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Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE
MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
NECESSITY FOR SYSTEMATIC BUSINESS PLANS.
(Continued from page 3.)
In this way we will work out a program which is bound to bring the most desirable results.
Business in these days of keen competition cannot be conducted upon successful lines without
the introduction of perfect system, and the men who hold back and wait for positive assurance
from every side that business will be good usually fail to make the advance which their business
and general conditions would seem to justify.
This is not the time for the weak-hearted ones, but it is the time
for men with good, clean-cut business ideas who are not afraid to back
their ideas with definite action. The general conditions warrant the
making of early business plans.
Piano Manufacturers at Panama-Pacific Exposition
P
IANO manufacturers are being- urged to participate in the
Panama-Pacific Exposition to be held in San Francisco in
It must be admitted that piano manufacturers do not take
eagerly to the idea of spending thousands of dollars for exposition
purposes.
Times have changed since the great Columbian Exposition
at Chicago, which, by the way, reached the high water mark of
piano exposition patronage. At that time piano manufacturers
trom all sections of the country created expensive exhibits, and
many of us remember the wrangling and turmoil which occurred
during the exposition period.
At the close the official awards were plentifully scattered, and
many claimed "the highest award." As a matter of fact, it would
be difficult to say just who secured the "highest award," as it was
largely a question of word phrasing and juggling.
After that exposition manufacturers began to consider the
question seriously as to whether the returns were commensurate
with the outlay, and many decided negatively, so that when the
exposition at St. Louis developed, the piano men were few in num-
ber who took part.
Some of the exhibits made in the saintly city were most credi-
table to the industry on account of the beauty and excellence of the
instruments displayed, and as the number was somewhat limited
there was special satisfaction apparent among those who exhibited.
And now comes San Francisco, and it is a question whether
piano manufacturing as a whole will participate largely in this
exposition, which is to commemorate the wedding of the Atlantic
and the Pacific, the marital bonds being the great Panama Canal.
There is some trouble, too, across the water regarding exhibits.
If the people who are running the Panama exhibition at San
Francisco are wise, they will not worry very much about the
participation of either Germany or Great Britain in that show.
At the outset, neither Germany nor Great Britain took any
offical interest in the exhibition. These international shows have
not been productive of very much profit to exhibitors, for a long
time. Other means of advertising are more effective.
But as soon as the German Government had officially promul-
gated its refusal to participate in the San Francisco exhibition, the
English began to take an interest in it. They saw that the pros-
pective absence of the Germans afforded a fine chance for British
manufacturers to step in and make a show of their w r ares for the
benefit of the western Americans. The prospect of a Democratic
tariff bill in Congress, with import duties removed or greatly de-
creased, also affected their imaginations powerfully. It became
apparent at once that, in one way or another, Great Britain would
be well represented at San Francisco.
And now the Germans are having their sober second thought
on the subject. If the English are going to be so well represented
there—well, the informal assurance has gone forth that, even with-
out an official backing of the Government, German art and industry
will have a creditable showing at the Panama Fair.
Probably it will. The wars and rumors of wars, jealousies
and rivalries, of European governments have profited the United
States enormously in the past, and there seems to be no good reason
why we should not go on profiting.
Improvement in Player-Piano Advertising.
1
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* H E R E is no question in the minds of those who have studied
the subject that player-piano advertising as a whole has shown
remarkable improvement within the last few years, and it is equally
evident that its improvement is due directly to a more intimate
knowledge of the instrument possessed by those who are entrusted
with the work of preparing advertising copy.
Some of the early player-piano advertising was absolutely
weird when it was considered in the light of an actual selling talk.
The copy writer contented himself with flights of oratory, and fre-
quently did not get down close enough to earth throughout the
advertisement to give the reader a chance to get a definite line on
what he was trying to say.
With the growing knowledge of the details of the player
mechanism and what it wiH accomplish there also comes an appre-
ciation of the intelligence of the average American. In fact, in every
line of advertising, especially where it concerns a more or less
complex article, it has been found proper to assume that the reader
can appreciate the fact regarding its construction.
In the matter of the player-piano the average man who is think-
ing of investing from $500 to $1,500 in an instrument is surely in-
terested enough to desire information regarding its construction
and means of operation. The inclination to use the "human in-
terest" copy, with its little story of fact or fiction, is not to be de-
rided if one or more points of merit in the player are emphasized.
To the many thousands with an inventive turn of mind refer-
ence to the motor, the pneumatics, and other operating parts is to
be welcomed and appreciated. To the musician, or the reader who
knows and appreciates good music and desires to produce it him-
self, a detailed talk upon the system of expression control is much
more desirable than a flighty talk upon how he can learn to surpass
the efforts of Paderewski in one evening.
It is being realized in advertising player-pianos that the reader
who is sufficiently interested to become a prospect, and whom it is
desired to impress is not at all adverse to have the facts presented.
It gives him a favorable impression of the instrument and
helps him in his decision. There are doubtless many ways in which
the average player-piano copy can be improved. At the present
time, however, there is much to be commented upon favorably.
This development is most gratifying. It emphasizes that the
manufacturers of player-pianos, as well as those who are preparing
copy relating to these instruments, are fully cognizant of the fact
that if the player-piano is to be a stable product its constructive
and musical merits must be brought to the attention of the public
in a logical and understandable way.