must urge that music is not alone orchestra bells with solenoid ringing mechanism
an accomplishment, but a language, a means for. having electrical connections which may be con-
Surely it does.
expression, a means for self-realization. One trolled by the corresponding keys of a piano; to
Appeal Must Be Made to the Masses.
The player-piano'is an instrument which is in- must urge the social, the intellectual and the provide means for controlling the electrical con-
tended to bring to people the- means for producing recreational features of musical accomplishment. nections with solenoids for beating a drum; to pro-
music without the necessity for technical., study. And one must do all this before so much as at- vide an electrical device for beating the roll on a
In order that the trade which has been built up on - tempting to utter one word of musical jargon.
drum either independently or simultaneously with
the player-piano should be supported and devel-
Talk to people about their musical possibilities the playing of a piano, and to provide simple and
oped, it is necessary that we should make a wide- and they will refuse to understand you. Tell them durable construction and assemblage of the various
spread and consistent appeal to the public through that they can play a certain piece so as to get members for obtaining facility of operation and
the medium of the best advertising that we can certain definite pleasure out of it, and they will efficiency of action.
The Master Player-Piano
is now equipped with an
AUTOMATIC TRACKING DEVICE
Which guarantees absolutely correct tracking of even the most imperfect music rolls
W I N T E R & CO., 220 Southern Boulevard, New York City