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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
JANUARY 10, 1920
CONDUCTED BY V. D. WALSH
BIG STASNY PUBLICITY CAMPAIGN
Large Space in Leading Magazines to Be Used
in Exploiting Stasny Song Successes
The A. J. Stasny Music Co. have just an-
nounced the inauguration of their 1920 adver-
tising campaign. The early part of the year a
campaign giving publicity to three popular
songs, "I'll Love You" (All, Over Again), "Sweet-
heart Land" and "Only You," in the January
and February numbers of some of the leading
national magazines has been contracted for. The
Saturday Evening Post, in the issue of January
10th, will carry a half page advertisement on
these songs and four pages will be inserted in
the February numbers of the Cosmopolitan, Mc-
Clure's, Motion Picture and College magazines.
All of these issues are on sale about the middle
of January. In the March issues of the Ameri-
can, Red Book and Photo-Play magazines and
the February 14th issue of Collier's Weekly,
full page advertisements on Stasny songs will
appear. Besides giving much publicity to the
songs mentioned, all the active numbers in the
Stasny catalog will be listed and the slogan,
"Sing Stasny Songs," will be featured promi-
nently.
The A. J. Stasny Music Co. have just for-
warded to the trade a broadside covering the
campaigns for the first three months of the
year, and encouraging the dealers to stock up
and display the goods exploited.
DEATH OF FRANK PIXLEY
Well-known Librettist and Author of "King
Dodo," "Prince of Pilsen" and Other Suc-
cesses Dies in San Diego, Cal.
SAN DIEGO, CAL., January 2.—Frank Pixley,
librettist of many operettas, died here on De-
cember 30, after a brief illness. He was the
author of "King Dodo," in which Raymond
Hitchcock made one of his first successes. He
also wrote "The Prince of Pilsen," "The Burgo-
master" and other operettas for which Gustave
Luders wrote the music.
Mr. Pixley was born in Richfield, Ohio, No-
vember 21, 1867, and was graduated from Ohio
State University in 1886. He received the decree
of Litt. D. from Buchtel College in 1909. From
1892 to 1899 he was managing editor of "The
Chicago Mail" and from 1899 to 1902 editor-in-
chief of "The Chicago Times-Herald."
Plays as well as musical comedies were among
Mr. Pixley's works. Some of them were "The
Carpetbagger," "Thoughts and Things," "The
Return of Eve " and "Taming a Tartar."
Another Big One!
M
1
em
On
Lid MM
Shore
Hit
Words by
WILLIAM LE BARON
Muaic by
VICTOR JACOBI
CHAPPELL & CO., LTD., New York, London, Toronto, Melbourne
THE USE OF MODERN TACTICS IN MEETING COMPETITION
Sheet Music Dealers Must Adopt Live and Up-to-date Methods of Attracting Attention to Their
Wares if They Are to Compete Successfully With the Syndicate Stores
Since many numbers which formerly retailed
at 10 cents are now being exploited as 30-cent
numbers, and this, too, with great success, the
progressive dealers of the country are giving
much thought to ways and means of getting
their share of the business in these fast-selling
numbers.
It is true that, in the past, practically 90 per
cent of the sheet music dealers did not receive
what would be considered their share of this
30-cent business. Just why was this? Such
numbers as "'Hindustan" and "Beautiful Ohio"
sold with great rapidity, but the regular sheet
music dealers did not get the majority of these
sales. An instance was recently cited where, in
a fair-sized town, in which there were three
presumably progressive sheet music dealers and
one syndicate store handling music of the 30-
cent variety, the syndicate store sold 2,500 copies
of a better class song before the sheet music
dealers had ordered it in lots of over twenty-
i'ive copies. This should not be so.
It is not impossible for the dealer to com-
pete with the syndicate store; that is proven b>
the success many progressive sheet music
houses have had on numbers where they had
displayed them, and where they have used up-
to-date merchandising methods. Further proof
that a dealer can compete with the syndicate
store is shown by the success of song shops
wherever they are opened. If the song shop
can and does compete with the syndicate store
A Sure Tip to
the legitimate sheet music dealer can do so. All
that is necessary is to follow lines such as the
song shops follow. A dealer may say that a
song shop is an individual store well located
and that he can hardly give the front of his
store, the most valuable space, to sheet music.
That, of course, is open to question, but neither
do the syndicate stores give the most valu-
able space in their stores to the music depart-
ment, for invariably these departments are lo-
cated far in the rear. It is more a case of dis-
playing the goods both in windows and con-
spicuously upon the counters and having the
pianist demonstrate them.
If a dealer finds that it is hard to get the
shoppers to enter his store to hear popular
numbers played because they have been so used
to going to other locations for such demonstra-
tions it might be well for him to start by
demonstrating such numbers during the lunch
hours, advertising the demonstrations, inviting
the shop girls, office people and others to come
in for entertainment. We think that the sales
will justify such an innovation, for certainly it is
good advertising. It will be the means of prov-
ing whether these methods are successful, and if
they are it will be the opening wedge for mak-
ing the music counter show great activity, not
only during luncheon hours, but throughout the
whole shopping day. It must always be remem-
bered that these fast-selling numbers need only
1)0 played to be sold. The publishers invariably
Music Dealers and Jobbers:
Record Manufacturers and Dealers :
Roll Manufacturers and Dealers:
The Trade in General:
ALREADY FEATURED BY
15,000 PROMINENT ORCHESTRAS OF THE COUNTRY
"SOMEBODY
SONG—ONE-STEP OF THE BETTER STYLE
RICHMOND
INTRODUCTORY PRICE 15c PER COPY
•PUBLISHER
HARRY COLLINS, Sales Manager