Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
PLAYER SECTON
NEW
7
YORK, NOVEMBER
27, 1920
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The Interests of Both Manufacturer and Dealer Being Identical, It Remains
for Each of Them to Put Into Effect Real Go-operative Effort to Advance the
Cause of the Player Industry in General, Thereby Reaping Mutual Benefits
Those who know most about the general con-
ditions of trade in this country at the present
moment are aware that our main need is to
break up the "buyers' strike" by means of new
and reasoned appeals which shall get us on to a
new and better basis than we have been accus-
tomed to know during the war years. Co-opera-
tion between wholesaler and retailer is our most
powerful weapon to this desired end, and there
can be no real improvement in general conditions
until the principle of this co-operation is rightly
grasped. This principle rests on the undoubted
fact that there is just as much need as ever for
the goods which the world can produce. So far
as concerns the music industries, it is positively
true that music is more needed than ever. Senti-
..ment and bluff altogether aside, the fact can-
not be denied that the world would be much bet-
ter off all around if there were a great deal more
music in it just now. Moreover, there is not
the slightest doubt that the American people are
more interested in music just now than they
have ever been before. There is just one way to
bring this truth into practical relation with the
state of business. We must learn to co-operate.
The manufacturers of pianos and player-pianos
during the past few years have undoubtedly be-
gun to realize that it is no longer possible to
take as a matter of course the public attitude to-
wards them. They have come to see that public
interest in the player-piano, especially, needs to
be established on a firmer basis than has hitherto
existed, and that a more systematic and intelli-
gently thought-out method of work must be de-
veloped if sales are to be put on a basis of per-
manent prosperity.
Still Something New
Co-operation between manufacturer and dealer
is, however, still something very new and un-
developed. This is unfortunate, for it is quite
certain that if co-operation were at the present
time well developed there would be. very little
need to think about slack business.
What shape can such co-operation best take?
The question may be readily answered. First
of all, let us point out that the experience of past
years shows dealers as a body to be rather de-
ficient in fundamental knowledge of matter's
which to the manufacturer are elementary. The
construction of the player-piano remains a mys-
tery to many dealers still. The.music%oll, in its
importance and value in creating sales and mak-
ing profits, is very little appreciated. Again, the
art of demonstrating the player-piano is still not
at all developed. In fact, expert knowledge of
all sorts, such as would be expected in almost any
other technical industry, appears in ours to : b<
the possession of the very few. Co-operation
between manufacturer and dealer is impossible
until this condition is recognized. When it has
been recognized it becomes the basis of the co-
operative work.
The Object of Co-operation
The object of co-operation, of course, is to
present to the consumer sales arguments, pub-
licity and service of such a character that the
desire for more music and musical instruments
shall become overwhelmingly strong. Even in
the automobile business, which has been going
through a period of slackness, the real cause of
the trouble has been the sudden fear on the part
of those many who want, but don't really need,
cars, that they may lose their jobs and that
therefore to buy at this time will be imprudent.
The regular, not the abnormal, demand for good
cars has not died by any means. In other words,
the automobile has become definitely a necessity
for every man who can afford to buy and keep
one. Of course it is not really a necessity to any
one who has to strain himself to pay for it.
Still, the present • extraordinarily favorable
position of the automobile industry is to be
traced mainly to the development of co-opera-
tion between merchant and manufacturer. We
can well take a leaf from that book and ask our-
selves what is the secret of that industry's won-
derful closeness to the public heart, even during
times when there is a fear that buying ought to
be curtailed for one reason or another.
The Method
Co-operation
between
manufacturer
and
dealer in the automobile business depends al-
ways upon the first serving the second in re-
spect of technical knowledge and sales publicity,
and the two men joining in bringing knowledge
to the consumer which will awaken his desire.
Lastly, it includes bringing the service which
will maintain the satisfaction which the first
fulfilment of the desire naturally brought forth.
Precisely the same principles apply in our in-
dustry.
The Gulbransen-Dickinson Co., for example,
is giving practical examples of the possibilities
of co-operation between merchant and manufac-
turer. This house has adopted freely and com-
pletely the thesis we have so often set forth in
these columns: namely, that it is impossible
to create a strong retail selling power unless
the sellers, the actual salesmen, are technically
interested in, and thoroughly familiar with, the
ins and outs, the strong points and the virtues
of what they are selling. That is why the Gul-
bransen system now includes a department de-
to promoting the art of playing the player-
piano. That is why every Gulbransen dealer is
being brought to see that the instrument he
sells is above all a musical instrument, a means
to music, a bringer of music to the fireside of
the happy folk who possess it; this, and not a
mere bundle of lumber, wire and cloth, which
costs a lot of money and is mainly useful as a
parlor ornament.
No one who realizes this fundamental fact can
fail to realize as a corollary to it that the retail
men themselves would much rather have a regu-
lar system on which to work in the promo-
tion and distribution of the player-piano than
be obliged to go on, year after year, without
any system at all.
The Identical Interests
Co-operation between manufacturer and whole-
saler, then, becomes mainly a matter of realize
ing that, as the interests of the two parties are
identical, it is only fair for the retailer to try
his hand at understanding the manufacturer's
ideas in designing his instruments as he does,
whilst it is equally only right that the manu-
facturer should not be content to turn out his
goods and leave them to the mercy of sales
organizations which cannot possibly of them-
selves discover the best selling points and ap-
preciate the strongest qualities. In a word, the
manufacturer must instruct the dealer and ren-
der him every needed service until that dealer is
an instructed enthusiast. The dealer in turn
will then communicate his enthusiasm to the
consumer. Then both manufacturer and dealer
must work together in giving the consumer serv-
ice after the sale which will keep that consumer
satisfied, will help him to play well, will induce
him to add steadily to his stock of music, and,
in short, will make him the best possible kind
of advertisement for the player-piano.
Instructed Enthusiasm
This sort of work cannot be done by either
manufacturer or dealer • alone. The work of
both parties is absolutely essential to the attain-
ment of real success with the people at large.
The fact that there has been a cry of slack
business simply shows that we have been sell-
ing furniture, prices and terms instead of music.
l">ut to sell music to the people—which, means to
sell readily and profitably irrespective of sea-
sons or periods—means co-operative work and
instructed enthusiasm. Without these we shall
never arrive at the goal of all good business:
permanent success. With co-operation we shall
have instructed enthusiasm on all sides and shall
be able to laugh at politics, elections, buyers'
markets or other bogies which seem to act as^
obstacles to our prosperity.
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