Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
What Well-Known Traveling Men Direct from the Firing Line Think
of the Present Trade Conditions—Most of Pessimism Without Any Real
Basis of Fact—Gloomy Impressions of Many Retailers Easily Exploded.
1 lie following remarks are a composite of re-
cent talks which the editor of the Player Section
has had with several prominent travelers in the
piano business, notably with Heinrich Rousseau,
of the A. B. Chase Co.; R. H. McKenzie, of Bjur
Bros. Co., and F. P. Bassett, of the M. Schulz Co.
What Traveling Men Say.
It is a truism that the men who visit the retail
trade at regular intervals throughout a specified
territory get in the closest possible touch with their
customers and trade friends and learn more of
their general mental attitude than anyone else can
be expected to know. Now, it is of course a very
good thing for the manufacturer to know the deal-
er's thoughts, but not in order that he may slavish-
ly follow what is often a thoroughly unwise de-
mand. He should know the dealer's attitude in
order to correct it diplomatically, if he can, and
at least try to lead it into or along paths of wis-
dom and understanding. The wise traveling men
—those who make good in the disposal of what
may be called the permanencies of the trade—
know this truth and try to act it out. They con-
stantly preach a definite gospel and consistently
adapt their selling arguments and the assistance
they are always ready to afford the retailers to
such specific end. Thus the arguments which
travelers are called on to make, especially as re-
gards the complaints and objections advanced by
dealers in respect of this, that or the other branch
of the 'player business, are immensely interesting
and valuable; for they represent the matured re-
sult of the thoughts which have taken possession
of these men through their consistent working
along sane lines of promotion. There is no greater
conservative than your really wise traveler. Hence
the arguments he uses to combat supposed objec-
tions to the promotion of the player game are sure
to be interesting and worth knowing.
The Fallacy of Pessimism.
A certain section of the retail trade is saying
that the piano business has seen its best days, and
that the player-piano has not become the success
that it was expected to be. With this thought in
mind, it is not surprising that some retailers give
way to gloom, which, of course, means a relaxa-
tion of their efforts. But the traveler who covers
a large extent of territory knows that if this ap-
pears to be true for a time in one small section it
is sure to be contradicted by the facts existing in
the next section. The late Edward Harriman
remarked that a man was a fool to be a bear on
the United States ; you could always afford to be a
bull on the U. S. A. The truth is, of course, that
this country is too enormously big to suffer hard
times all over at once. Then there is another thing
which these traveling men are telling the croakers,
and that is that investigation reveals the amazing
fact that people are anything in the world but
loaded up with pianos and that the number of
pianos per J ,000 of the population is astoundingly
small. The absorptive capacity of the nation is not
less than (500,000 pianos and player-pianos annually,
a statement which seems reasonable enough if you
consider that the increase is about 2 per cent, an-
ually, and that even now it is doubtful if there
are more than 2,000,000 pianos and player-pianos
in the country. Then there is the further fact
that although piano sale9 have not undergone any
heavy expansion during the last three years or so,
they have remained nearly constant, thus proving
that there is a constant demand. This means that
there is something that can be stimulated and that
will respond to treatment. Treatment in this case
means advertising—intelligently conceived, nation-
ally undertaken advertising.
The Talking Machine Bogy.
It is amazing how much whining is going on just
now about the competition of the talking machine.
