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PLAYER SECTON
NEW YORK, FEBRUARY 28, 1920
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The Player Industry Must Prepare to Meet the Conditions Which Will Prevail
When the Present Period of Unusual Demand Ends by Building a Founda-
tion Now Through Increased and More Intensive Exploitation of the Player
There is an old adage about the folly of let-
ting the grass grow under one's feet, which
ought to be painted over the desks or on the
store walls of a good many merchants who
think themselves extremely up-to-date persons.
At the present moment, as everybody knows,
the player business is in a very peculiar con-
dition. The demand for goods of any kind is
in excess of the supply, and the buying public
is spending its money more freely thau ever.
The natural result has been that many mer-
chants, for the very first time in their lives,
are experiencing the joys of a sellers' market,
and are finding themselves easier in money
matters than they have ever been before, in
spite of the general tightening up of credits and
shortening of terms which has characterized the
relations between them and the manufacturers
during the last two years. In a good many
ways, too, notwithstanding the inflated condition
of business in general and the rather artificial
nature of the prosperity we are so generally
enjoying, the merchants of the music industry
are having a good time; and that is what con-
cerns us just now.
To the adage just mentioned the censor of
trade morale would like to add another: "Pride
goeth before a fall." Now, that is a quite ac-
curate statement of fact; but it is even more
effective when it has been reversed to read "A
fall cometh after pride." That is the especial
point we have in mind to labor somewhat just
now.
"Letting-Down"
A very little observation will convince one
that there has been a rather palpable letting-
down in the standards of salesmanship through-
out the trade and that high-grade methods are
not just now receiving the attention they de-
serve. Of course, anyone may truthfully argue
that this is the natural result of the easy busi-
ness which prevails. It is not necessary to do
any special sort of thinking to obtain all the
orders one can fill and more. Hence, the
general drop in individual sales efficiency.
No doubt; but it will not do to remain con-
tent with anything like that. The point to be
made now is that the present tendency toward
slackness in methods of salesmanship should be
checked without further ado; for if it is allowed
to continue there will very soon be something
worse than this to contend with.
The player-piano is an instrument which can
only be sold successfully through the exercise
of careful salesmanship. It is an instrument
which can be retained in popularity only by
applying a thought-out plan of selling. If ever
the time shall come when the people shall be in
a less luxurious mood than at present, when they
shall feel it necessary to reflect very carefully
before purchasing any article not necessary to
life, then it is certain that the player-piano will
be put well into the background. This is a
hard saying; but it is well grounded in truth.
The reason for such anticipations may be
readily stated. When the player first became
known its pioneer exploiters undertook and
carried out a wonderful campaign of education.
Their advertising has become classic. Their
wonderful public demonstrations still awake the
regretful admiration of all those who were ever
lucky enough to hear them. They and they
alone put the player-piano on the map. But what
a difference to-day! Who to-day is campaigning
to stir up genuine enthusiasm for the player-
piano? The music-roll men, with their clever
advertising, are doing more than all others put
together to preserve some public enthusiasm
for the player. But they should not be expected
to carry the entire burden alone. What is
needed is a reawakening on the part of the
retail trade to the necessity of good demonstra-
tion, wise advertising appeal and high-grade
sales ideals. These things are needed because
it is folly to suppose that the present abnormal
condition shall continue a great deal longer. It
will not in fact continue a great deal longer.
Perhaps it will began to change before the end
of the present year. Sooner or later, at any rate,
will come a moment when the relations between
supply and demand shall have become balanced
and when, as a consequence, it will once more
be necessary to exercise real salesmanship. That
time must come; and what one now wants to
know is whether the trade will be ready with the
necessary scheme when the fated moment ar-
rives.
Heart-Searching Needed
Unless there is a good deal of heart-searching
between now and then one is very much of the
opinion that it will not be ready. If that state-
ment is true the end of the present era of very
high prices and very stiff demand will inaugu-
rate an era of a very different character, one
in fact of price-cutting and of the lowest-grade
salesmanship, the consequences of which to the
future of the industry will be simply incalculable.
It is time for merchants of substance to think
seriously about this and to realize that they
have yet to make a serious attempt to inculcate
in the public mind the love for the player-piano
which shall tide us safely over any period of
uncertainty such as has here been suggested.
No one, indeed, can affirm with certainty that a
reactionary process such as has been discussed
here will actually take place; but no one either
can deny that the chances are very much indeed
in favor thereof.
Nothing drastic is asked or required. The
need is for change of thought; and really f o r ,
nothing else. What the writer would persuade
his readers if he could is that the coming times
will not be rosy for the music industries unless
more is done in a positive way to educate the
people into an understanding of the need of
music in their lives. Especially is this so In the
case of the player-piano, which even now, after
so many years, is half-despised by thousands of
owners who have paid good money for their
instruments, as a sort of ingenious but inferior
substitute for the piano. That sort of feeling,
which is now prevalent, will never at all carry
the industry through a period of public disincli-
nation to spend whenever that may arrive.
Merit vs. Demand
We all assume that we are dealing in a com-
modity whose value is really demonstrated and
for which the demand will never cease to be
keen. But it is only necessary to look at the
facts to see that the intrinsic merits of a com-
modity will not save its life if the public is not
educated to it. The history of industry is full
of the records of meritorious inventions which
never reached maturity; and of others which'
sickened and died. Once on a time the bicycle
industry was the greatest money-maker in the
land. It died; nor did the automobile kill it.
The bicycle was dead five years before the
automobile had ceased to be a millionaire's im-
ported French toy. What killed it? The neglect
and indifference of the manufacturers, who
thought that it would not be necessary to keep
up the educational advertising for a public so
evidently sold on the proposition. Parables are
not always as pat as this one, nor are analogies
always so apt. Will the retail men wake up
and realize that they are to-day very nearly
where the bicycle men were in 1896—at the
height of prosperity? To realize this is to know
the way out of the difficulty. We need now to
begin educational advertising on the largest
scale yet conceived; not next year, but now!
KLUGH RECOVERS FROM ILLNESS
Paul B. Klugh, president of the Autopiano
Co., New York, has recovered from his illness
and is back at his desk again. His many friends
regretted his absence from the Music Show and
conventions and are glad to hear that he is
again at his desk.