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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
PUBLISHED BY EDWARD LYMAN BILL, Inc.
President »nd Treasurer, C. L. Bill, 373 Fourth Ave., New York; Vice-President,
T. B. Spillanc, 373 Fourth Ave., New York; Second Vice-President, Raymond Bill, 373
Fourth Are., New York; Assistant Treasurer, Win. A. Low.
J. B. SPILLANE, Editor
RAYMOND BILL, B. B. WILSON, Associate Editors
WILSON D. BUSH, Managing Editor
CARLETON CHACE, Business Manager
Executive and Reportorial Staif
V. D. WALSH, W U . BBAID WHITE (Technical Editor), E. B. MUNCH, L. M. ROBINSON,
C. A. LEONARD, EDWARD LYMAN BILL, SCOTT KINGWILL, A. J. NICKLIN, L. E. BOWERS
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•
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Published Every Saturday at 373 Fourth Avenue. New York
Entered as second-class matter September 10, 1892, at the post office at New York, N. Y.,
under the Act of March 3, 1879.
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ADVERTISEMENTS, $6.00 per inch single column, per insertion. On quarterly or
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REMITTANCES, in other than currency forms, should be made payable to Edward
Lyman Bill, Inc.
Departments conducted by an expert wherein all ques-
Plavor
and
rlajcl'• Pionn
lallU allU
tions of a technical nature relating to the tuning,
regulating and repairing of pianos and player-pianos
p
a r e dealt with, will be found in another section of
this paper. We also publish a number of reliable technical works, information concerning
which will be cheerfully given upon request.
Exposition Honors Won t>y The Review
Grand Prix
Paris Exposition, 1900 Silver Medal.. .Charleston Exposition, 1902
Diploma..'. .Pan-American Exposition, 1901 Gold Medal
St. Louis Exposition, 1904
Gold Medal—Lewis-Clark Exposition, 1905
LONG DISTANCE
Vol. LXX
TELEPHONES—NUMBERS 5982—6988 MADISON 8Q.
Connecting nil Departments
Cable address: "ElbiU, N e w York"
NEW YORK, MARCH 6, 1920
No. 10
THE MENACE OF COMPARATIVE PRICES
OMPARATIVE prices in advertising are far from being un-
known in the piano trade, and there are, as a matter of fact,
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many piano merchants, and prominent ones, who seem to consider it
absolutely necessary that they quote comparative prices in their ad-
vertising to get desired results and arouse the interest of the reader
to the buying point. Yet Richard A. Lee, special counsel of the
Associated Advertising Clubs, who has on several occasions in~the
past told the piano men with great frankness what was the trouble
with their publicity, stated before the Retail Dry Goods Asso-
ciation that the quoting of comparative prices was the first step
towards undermining good will.
In quoting comparative prices the tendency is naturally to be
extravagant rather than modest, and the merchant who would hesi-
tate to make any intentionally false statement in his advertising is
more than likely to give a fanciful value to the products he is offer-
ing at a special price because he himself may believe that the quoted
value is right, whether or not there is any basis in fact for the belief.
By offering an instrument at a stated price and giving the reasons
for its being worth that price the merchant can avoid a compara-
tive value trap and still put over a strong selling argument. Con-
sidering the danger that may arise from the reckless use of com-
parative values in advertising, the warning of Mr. Lee against the
use of such arguments appears to be decidedly well taken and
worthy of thoughtful consideration in this trade.
MARCH 6, 1920
Mr. Byrne does not attribute the success of the campaign to
luck, but ascribes it entirely to the character of the mediums used,
and particularly to the character of the copy. What he has to say
about the preparation of trade paper advertising copy, with a view
to emphasizing the selling points most strongly, could be studied
with profit by more than one piano or talking machine manufac-
turer who is wondering why his advertising does not pull as it
should.
Progressive advertisers generally are devoting more attention
to their trade paper advertising and to their trade paper copy. They
are realizing that the value of the white space they buy in the trade
journal, regardless of the importance and standing of that journal,
depends entirely upon the manner in which the space is utilized.
It is a matter for careful thought and for the consideration of the
expert.
"To obtain success in trade journal advertising the reliability of
the advertiser must be unquestioned, the merchandise must be right,
the sales proposition must be fair and reasonable and the publicity
must be consistently maintained, in order to keep the name before
the trade. Institutional advertising, without constant repetition, is
not institutional advertising," says Mr. Byrne.
Seldom has the matter been summed up so comprehensively
and in so few words.
PIANO MAKING IN THE ORIENT
HE article on the status of the piano industry in Japan, featured
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in The Review last week, has aroused much interest among
American piano manufacturers, particularly in that it is the first
authentic article on the subject to be published in a trade journal in
this country. In many industries there has developed a considerable
fear of the possibilities of serious competition on the part of the
Japanese—serious because of the cheapness of Oriental labor. It
appears that so far as the piano trade is concerned, however, there
is little danger of any such competition developing, for years to
come at least. Rather the Japanese are themselves hard put at
times to compete with pianos of Occidental manufacture and are
having their own troubles with labor and supply problems.
The Review hopes in future to be able to publish other articles
on music trade conditions in the Orient that will prove equally in-
teresting to Americans.
RECOGNITION FOR THE REPRODUCING PIANO
O finer tribute to the status of the player-piano or reproducing
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piano can be found than the presentation last Sunday in Wash-
ington, D. C, of the entire Ampico concert held at Carnegie Hall
during Music Week, by a private manager and wholly as an indi-
vidual venture. The manager was not in any sense philanthropic,
but he heard the Ampico and the five noted pianists who appeared
in association and comparison with it and believed that the exhibition
represented a scientific achievement that should prove interesting
to the ordinary audience.
In this connection it must be realized that the object of the
Washington concert was not to exploit the four or five pianists,
with the Ampico as an added attraction, but rather to set forth the
Ampico as a scientific medium for the reproduction of the playing
of the live artists. It is to be hoped that this movement may be
generally adopted, not alone for the development of the industry,
but for the development of music as an art.
THE UNPOPULAR WEATHER MAN
HE unusually severe storms in the Eastern States, and in fact
generally throughout the country, have been a serious interfer-
ence to business in the music industry during the past month or six
w r eeks. Shipments of pianos—in fact, all kinds of musical instru-
THE VALUE OF TRADE PAPER ADVERTISING
ments—have been delayed in transit. In many instances, owing to
the extremely severe weather, it has been impossible to send out
HARLES E. BYRNE'S story of the success of the 1919 trade
paper campaign of the Steger & Sons Piano Mfg. Co., which he pianos without danger of the varnish being chipped from the ex-
treme cold. This necessarily has had a retarding influence on
declared was directly responsible for the adding of 155 piano mer-
chants and 280 phonograph dealers to the company's list of rep- business advance, and the members of the music trade industry
will view the passing of the winter months with no regrets. Never-
resentatives, resulting in the sale of over 5,000 pianos and 10,000
theless
the demand for musical instruments seems to be acute
phonographs, is a recital that should prove of distinct interest to the
throughout
the country with some few exceptions, and manufac-
music trade at large, especially the manufacturers who are seeking
turers
are
finding
it difficult to produce instruments in sufficient
to direct their advertising policies along lines that will insure the
quantities
to
meet
the
needs of dealers.
greatest and most satisfactory results.
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