Music Trade Review

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THE MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
PUBLISHED BY EDWARD LYMAN BILL, Inc.
1
President, C. L. Bill, 373 Fourth Ave., New York; Vice-President, J. B. Spillane,
373i Fourth Ave., New York; Second Vice-President, J. Raymond Bill, 373 Fourth Ave.,
New York; Secretary and Treasurer, August J. Timpe, 373 Fourth Ave., New York.
J. B. SPILLANE, Editor
J. RAYMOND BILL, Associate Editor
AUGUST J. TIMPE
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WM. BRAID WHITE (Technical Editor), E. B. MUNCH, A. J. NICKLIN, L. E. BOWERS
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Departments conducted by an expert wherein all ques-
tions of a technical nature relating to the tuning,
regulating 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 concern-
ing which will be cheerfully given upon request.
Player-Piano and
Technical Departments.
Exposition Honors Won by The Review
Grand Prix
Paris Exposition, 1900 Silver Medal. .Charleston Exposition, 1902
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NEW YORK, NOVEMBER
10, 1917
= EDITORIAL
T
HE member of the music trade who took a long look ahead
months ago and had the nerve to stock up to the limit, whether
as a manufacturer of raw materials, or as a retailer with wareroom
stock, has plenty of reason to shake hands with himself for the
situation that has developed proves that his foresight was founded
on fact. Earlier in the year when the warning was sounded to
the dealers to order early and to the limit of their ability in order
to insure having stock on hand when needed, there were some who
declared that it was a scheme of certain manufacturers to unload
an overplus of stock on the dealers. If any manufacturer carried
on the propaganda with that idea in view, he deserves the con-
gratulations of the dealers who took advantage of it regardless of
the reason that prompted his action. The shortage of labor in
the factory is real, and so is the difficulty of getting a sufficient
volume of supplies. The transportation problem is adding gray
hairs to many heads in the trade, and there is the excise tax to be
considered among other matters. The dealer who ordered early
and had his stock on hand before October 4 escaped the tax com-
pletely on such stock. Taken all in all, the "order early" cam-
paign so strenuously advocated by The Review has brought
gratifying results.
HP HE Bureau of Internal Revenue of the Treasury Department
* is apparently working hard to remove all the kinks from the
operation of the new War Revenue Act, and there have been a
number of rulings published that would serve to remove doubts
from the minds of those who come under the Act. In a great
law, such as that of the War Revenue Act, it is natural that the
interpretation of certain phraseology should have important bear-
ing, and can mean a difference of many dollars in the amount
that will be paid in taxes under the law.
The status of corporations who both manufacture and sell at
retail, the standing of discounts and other questions are impor-
tant and the department has done much to clear them up. The
REVIEW
Government, through the acceptance of bonds to cover the ex-
tension of time for tax payments, and in delaying the enforce-
ment of the law until the proper machinery is in readiness, has
done considerable to make things a little smoother for those
who must meet the taxes.
F
ROM all sections of the country there is reported a serious
scarcity of labor, and this applies to the piano warerooms
as well as to the piano factories. Not only is it practically im-
possible to secure enough trained piano salesmen but it is ex-
ceedingly difficult to get even untrained men of any ability to
fill the gap. Under such conditions one man is often called Upon
to do the work of two and should not be expected to waste his
energy in the slightest degree.
It is time for the piano merchant and sales manager to cen-
tralize his efforts to carry on an intensive campaign among a
small group of desirable and promising prospects leather than
to spread at random over a large field. The salesmaii can only
see a certain number of prospects each day and e^ery effort
should be made to see that so far as possible thesq prospects
are those most liable to buy.
The time has come to.impress upon the salesman the fact
that his success will depend not so much upon the number of
calls he makes a day but upon the number of sales he closes in
proportion to the calls. With the number of competing sales-;
men decreased to a minimum the average outside rriajn can find!
time to concentrate his efforts upon a few customers^ and make
those efforts count, leaving a doubtful prospect for a tirne when
labor conditions have changed. The conservation of sales effort
at the present time is just as essential as the conservation of
food and fuel and the retail piano man and salesman must
realize it.
A
RTHUR C. GERMER, a piano dealer of Beanlstown. 111.,
announces that he will hold a music show this }|ear similar
to the very successful exhibition he engineered last fall, when
his original move attracted an unusual amount of attention. The
private music show idea might be given considerable profitable
thought by dealers who desire to arouse public interest in the
lines of instruments they handle.
Merchants in other lines, including costumers and furniture
houses, hold shows each season to give the public a chance to
inspect their new offerings, and there is no reason why the same
idea could not be worked out profitably in the piano trade. As
a matter of fact, Mr. Germer has proven that it can be worked
out successfully.
The word "show" in itself has an unusual attraction for the
great mass of the people. It indicates something unusual—
something worth while seeing, and the piano merchant who once
Or twice a year has the courage to hire special quarters tempo-
rarily and display the features of his line away from his ware-
room and under unusually favorable conditions will attract the
attention of hundreds of people who, in the ordinary course of
events, might never enter his regular wareroom on a tour of
inspection and in fact would hardly know that his store existed.
Mr. Germer has proven that originality can be shown in matters
of piano exploitation as well as in other lines.
*••_
N
OTHING has been quite so remarkable in the tremendous
growth of American business as the practice of selling on
instalments—in other words, of granting credit to retail pur-
chasers. Looked upon with suspicion in its early stages by
people of moderate means, as the resort of those too poor to
pay cash, instalment .selling has reached the point where it ap-
peals to practically all classes of buyers, and to-day to buy a
great number of articles on time is looked upon as a matter of
course. Certainly the instalment method of selling has been
the means of placing in American homes thousands of pianos
and talking machines that would never have left the dealers'
floors if full cash payment had been demanded. Even people
with sufficient cash to pay for pianos have hesitated to lay out
the amount demanded at one time, but have not hesitated to
make the purchase on a time basis.
A study of the instalment business goes far to prove that
the great bulk of the people of the country are honest and in-