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HE NEW YORK
PUBLICLIBRARY
THE
VOL. LXI. N o . 2
Published Every Saturday by Edward Lyman BUI at 373 Fourth Ave., New York, July 10,1915
slNG E
fe oo C PER ES VEAR^ ENTS
Stirring National Campa
T
HE power of the press in moulding public opinion can hardly be estimated, and advertising
is a part of the great formulating press machinery, carrying information to millions of read-
ers of the latest developments of brawn and brain. It must be readily admitted by all
that advertising to-day is a piece of the great press power which is generously utilized by
the biggest brained business creators in this country.
I have sought in my previous editorial to show how this machinery could be utilized in the piano
trade for the creation of new interest in the piano and player-piano, thus revitalizing the trade with
a virile force.
It cannot be successfully disputed that a certain public indifference is now manifest toward these
instruments. Why is it? Pianos are better made than ever. It is in truth an automatic age, and our
people are leaning toward various devices which will give them the best results through the least effort.
The talking machine manufacturers caught the public trend in this direction and turned the
tide irresistibly toward their products.
Then the dance craze swept over America, and the talking machine became the instrument
which provided music for home dances and made entertainment easy, while the piano, which should
always occupy the foremost musical position, was relegated to a rear position in the family esteem.
The talking machine factories are about the only ones in any line, outside those producing war
materials, that are run to their fullest capacity. Disturbed industrial conditions have had no effect
upon them, and the sales have been limited purely by the physical ability of the factories to supply
the demand. This condition has existed while piano factories have been run on such reduced time
that it has been an extremely discouraging situation which many have had to face.
Men who looked upon the talking machine with indifference years ago have changed their senti-
ments. They are now selling them and making money, and they realize that the talking machine has
come to be an important factor in the entertainment life of America.
The talking machine manufacturers, through the association of great artists with their product,
and by using mediums of great circulation, impressed readers so that the entire people began to view
the talking machine with interest.
This campaign was carried on on a gigantic scale, expending vast sums of money annually for
publicity purposes. It was no haphazard guesswork system, but one which was worked out carefully
in every detail.
Now, what have the piano men accomplished as an impelling power to their industry?
A few leading firms have put forth intelligently prepared advertising copy, but I contend that
the situation is one in which the individual is to a degree powerless—that it requires the co-oper-
ation of all the producing forces.
I affirm, and I may say that many agree with me in the advocacy of my sentiments, that the only
way to bring the piano into its own is to organize the piano forces of this country into a pub-
licity committee whose duty it should be, through the expenditure of money, to impress upon the
reading public the wonderful possibilities of the piano and player-piano.
What is talked about is purchased. That is an undisputed fact, and if the talking machine
men to-day were to drop out of the public mediums for six months their business would be cut
in two.
(Continued on page 5.)
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