Classic Mode

Music Trade Review

Issue: 1915 Vol. 60 N. 2

Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE
MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
EDWARD LYMAN BILL - Editor and Proprietor
J. B. SPILLANE, Managing Editor
Executive and Reportorlal Stall:
B. BBITTAIN WILSON,
A. J. NicKLiN,
CABLETON CHACE,
AUGUST J. TIMPE,
BOSTON OFFICE
JOHN H. WILSON, 1*4 Washington St.
GLAD HENDBBSON,
L. M. ROBINSON,
W I I . B. WHITE,
L. E. BowEBS.
CHICAGO OFFICE:
£• £• VAN HABLINGBN Consumers' Building.
_ , . ' , . .„, °
220 So. State Street. Telephone, Wabash 5774.
Telephone, Mam 8960.
HENBY S. KINGWILL, Associate,
LONDON, ENGLAND: 1 Gresham Buildings, Rasinghall St., E. C.
NEWS SERVICE IS SUPPLIED WEEKLY BY OUR CORRESPONDENTS
LOCATED Every
IN THE
LEADING at
CITIES
THROUGHOUT
AMERICA.
Published
Saturday
373 Fourth
Avenue,
New York
Henry Dennett, president of the Starr Piano Co., Richmond, Ind.,
wires The Review the attached message full of cheer:
"Congratulations to the Music Trade Review for its earnest
effort during nineteen fourteen to pilot the piano industry pros-
perously and safely through a trying period of forbearance and
patience. Those of us who heeded are ready for the breeze of
prosperity that is due and coming to us in the next year.
"I want to add that your editorials along the lines of safe, sane
and conservative business in the piano industry, meet my hearty
approval, and I believe those engaged in the piano industry who
have been wise in heeding your recommendations are ready for the
developments of the new year, which I am inclined to believe most
encouraging, and the disappointments of 1914 should be accepted
as epochal exploits over which the business man has no control, yet
must with patience an.d forbearance overcome unsatisfactory con-
ditions, rejoicing in the rights of American citizenship and the
business opportunities which are the indications of prosperity for
the new year."
Entered at the New York Post Office as Second Class Matter.
SUBSCRIPTION (including postage), United States and Mexico, $2.00 per year; Canada!
$3.50; all other countries, $5.00.
ADVERTISEMENTS, $3.50 per inch, single column, per insertion. On quarterly or
yearly contracts, a special discount is allowed. Advertising pages $110.00.
REMITTANCES, In other than currency forms, should be made payable to Edward
Lyman Bill.
Departments conducted by an expert wherein all ques-
tions of a technical nature relating to the tuning, regu-
lating and repairing of pianos and player-pianos are
dealt with, will be found in another section of this
paper. We also publish a number of reliable technical works, information concerning which
will be cheerfully given upon request
Player-Piano and
Technical Departments.
Exposition Honors Won by The Review
Grand Prix
Diploma
Paris Exposition, 1900
Silver Medal- . .Charleston Exposition, 190J
Pan-American Exposition, 1901
Gold Medal
St. Louis Exposition, 1904
Gold Medal..Lewis-Clark Exposition, 1905
LONG DISTANCE TELEPHONES—NUMBEBS 5982—5983 MADHON »Q-
Couuectiner all Departments
Cable addreaa: "Elbill, New York."
NEW
YORK,
JANUARY
9, 1915
EDITORIAL
D
ON'T be a calamity howler. We have had enough of them
abroad in the land for the past few months, and it is a
wonder sometimes that the volume of business has remained as
large as it has, because the calamity howlers have sought to de-
press rather than increase business.
We are on the threshold of great national prosperity. Why
not help it along?
Why be a knocker instead of a booster? Boosting pays bet-
ter than knocking, and yet there are some men who will endeavor
to hold back the tide of progress to the utmost of their ability.
The real way to get action is to get it, and the way to get it is
to keep moving ahead.
Advertise—make plans for the New Year. Show faith in the
country and its future.
Take the A^ictor Talking Machine Co. No single product
was ever advertised more liberally or intelligently during one
month than was the Victrola in New York City before Christmas.
What was the result?
More Victrolas were moved than ever before during the holi-
day season.