Even those piano dealers who handle both talkers
and players are inclining to this sort of talk. The
fact is that the talking machine people are simply
reaping the reward of their persistent and educa-
tional advertising, and the complaints are really the
result of suggestion from one to another. Some-
one began to talk about this competition hurting
the 1 player game, and straightway the dealers who
are not making good caught up the idea and car-
ried it on. Now, the piano travelers whom we
have consulted and interviewed, and who are meet-
ing this sort of talk every day, simply point out
that there is no sense in getting frightened simply
because you are this year selling talkers more
easily than players. The player-piano in reality
cannot be compared with the talking machine, for
the two are incommensurable. They do not hit
the same trail anywhere. The fact that both pro-
vide music is nothing. The player-piano truly pro-
duces music, for you play it yourself, after a
fashion anyhow, even if you are green at it, while
the talking machine is at the best a mere repro-
ducer, and you can only listen to it. People talk
of "playing" pieces or songs on the talking
machine, but that is nonsense. The talking ma-
chine reflects, or, if you will, reproduces. You
don't play it, because you don't control its dynam-
ics or phrasing. So those people who complain
that the talking machine is usurping the place of
the player-piano are not acquainted with the facts
They don't realize that the only reason for the
talking machine being popular is that it is adver-
tised, while the player-piano is not advertised. So,
say the traveling men, if you dealers will simply
co-operate with us and get busy on the advertising
of our product, you will find that the public will sit
up and take notice again quickly enough.
The Demonstration Mistake.
But, say the dealers, people say they cannot get
decent music from the player, and so they don't
care for it. Well, answer the busy travelers, you
cannot be in any position to talk about that till vou
show us how much you know about demonstration
yourself. Can you play the player well? 1 No?
Or your salesmen? No? We thought not! Well,
then, since even a hand-played roll player with
automatic accent needs some sort of control, and
WRIGHT
Salma Office* at
437 5th A T C , New York
Cwne H. Beverly. Hiufer U Salei
since the usual type of player needs intelligent
control, how in thunder can you expect people to
make any effort to appreciate the beauties of the
player, which, after all, rest more on the personal
control element than on anything else, if the men
from whom they go to buy cannot show results
good enough to please an intelligent child? You
people say that the talking machine and the hand-
played roll have killed the demonstration of the
player-piano. Yes, some supposedly clever men say
this. But how shallow they are really! Why, the
day of demonstration has not only not passed, it is
scarcely arrived yet. Do you see the talking ma-
chine people stopping demonstration? Not much!
The truth is that the player has never been demon-
strated yet, except in spots. That is just what is
the matter with it. It needs intelligent demonstra-
tion. Go and ask Fred Luhnow out in Chicago,
or Will Bollman in St. Louis, or Brownlee in
Des Moines, or some of the Wanamaker men in
New York ! See what they will tell you ! Demon-
stration indeed ! Why, that is the whole secret, and
every really big salesman in the player line is selling
on that and that only. That is truth, and that is
what the good travelers are saying (we are glad to
hear) to the retailers everywhere.
The Coming Boom.
Good times are coming. Those who want to
share in them, say the travelers, need only bestir
thtmsekvs and quit crying. The player business
is not dead, for it has only just begun to live. Ten
years from now you will ask yourselves how you
could have been so foolish as to cry quit in the
vear 1915.
PATENTS ACCENTING DEVICE.
I Special to The Review.)
WASHINGTON, D. C. August 23.—The Cable
Company, Chicago, 111., is the owner through as-
signment by Andrew M. Belfield, same place, of
patent No. J,150,653, for a mechanical musical in-
strument, and relates to self-playing musical instru-
ments such as piano players, either of the cabinet
or interior varieties.
The principal object of the invention is to permit
a sudden accent of any note or series of notes in
the playing of a composition, and especially to per-
mit this to be done whether the playing at the time
be soft, loud or medium.
Another object of the invention is to permit one
particular part of the composition, as for example
the treble or the bass, to be accented without refer-
ence to the character of the playing at the time, in-
dependent of the other part.
A further object of the invention is to accom-
plish the foregoing and other desirable ends in a
simple and expeditious manner.
U. V. Gift, a piano dealer of Waynesboro, Pa.,
has opened a branch store on King street, Cam-
bridgeburg Pa., with his daughter, Miss Romaine
Gift, in charge.
METAL PLAYER ACTION
Easily 100% in advance of any action ever offered. Simple—
Responsive—Durable—Beautiful. Contains the Wright "Ideal"
bellows.
Being made of metal (the logical material for player actions)
cannot be affected by dampness or any climatic conditions. Its
exclusive features save many dollars in repair work and
make many sales in competition. Write us.
M. S. Wright Company
Worcester, Mass.