Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
PLAYER SECTION
NEW YORK, DECEMBER 25, 1920
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As the New Year Approaches There Are Many Reasons for Optimism,
Among Them Being the Fact That the People Are in Excellent Financial
Shape, That Fundamentals Are Sound and That Music IsValued Everywhere
We have come down quite a long way from the same force to the music industries. These
the dizzy heights of expansion, inflation and industries are not profiteering industries. They
generally economic lunacy from which this time have, of course, partaken of the general raise of
last year we surveyed the world at our feet. prices, but they have not gone to extremes.
The process has been extraordinarily rapid, Piano prices were indeed far too low before the
and, in its way, extraordinarily complete. boom of two years ago and even now are no
Just because it has been extraordinarily rapid it more than fair. It has always been said that
has been far less painful than many of us had the dollar which goes into a piano buys the big-
anticipated. Just because it has been extraor- gest value on the market. A piano dollar is
dinarily complete we have already reached a worth more than any other dollar known.
point at or very near to the bottom. It is fair
Do Not Worry
to assume that we shall not remain in this posi-
Therefore it is fair to say that, although whole-
tion very long, just because the cycle of busi- sale prices are coming down somewhat, the re-
ness progress, which seems to repeat itself at tail merchants do not need in the least to worry
fairly regular intervals, has already brought us over the public's attitude. The public will not
far enough round to ensure that its immediately go on a strike against buying pianos, unless in
succeeding movements must be up towards the any community the public has actually been
line of good conditions rather than down from taught that pianos are extravagantly priced.
it.
We have, indeed, reached, or almost This condition does not exist. Prices are in-
reached, bottom, and the next thing to do is to deed coming down fast on lines where the
prepare for«the new order of things.
margin of profit has been too wide. The shoe
To what may we look forward? Both whole- and clothing industries offer cases in point. But
salers and retailers will ask this question with the piano business is another matter altogether.
ever-increasing directness and interest during There never have been any wide margins of
the weeks which immediately succeed the first profit and therefore it is absurd to suppose that
of January. So far as the player-piano business there can be any very great reduction in prices.
is concerned the answer here attempted is de- There will probably be some readjustment, but
cidedly based upon the observations contained there certainly should not be anything more
in the first paragraph. We have touched bottom, serious than this.
or are about to touch it, and the future trend
Now, it should again be emphasized that the
must be all upwards.
people have money. And it should be said very
plainly' that the people like music. The Amer-
The People Have Money
In the first place, let it be noted decidedly ican people like music this year better than they
that the people have money. Even where in- have ever liked it before, and they have been
dustrial operations have been checked for a time, improving their love for many years in a quite
and that does not mean so much as some think, steady and persistent manner. Given all these
the workers in general are in better shape to stand facts then, and adding to them the facts con-
a little lay-off than they have ever been. The cerning the fundamentally sound condition of
people have money, and there is no reason why business, and we have not the least reason for
they should not spend it now on all legitimate feeling bad about the possibility of selling
musical instruments. But we have much reason
enterprises or for legitimate possessions.
In the second place, be it noted that the in- to be concerned over the possibility of music
dustrial situation is much better than the com- merchants failing to realize the essential
mercial. Shut-downs in the industries which strength of their position.
have enormously expanded under the pressure of
What to Sell
high profits were to be expected. They cannot
It has for long been a notorious fact that
last long; and the workers are in better shape most of the music merchants to whom is en-
than ever to stand them.
trusted the development of the player-piano as a
On the other hand, the commercial situation staple article of commerce have but the vaguest
is far easier. There has, of course, been much ideas as to the manner in which the important
profiteering, but wherever merchants are com- problems of selling ought to be handled. They
ing to see the facts of the situation and are cut- have always tended to take the easy view and to
ting their losses early the results are becoming look at the player-piano as something of high
very satisfactory. Retail trade, in a word, is price which must be sold in whatever seems to
satisfactory where in profiteering lines the re- be the easiest way. In a word, as has so often
tailers are admitting the facts by cutting to but so truly been said before, the piano mer-
chants have sold, not a musical instrument, but
normal prices.
This statement, however, does not apply with prices and terms.
Now, during the coming year the merchants
will have to do even more than just sell musical
instruments instead of selling price and terms.
They will have the task of selling "music" to
the people, which is even more. That is the
big fact which has to be recognized by all who
undertake to put across the music business suc-
cessfully during the coming year. That again
means that we must give more of our time to
advertising, talking, demonstrating and selling
"music" and the thought of music, than to
thinking or calculating on terms, prices, and
other incidentals of the sort.
If any one supposes that prices and terms
will be the deciding factors during 1921 he
overlooks the simple fact that it has never been
hard to sell good instruments at the best prices
and on the best terms, no matter what the gen-
eral condition of business may have been. Dur-
ing such years as 1903, 1907 and 1914, when
panics or near-panics were on, and during the
years immediately preceding and succeeding
these, the piano business went on just the same.
In fact, during the last twenty years, the num-
ber of pianos made and sold annually, includ-
ing player-pianos, has not seriously altered from
year to year. The piano business has been nor-
malized on a basis of depressed demand, and so
it neither rises much above that in expansive
years nor falls below it in depressed seasons.
Obviously, then, when the people have money,
when the depression is superficial and when the
fundamental conditions are perfectly sound, that
merchant will be most foolish who relaxes his
efforts. For a long time, as these things go, we
have not had to work. Now we find that we
do have to work, and it bothers some of us
exceedingly.
Demonstration and Hard Work
Now, specifically as to the player-piano. It is
quite plain that this instrument will have to be
sold this coming year on the basis of demon-
stration, and on no other. The people are going
to be more responsive to music than they ever
have been before. Those who cannot see so
simple a thing as this ought not to boast of long
sight, but for their sake let us simply point out
that the most eminent and successful manufac-
turers are to-day thinking along precisely these
lines and are going after merchants who will
demonstrate, and then demonstrate again, who
will begin and end with demonstration, who will
learn to play the player-piano themselves, and
will see that their prospective purchasers learn,
too.
Demonstration and hard work are the basis of
business for the coming year. Those who real-
ize this will get the results they are hoping for.