The general manager of that corporation has advised us that
its holiday sales were surprisingly large.
There is a corporation that showed faith. Tt went ahead and
did things. Tt was not an irregular hit-or-miss campaign. It was
logically planned to move a special product and it moved. That
is all. There is the knowing how and the ability to perform evi-
denced in great and successful moves.
Too many men show fear. They hold back waiting to see
what the other fellow is going to do, and in the meantime they
indulge in pessimistic talk.
There is no question but that men must be ever alert in order
to keep up with the procession.
There is at present a lot of pure cowardice exhibited in various
parts of the country.
Re a booster—not a knocker.
The opinions presented in The Review of last week show the
right kind of spirit—the spirit that makes for business advance.
I
T is obvious that trade newspapers reflect rather than dictate
the interests and requirements of an industry. The days of
dictation arc happily of the past, and holdup journalism has lost its
sting. It is no longer a question of making demands, followed by
threats, to gain patronage. It is rather by the presentation of a
strong, virile trade newspaper which meets with the demands of
our times. It is the moral and constructive force back of a paper
which makes it a power.
The up-to-date trade newspaper should not only render a per-
fect news service, but it should keep just ahead of its readers and
uphold ideals with which its clientele can sympathize and under-
stand. It must keep in dose touch with the requirements of every
department of the industry.
True, we may not always agree with the editorial sentiments
expressed by any paper, but words which lead to a better under-
standing of vital problems, serve the purpose of educating members
of the trade and keeps readers mentally alert to all sides of com-
plex questions.
During the past year, this trade newspaper institution has
advanced. Tts average number of pages weekly exceeded those of
any competitor in the field.
Its space devoted to the player-piano was overwhelmingly
ahead of any competing force. In fact, every department of the
paper showed progress and life, and at the beginning of the New
Year, The Review starts out better equipped than ever before in
its history to do constructive work for the industry which it en-
deavors to faithfully represent.
Its advertising patronage has steadilv grown— a fact which in
itself shows the power of the paper.
Single firms do not use forty to sixty pages in a publication
unless the investment has been found profitable.
The best business concerns in this trade are not spending their
money simply to see their names presented. They are spending it
in The Review because they know it is close to the great selling
forces of the trade, and because The Review has high journalistic
and advertising ideals. It believes in fairness and justice. Tt aims
to be a constructive force to its readers, and incidentally it believes
that 1915 is going to be the best Review year yet accomplished.
And why ?
Because advertisers are getting more keenly alive to the values
offered by the various trade publications, and they have found upon
investigation that the development of this paper within the past
half dozen years has been incomparably greater than any other
trade publication. To-day it is relied upon by piano merchants and
salesmen as a powerful aid and a stimulating force in their dailv
work. It will be greater this year because manufacturers are going
to use more discriminating intelligence in the purchase of adver-
tising space. They are going to use more and more the same in-
telligence in selecting advertising space which they do in purchasing
supplies of any kind, and when these forces are the dominating
ones in the industry it naturally follows that the paper which is
offering the best values is the one which will secure the larger
contracts.
On the basis of value and no other has The Review' sought or
accepted contracts. That is why this publication is now entering
upon the banner year of its existence,
Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
A REVISION OF SELLING TERMS NEEDED.
(Continued from page 3.)
in this trade should get together and arrange a definite plan of credits and related selling conditions.
It is not a difficult proposition. All it requires is an initial move, and all the manufacturers of
this trade would hail with joy a system which would protect their interests in a better manner than
the unsystematic methods of the past.
For this it does not require a trust or a combination. A few men could adjust this matter for the
entire trade.
From certain indications 1 feel that this move will be made within the very near future, and I
feel confident that new conditions will be introduced which will benefit everyone.
Men frankly admit the need of systematic rules governing selling conditions.
They willingly admit that the lack of a definite system has caused the loss of vast sums to the
trade—to individuals and to the industry, and there is no good reason why a few men should be
permitted to brand the piano industry with the taint of financial suspicion.
There is no good reason why the piano trade should not be one
of the best—if not THE very best, from a financial standpoint.
If an acceptable system is worked out, in a year after its adop-
tion, men will wonder how they could have endured the old unbusi-
nesslike methods to have existed so long.
