Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
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THE
VOL. LXV. No. 3
Published Every Saturday by Edward Lyman Bill, Inc., at 373 4th Ave., New York. July 21, 1917
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Insistent Demand
T
I IK increasing cost, not only of producing pianos but of selling them as well, has brought about a con-
dition that calls for a clear understanding of the necessity of emphasizing quality as never before in
sales and advertising. It is not how cheap a piano can be made, but how good it can be made that
counts.
The idea should be uppermost in the minds of all concerned that the piano is something more than a mere
commercial proposition. It is an art product, representing in its creatkul the highest skill and experience of
talented men, and it should be sold with a proper appreciation of its position in the musical world.
We are living in a period when "cheapness" is not as popular as artistic value, and the purchasing public is
desirous of buying pianos of recognized standing in the music trade field, providing their merits are brought
under observation through intelligent and aggressive publicity on the part of both manufacturer and dealer.
With ascending prices in all lines of manufactured articles, it ill behooves dealers to close their eyes to the
situation that confronts them. They should not be concerned with what pianos cost them one or two years ago;
they should see to it that the increased prices of pianos to-day are passed along to the.public, and passed along
promptly, and in a manner to enlighten purchasers.
There will be little difficulty in getting the prices from the public, provided dealers are handling pianos of
acknowledged quality—instruments that represent, in their construction and tone quality, those attributes that
enable them to command the appreciation of critical buyers.
Piano quality should be emphasized to-day as never before, and this emphasis cannot be too strong, for the
public must be educated. P>ut more important than all, the dealers*must appreciate the condition of the manu-
facturers—that the increased wholesale prices are absolutely compulsory, owing to the cost of materials and
labor, and it is their duty not to find fault with what is inevitable, but rather to develop plans and policies
whereby they may be able to educate the public to appreciate that they are getting a superior piano product at
the right price.
It is gratifying to note that in the advertising of the great majority of retail dealers these days there is a
decided trend toward the piano of quality. Piano merchants realize that they are not in business for a day,
but for all time, and that their enduring success is only possible by paying more attention to the development
of trade in pianos of reputation.
There is a place for the cheap piano, and there will always be a large trade in these instruments, but it is
mighty poor business to sell commercial pianos at an abnormal price—a price approximating that of the really
high class, meritorious instrument. This is too commonly done.
Piano merchants who value their reputations are not indulging in these practices. They are presenting
the claims of pianos of quality in a manner that has gained for them the confidence of the public, and as a
result the manufacturers of these pianos are experiencing an increasing demand for their products, all of
which demonstrates an improved condition as compared with the low standard that existed following the
notorious puzzle, or coupon campaign, of some years ago.
It is now the duty of piano merchants to put more emphasis on pianos of quality, to awaken to the fact
that the American public should be supplied with instruments of recognized worth—pianos of reputation—that
the exploitation of instruments of this character will bring them a class of patronage more profitable and more
resultful, both to their prestige and to their finances, than can be obtained by confining their efforts to the over-
done competition of very low prices and indefinite time payments. The American public wants the best, and
with money in its possession it will gravitate to those establishments that are associated with quality products.