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REVIEW
THE
MUJICTOABE
VOL. LVI. N o . 5
Published Every Saturday by Edward Lyman Bill at 373 Fourth Ave., New York, Feb. 1,1913
SING
^.OS 0 P P ER\EAR ENTS
More About
I
HAVE received quite a number of communications from piano dealers who have read with interest my
recent article upon the problem of the trade-ins. I would particularly like to inaugurate a lively dis-
cussion of this topic in The Review columns; but the great obstacle is the difficulty to get a number
of people to write their views concerning matters which are of the greatest moment to all of the mem-
bers of the trade.
They seem loath to write an extended exposition of their beliefs concerning trade reforms. They
seem to feel that their attitude may be misunderstood, and a certain sensitiveness causes them to hold back
from an open and fair expression of their opinions.
It is too bad that this condition exists, because through super-sensitiveness some splendid views are lost
to the trade.
The gentlemen who have written me in the past week could handle this subject from a most interesting
viewpoint and they could lend force and impetus to the movement; but they have simply endorsed my atti-
tude and stopped there.
That does not go far enough. In order to bring about any great trade reforms we must arouse the spirit
of the trade—its conscience, if you will.
We must stimulate men to action along certain lines. It is only in this way that reforms are accom-
plished in the political or in the business life of the country; and it is only through concerted action that we
can hope to establish permanent reforms in the selling end of this industry.
One trouble with piano selling is this, that it had no particular basis to begin on—it was founded in
indefiniteness.
It was not an industry at the start and the men who were connected with it in the early days were not
trained in a business school. They were workmen—men who knew how to build a good piano, but did not
understand even the elementary principles of marketing. Then, too, the demand far exceeded the supply,
and it did not require any skill to market all the pianos that the early factories could turn out.
Indifference regarding business methods was the natural legacy of such a condition, and it has taken
many years to build the trade up on a strictly business platform.
That will come, however. But, like everything else that is worth while, it requires some time.
The relations between manufacturer and dealer have wholly changed during the past half century.
Along the close of the Civil War most dealers in the piano business were musicians.
Most manufacturers who were making pianos were themselves musical. To-day that condition has
changed very largely.
Some of the men at the head of the largest manufacturing institutions in the country are not musicians.
Tn fact, they know nothing about music.
They are business men who view piano making the same as manufacturers in other lines view their oc-
cupations.
The dealers have come to view their business in the same way.
I can name hundreds of dealers—the biggest in the country—who are not musicians and who lay no
claim to musicianly qualities. Therefore, the manufacture and distribution of pianos have become a selling
problem and we have got to accommodate ourselves to the changed conditions.
You have got to outgrow certain traditions as well as conditions. And because conditions have existed
in this industry so that used pianos or trade-ins have been taken in at several times their actual value, many
a man has fooled himself with the belief that he was doing business.and making money,
(Continued qn page 5.)