Profit Sharing in Industrial Circles
T
HE announcement in The Review recently of the first distribu-
tion of bonus checks of the Charles Kohler Memorial Fund
to the employes of the Kohler & Campbell industries brings home
in a most pleasing way the desirability of the modern idea of profit
sharing in industrial circles. That a business institution even of
the size of the Kohler & Campbell industries is able to back up its
ideas on industrial welfare to the extent of $32,000 cash is proof
of the practicability of the scheme- Other, though very few, piano
manufacturing concerns have, up to the present day, adopted
the profit sharing, or bonus, system on a somewhat less elaborate
basis, but with excellent results. The success of the application
of this system in other lines has shown that it will do much to keep
the workmen satisfied and cheerful and, therefore, improve both
the quantity and quality of the product.
Under a profit sharing system the employe has something to
look forward to beyond his weekly pay envelope. He feels that in
sharing the profits he is a real part of the organization in fact as
well as name, and takes a personal interest in the welfare of the
industry. That personal interest means just a little care where
formerly work might be slighted:—just a little more effort put
forth to produce greater results. The man who is inclined to
slight his work either realizes that he is actually hurting himself or
begins to show up so badly in contrast with his fellow workmen
that he is soon forced out.
Profit sharing emphasizes to the employe that the "loyalty"
that has been preached to him for years is not entirely one-sided in
that the employer shows an inclination to be loyal to the employe
by recognizing his extra effort in a more or less substantial manner.
The total amount that may be distributed by such a system, while
it may appear large on the surface, becomes comparatively small
when figured against the accumulated results of such a policy.
Bonuses distributed simply as a form of charity may not be very
effective, but bonuses distributed in proportion to effort expended
by the employe have an unquestioned value.
Piano Recitals Help to Increase Sales
NOTICEABLE feature of the musical season now under way
A
in this country is the number of pianists who have been heard
in recital and concert, due, in a large measure, to the fact that the
war in Europe has driven many artists to this country for a liveli-
hood. This influx of pianists we believe will have a distinctly
beneficial influence on the piano trade. For the recitals by these
great artists will stimulate interest in the piano, and where pianos
are not available it means that the player-piano will be utilized in
an effort to play the numbers heard at a recital just to ascertain
how nearly the player-pianist can duplicate the playing of the
pianist. There is a fashion in pianists as in everything else, and
truly this season the pianists have the platform in right good
measure. All nationalities and all schools have been in evidence
in New York and elsewhere throughout the country, and the music
trade industry is bound to feel this influence in a practical way.
The fact that people nowadays who have not the time or
convenience for practice, can, through the medium of a music roll,
play the most difficult numbers without troubling themselves re-
garding technique and in a manner to satisfy their artistic instincts,
means a tremendous advance—a consolation and a pleasure to the
truly musical that can hardly be measured adequately. For be it
remembered that the player-piano is in the truest sense of the word
a great educational medium when it is intelligently used, and we
are glad to say that the number of people who appreciate what the
player-piano really means is rapidly growing and a new and greater
appreciation of this instrument is evident.
HAT the opening of the Panama Canal is a matter of direct
importance to the members of the piano trade is indicated
in no uncertain way by the reports from both Atlantic and Pacific
coasts. Piano shippers from Atlantic Coast points have succeeded
in securing a most favorable rate to the Western seaboard, a rate
a trifle over 50 per cent, of that charged by the railroads and with
the extra advantage that the instruments are handled with much
less danger of damage than when shipped by rail.
W. S. Gannon, in an interview on trade conditions on the
Pacific Coast in last week's Review, estimates that the piano deal-
ers in that section of the country will save fully $150,000 annually
in freights and through receiving their .pianos in better condition;
$150,000 is no mean item to be deducted from the handling expense
of pianos, and when divided among the thousands of instruments
handled each year by Pacific Coast dealers will represent a sub-
stantial saving per instrument. At such a rate it will not be very
long before the members of the piano trade will realize in full their
share in the heavy cost of building the canal and the dividend will
be substantial and in cash instead of into the elusive form of taxes
under which conditions the principal was paid out.
T
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