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RLVILW
THE
VOL. LXVIII. No. 5
Published Every Saturday by Edward Lyman Bill, Inc., at 373 4th Ave., New York. Feb. 1, 1919
Single Copies 10 Cents
$2.00 Per Year
Keeping Music to the Forefront
IHE mill will not grind with the water that is past." Neither will industry keep going on the strength of
past performances. It takes new energy and new force to keep the wheels of business turning at a
profitable rate, and mere momentum cannot be depended upon to insure progress. There are quite
a number of business men, a good proportion of them in the music trade, who appear to believe that
inasmuch as business has been slipping along with brakes set, so to speak, during the war period, the release of
the brakes as a result of the war's end will enable the industry to roll right along without any additional impetus.
In other words, that they may, perhaps, have to throw in the clutch, but that there is no necessity for shifting
gears to climb the hill to normal conditions.
The impression has spread to a surprising degree that inasmuch as the output of pianos, and particularly
talking machines, was cut down materially through war conditions, and supplies were entirely inadequate to
take care of demands, especially at the holiday time, all the average merchant has to do now is to get stock and
without any additional effort depend upon the unsatisfied demand that existed three, six or twelve months ago.
Many dealers apparently expect to sell 1919 goods to unsatisfied customers of 1918, and are inclined to let 1920
business take care of itself.
There has never been such an opportunity as at present for planning for the future; for building up
potential business; for developing a more general, and also profitable, interest in the cause of music, and
in the instruments that produce music. The very fact that there is expected to be sufficient momentum back
of retail business to-day to carry it on for an indefinite period without any great selling effort is the best
reason in the world for devoting all possible surplus energy to building for bigger things in the future; for
preparing for the time when the post-war momentum ceases to function, and when it will be necessary to rely
upon newly developed prospects, and upon a newly developed musical interest to supply the demand for musical
instruments.
The war just ended has brought music strongly to the front. Music has received the official endorsement
of Governmental-powers, busily engaged in the grim business of war. It has played a prominent part "over
here" and "over there." Music has been enjoyed by the fighting men in the training camp at home, on the high
seas, and on the very edge of No Man's Land. The fighter, therefore, comes back to his home fully convinced
of music's value, but that conviction cannot be expected to sway him unless something is done to keep that
impression fresh in his mind.
The returned soldier is going to have a lot of things to occupy his attention. The first thing he must do
is to get a job, and then to make up as best he can what has been lost to him in an economic sense while he was
serving his country. The thought, then, is to keep music before him, to keep alive his interest, and then to
develop that interest to a point where he becomes a liv* prospect for a piano, a player, a talking machine, or
some other musical instrument.
The returned soldiers, and there are millions of them, may not become active prospects for a year or
maybe two years. They must establish themselves again in civilian life, and solve other problems, before
preparing homes, or thinking of the things that go to make the finished home. Likewise the people at home
who a few months ago were making large incomes in munition works, and who are now back at normal pursuits,
must adjust themselves to new conditions of income, and it will perhaps take some time before they feel free
to take from their accounts the necessary money to purchase a musical instrument of any value. This condition
makes it absolutely necessary to work on and develop the music propaganda.
It is not enough for the dealer simply to introduce the idea and to declare that he, himself, has worked
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