Music Trade Review

Issue: 1915 Vol. 60 N. 12

Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
-A8T0R, LENOX
THE
MUJIC TFADE
V O L . L X . N o . 12 Published Every Saturday by Edward Lyman Bill at 373 Fourth Ave., New York,March 20,1915
SING
? 2 E O?PER E IEA£ E N T S
AKING music roll sales more profitable is a subject which should interest every piano
merchant in this country, for it must be conceded, from the retailer's viewpoint, that the
present condition of the retail music roll business is not entirely pleasing.
There are some piano merchants who conduct every department of their enterprises
on a systematic basis which insures reasonable profits, yet it is also true that as a whole the music
roll business, which should be profitable, is not paying nearly what it should in the way of returns
for money invested—for space used and a fair share of overhead expenses.
Surely it should be easy to locate the cause and to change the effect.
It is conceded that the player-piano is steadily advancing as it should in public opinion; and
the player-piano of to-day is a very important factor in the trade situation. In fact, it is the lead-
ing feature, for each year the gap between the player-piano and the straight piano grows nar-
rower, and the player-piano to-day may be considered a permanent part of the music trade industry.
The enormous forward move of the player-piano in the past ten years has been due to certain
primary causes—one, the surprisingly improved mechanism and its wonderful powers, and the
other a clever presentation of the musical possibilities of the player-piano to the public.
I do not think, however, that the player has been artificially forced, but it has taken a strong hold
on the public and it is being pushed steadily forward by popular pressure, aided by publicity.
Surely then its wonderful progress—the perfection accomplished in player mechanism—should
insure its constant growth. And yet, notwithstanding the concededly strong position of the player-
piano, dealers are complaining because the music roll business does not pay. In my opinion the
fault largely lies with the dealers themselves.
If they used the same forceful methods in pushing the music roll department which are exhib-
ited by talking machine dealers in selling records, there would be no question as to its profitableness.
The present conditions would be completely changed.
The talking machine men have carried on an extensive advertising campaign in which there
has been the basic desire to create talking machine ownership on the part of readers. But the sale
of machines is only one point in the grand business plan—the records are the real profit makers, and
their monthly sales are supported by the best kind of publicity. Every facility is given to the public
to test the records and to encourage their purchase, and what are the music roll men doing to
boom their product?
There are some men who have handled the music roll business on a progressive plan. As a
result, they have made the department pay. But there is no use in denying the fact that the roll
section as a whole does not pay what it should.
There are many dealers paying more attention to the sale of talking machines than they are to
music rolls.
Why is this?
Because there has been a demand created for the former, and there has been no systematic,
concerted effort to interest the public in the latter. What little work is done by the dealers is through
local channels, and even then it is carried on in a most indifferent, unsystematic manner.
Big discounts and the cheapening of music rolls will not accomplish the desired end. The
people must be interested, and if educational work were carried on in a creative way, producing
M
(Continued on page 5;)

Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
him as to whether he can win the organization point in the public
mind. Will purchasers figure that factory organization is to be
specially considered in the purchase of a piano? That is the real
question.
A
EDWARD LYMAN BILL - Editor and Proprietor
J. B. SPILLANE, Managing Editor
Executive and Reportorial Stall:
B. BKITTAIR WILSON,
A. J. NICKUW,
<"AILBTON CHACE,
AUGUST J. TIVPE,
L. M. ROBINSON,
W H . B. WHITE,
GLAD HKNDUSON,
L. E. BOW U S .
BOSTON OFFICE
CHICAGO OFFICE:
fo.N H. WILSON, 114 Washington St.
£ A J- VAN HAILINMN Consumers' Building
„ , . ' . . .„-
>80 So. State Street. Telephone, Wabash 5774.
.
Telephone, Main 8950.
HENKY S. KINOWILL, Associate,
LONDON, ENGLAND: 1 Gresham Buildings, Basinghall St., E. C.
NEWS SERVICE IS SUPPLIED WEEKLY BY OUR CORRESPONDENTS
LOCATED IN THE LEADING CITIES THROUGHOUT AMERICA.
Published Every Saturday at 373 Fourth Avenue, New York
Entered at the New York Post Office as Second Class Matter.
SUBSCRIPTION (including postage), United States and Mexico, $2.00 per year; Canada,
$8.50; all other countries, $5.00.
ADVERTISEMENTS, 13.50 per inch, single column, per insertion. On quarterly or
yearly contracts, a special discount is allowed. AdTcrtising pages $110.00.
REMITTANCES, In other tkan currency forms, should be made payable to Edward
Lyman Bill.
P l a v p r P l a n A 5inil
Departments conducted by an expert wherein all ques-
ts i a j C l - 1 l a u v a i i u
t j O p S o f a technical nature relating to the tuning, regu-
TfWhnifMll n p n a r t m o n f c
lating and repairing of pianos and player-pianos are
l e i l U U L d l V C p d l I l l i e i l i a . d e a l t w i t h > w i U b e f o u n ( j i n an< , t her section of this
paper. We also publish a number of reliable technical works, information concerning which
will be cheerfully given upon request
Exposition Honors Won by The Review
Grand Prix
Diploma
Paris Exposition, 1000
Silver Medal.. .Charleston Exposition, 1901
Pan-American Exposition, 1001
Gold Medal
St. Louis Exposition, 1904
Gold Medal. -Lewis-Clark Exposition, 1905
DiaTAJTOX TELEPHONES—XTTTICBEBS 5983—5983 MADI«OJT SQ.
Connecting- all Departments
Cable a d d r e u : "Elbifi, Wew Tork."
NEW
YORK,
MARCH
20,
1915
EDITORIAL
R
ECOGNIZING harmony as an essential factor in the produc-
tion of pianos, Albert S. Bond, president of the Packard Co.,
Fort Wayne, Ind., has readjusted the Packard business along lines
of co-operative development. In other words, as the official head
of the corporation, Mr. Bond has endeavored to bring about a new
factory condition which places the whole organization—executive,
business and creative—in the closest touch.
Regular meetings are held where matters of interest are dis-
cussed in various ways. The result of this co-operative influence
has been to create greater interest on the part of departmental work-
ers, and it is affirmed that better results are obtained in the finished
product.
The slogan of this company is: "If there is no harmony in
the factory, there will be none in the piano."
The national advertising of the Packard Co. has been carried
along these lines, and the development of this idea will be watched
with exceeding interest. The placing of the factory organization
before the piano is something novel, and when a corporation com-
mences a national campaign of advertising along lines of such ex-
ploitation, the results obtained will naturally be viewed with con-
siderable interest.
There are some who will disagree with Mr. Bond and his as-
sociates regarding the subordination of the piano to the organiza-
tion. Tt is a question whether this line of argument will convince
intending purchasers in a telling manner or not, and that, of course,
is what all retail advertising has for its ultimate accomplishment.
Will readers of magazines and periodicals be interested in the
factory organization, or will they be interested in the piano?
Of course there are people who will readily understand and
appreciate the sentiment of the Packard slogan. There are others,
however, who will be wholly indifferent and cannot be influenced
by the dominancv of the organization argument.
On the other hand, Mr. Bond affirms that the results obtained
at the present time are eminently more satisfying than during the
old regime.
Thinking men will not disagree with Mr. Bond regarding the
attitude of harmony in tjbc factory, but many will disagree with
LMOST April, and a definite plan as to the disposition of the
assets of the H. P. Nelson Co. is still far away. In the
meanwhile there is a steady crumpling of assjets and a constant
pyramiding of liabilities in the way of expenses which must steadily
decimate the resources of the corporation.
'i
No man who has familiarized himself in the slightest degree
with the assets of this corporation at the tinie when it encountered
financial difficulties can fail to wonder why disagreements, selfish-
ness, personal interests, feuds and other things have prevented the
creditors from realizing what was rightfully theirs from this estate.
There are men who argue that, rightly managed, the assets of
this company would have realized within three years sufficient to
have paid all the creditors and left an equity for H. P. Nelson.
Surely sufficient time has" elapsed to have completed some sort
of a reorganization which should have been acceptable to the cred-
itors. In the meanwhile warm weather is almost here, and summer
is coming—still nothing done in the Nelson matter.
Maybe the summer will wane and the chill winds of another
fall will warn us of the approach of another winter before the final
touches shall have been given to the Nelson rehabilitation act. The
wranglers will wrangle—until the end—and then there'll be no
core to the Nelson apple.
O
NE of the sturdiest advocates of active, earnest work in con-
nection with the development of our export trade is James
A. Farrell, president of the United States Steel Corporation. He
is doing yeoman work in various ways, and through his public in-
terviews and addresses is cultivating a viewpoint which must be
productive of desirable results.
The other day, in an article in The South American, Mr. Far-
rell held up Germany as an example to the United States of suc-
cessful building up of foreign trade. "The success of Germany,"'
he said, "is attributable to the whole-hearted support of their Gov-
ernment and to efficient co-operative organization among them-
selves. Tn our country there has been a continual friction between
the Government and corporate interests, and a regrettable lack of
co-operation between individuals and organizations. Such misdi-
rected activities have undermined the foundation of our entire busi-
ness structure and retarded the increase of our export trade.
"A general movement looking to the betterment of these con-
ditions has been recently, shaping itself, and has met with spon-
taneous enthusiasm in both political and commercial centers. The
lessons of the war have driven home the fact that an increasing
foreign trade is vital to our domestic prosperity."
W
E have always advocated the purchase of trade paper space
on the same basis as supplies or any other commodity.
That principle is growing in favor, and the papers which are not
producing the values must necessarily suffer, for more than ever
before trade advertisers are using discriminating intelligence in the
selection of their advertising mediums.
The advertising patronage of The Review, evidenced by the
weeklv showing, is steadily increasing—a condition which has
necessitated the constant enlargement of the paper so that the
weekly editions of the paper average close to seventy pages, .1
condition which is approached by no other music trade paper.
The largest and most successful trade houses in existence are
liberal patrons of The Review. They have gone into trade paper
values carefully and systematically, and it pays to follow the leaders.
C
A. WOODMAN, of the Oliver Ditson Co.. Boston, writes:
e
"The new Salesmanship Department in The Music Trade
Review to my mind i^ most emphatically a step in the right direc-
tion, and will, if taken advantage of by the salesman, foster a get-
together spirit that will be almost priceless, not only to themselves,
but to their employers, and these benefits while great, are by no
means limited; same will extend also to the purchaser. T compli-
ment you on your foresight and enterprise, and send hearty good
wishes for success."

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