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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
Opinions of Dealers, Salesmen, Tuners and Others as to Lack of Public
Appreciation for Player-Piano—Some Facts and Conclusions of Moment
That Should Receive the Earnest Attention of the Trade in General.
The Editor of the Player Section has been spending some weeks in a trip through various sections, interview-
ing dealers, salesmen, tuners and others who may be supposed to have an interest in the player-piano. His main
object in this enterprise has been to ascertain, from first hand personal contact, the views of the retail men, the
men on the firing line, as to such aspects of the player business as particularly concern them.
We hear a great deal about the player business from manufacturers, from travelers, from experts of all sorts.
Rut we don't seem to get the idea of the dealers, except of a few larger men in great centers of population. But
this business of ours needs to be considered also from the point of view of the small man, the dealer in the smaller
city, that is. FOR I T IS IN T H E SMALLER CITTES T H A T T H E PLAYER BUSINESS IS NOT MAK-
ING HEADWAY. This is a significant point and one to which less than due consideration is usually given.
In talking with the various men whose views have been compared and analyzed below, we have not gone in
as an investigator or as a cross-examiner, but simply as a member of the great public who has happened to have
some technical and trade knowledge and who is possessed of a sincere desire to do his part in boosting trade
conditions. Thus it has come about that we present here no formal answers to specific questions. Yet many
questions have been asked, and we can safely synthesise them into the following:
1.
2.
3.
4.
HOW DO YOU FIND THE PUBLIC IN YOUR TERRITORY TAKE TO THE PLAYER-PIANO?
WHAT ARE THE PRINCIPAL CAUSES YOU ASSIGN FOR THE INDIFFERENCE COMPLAINED OF?
WHAT CAN THE WHOLESALE TRADE DO TO IMPROVE CONDITIONS?
WHAT CAN THE RETAIL TRADE DO TO IMPROVE CONDITIONS?
The territory covered in the trip referred to, has been mainly through downstate Illinois and Iowa. W e
have talked to large dealers in cities like Peoria and Des Moines, to small dealers in smaller cities like Rock
Island or Eort Dodge, and to quite small dealers in such towns as Ottumwa, Oskaloosa and Boone.
Conse-
quently we have obtained a point of view that will be conceded to be impartial, if nothing else.
The Answers to Question Number One.
Nine-tenth of the total number of dealers inter-
viewed said, in effect:
"The public does not appreciate the player-
piano and insists on thinking that it is merely a
hurdy-gurdy."
Thirty per cent. o.f the dealers said that the
public were indifferent because the player-piano
gave so much trouble.
Two. dealers expressed the opinion that the
player-piano would never be of the least value
until much further perfected, and that the public
did not believe in its claims and entirely failed
to understand it.
One dealer said that he refused altogether to
sell player-pianos on account of their mechanical
and musical defects.
The virtual unanimity of the statement that the
public is ignorant and unappreciative shows that
it deserves the closest attention. It will be to.uched
on again later. At present it is enough to say that
this opinion is of men who deal with large com-
munities as well as men who are situated in small
villages, with men who sell many players, as well
as with men who sell scarcely any. In almost every
case it was the first thing said.
The Answers to the Second Question.
About 50 per cent, of the answers were in sub-
stance that the player-piano costs too much money
and that the public object to putting $500 or more
into a player-piano or any other musical instru-
ment. These men were especially those in the
smaller communities, and they especially were in-
sistent in the demand for a reliable player-piano
that can be sold for somewhere around $400.
Some 20 per cent, of the dealers who expressed
opinions thought that the manufacturer is to blamt
for not building fool-proof players. They said
that tuners do not understand the player and that
there is continual trouble with them. They em-
phasized the necessity for simplicity.
Rather more than 30 per cent, of the answers
to this question emphasize the opinion that the
player is too complicated and that the public ought
to have a simple player, one with considerably fewer
levers and buttons and more of direct response.
Six dealers spoke also about installation and
blamed the manufacturers for sending out player-
pianos with the mechanism badly installed. Three
pointed out to the writer concrete evidence in the
sTiape of bad workmanship showing in instruments
on their floors. All of these latter were in large
communities where the player has a good, fair
popularity, and every one of them is an enthusias-
tic player man.
Nearly one-half of the dealers interviewed ex-
pressed the view that the principal cause for pub-
lic indifference and contempt is to be found in the
exaggerated claims made in advertising and in
the failure of the retail trade to cultivate sane
methods of demonstration.
Installation, ad7crtising, mechanical efficiency.
These are the points emphasized by these men on
the firing line as responsible elements in the public
indifference to the player. The public has been
told that the player-piano is this and that, and
they come to expect perhaps too. much. But the
opinion of these sane and intelligent men is that
the trade must reform itself by refining the con-
struction of the player, and especially its installa-
tion, by educating the tuners and repairers, and by
reforming the current methods of demonstration
and sale.
campaign of education is essential. Here we have
a definite opinion of definite value.
The Answers to the Fourth Question.
Three-fourths of the number of dealers inter-
viewed expressed the opinion that the larger deal-
ers should cultivate BETTER DEMONSTRA-
TION among their salesmen, and that all dealers,
no. matter how small their business, ought to un-
derstand the player, LEARN HOW TO PLAY
IT and thus learn to respect it.
Nine-tenths of the number interviewed said that
the curse of the retail trade is ignorance.
More than one-half of the opinions expressed
the hope that a campaign for the substitution of
knowledge in place of ignorance might forthwith
be made.
Virtually all expressed the desire for better
knowledge and a more intimate understanding.
A second set of opinions was also developed.
This was to the effect that the retail trade should
work in concert to obtain better prices, better terms
and a demand for the better grades.
About one dealer in ten confessed that the edu-
cation of their tuners and repair men is a task
for the retail trade.
There were other scattering views, but these
analyzed here represent an overwhelmingly large •
percentage of the whole number.
The Answers to the Third Question.
Summary and Conclusion.
Here, right at the beginning was one virtually
unanimous answer: "The wholesale trade ought to
get together, organize a campaign of education, and
teach not only the retail trade but the public the
meaning of the player, the way of playing it and
the real beauty of it." Not in so many words,
but certainly in substance, this was the opinion of
almost every man who expressed any opinion at
all.
There were scattering suggestions as to im-
provement of method, constructional refinements
and reductions in price, all of which have been
touched on here in analyzing the answer to ques-
tion the first. But the big question, the important
question, the question which has been seen to be
vital, is the question involved in the belief that a
1. The public is generally indifferent to the
player-piano.
2. THE REASONS FOR THIS INDIFFER-
ENCE ARE: (a) THE HIGH PRICE OF
PLAYER-PIANOS;
(b)
MECHANICAL.
TROUBLES DEVELOPED IN USE; (c) MIS-
LEADING ADVERTISING. DEVELOPING
UNREALIZED EXPECTATIONS; (d) MU-;
SICAL INEFFIENCY.
3. TO REMEDY THIS STATE OF AF-
FAIRS THE WHOLESALE TRADE CAN AND
SHOULD: (a) ORGANIZE A GENERAL,
CONCERTED CAMPAIGN OF PUBLIC AND•!
TRADE EDUCATION; (b) IMPROVE THEIR
METHODS OF INSTALLATION; (c) CUL-
{Continued on page 6.)