Classic Mode

Music Trade Review

Issue: 1921 Vol. 73 N. 10

Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE
MUJIC TRADE
VOL. LXXIII. No. 10
Published Every Saturday by Edward Lyman BUI, Inc., at 373 4th Ave., New York.
Sept. 3, 1921
Single Copies 10 Cents
$2.00 Per Year
Protecting the Trade-Marked Name
T
H E opinion of the General Counsel of the Music Industries Chamber of Commerce that a retail dealer
cannot be restrained by a manufacturer from using the name of a trade-marked product in his adver-
tising of used instruments, provided the dealer does so legitimately and without questionable intent, is
interesting from a number of angles.
There is no question but that names of pianos and talking machines of wide reputation have been used
quite frequently by unscrupulous retailers for the purpose of misleading the public directly, or at least with the
view of bringing in inquirers to whom can be sold other and cheaper goods designed to give the retailer a larger
profit. So widespread has this practice become in connection with the advertising of used, and even new,
talking machines that newspapers in New York and elsewhere have refused to take advertising mentioning the
names of well-known makes unless the advertiser could show he actually had instruments of that make on hand
to sell.
The use of well-known trade-marked names as bait is not in any sense new. Department stores and
others who make a practice of cutting prices on new goods always use the names of popular trade-marked lines
in their advertising, and it frequently happens that dealers in musical instruments who have the agency for
select lines of products simply use those lines for the purpose of luring the public into their stores, where they
may be sold cheaper instruments bearing the dealer's own name and offering less value to the purchaser but
higher profit to the dealer.
The old practice of advertising used pianos of reputable makes at particularly low prices without stat-
ing plainly that they were second-hand has practically gone by the boards, largely as the result of efforts of
various advertising organizations and better-business bureaus. The use of a trade-marked name in selling
used instruments, however, still proves repugnant to many manufacturers, and there are cases where they offer
to take over from general dealers, not on their lists, all used instruments of their make, providing they may be
obtained at a fair valuation.
There are some who believe that the featuring of a trade-marked name in the advertising of used in-
struments really reverts to the benefit of the manufacturer by giving publicity to the fact that his products
are held in high esteem by both the trade and the public. Certain it is that this construction may be put on most
of such advertising, because only in very rare instances are names of used instruments published unless they
have such a standing.
The manufacturer of a high-class product has certainly cause to be nattered, whether he likes it or not,
by the fact that in using his trade name in the advertising of used instruments the dealers thereby acknowl-
edge not only the standing of his product in its own trade field, but the recognition of that standing by the
general public. If the mentioning of a name will serve to interest a prospect and bring about a sale, then that
name has an unquestioned value.
From the legal point of view, it appears that a manufacturer having sold his product in the open market
parts with the title thereto, and the purchaser thereof, having acquired that title, has a certain right to do with
the product as he sees fit. No less an authority than the United States Supreme Court has frowned upon any
system of licensing that is designed to permit the manufacturer to retain title to his product after it has been
disposed of in the regular course of trade and for the regular price.
As it stands now, there are plenty of laws on the statute books to afford the manufacturer protection for his
trade-marked name against attempts that may be made to feature it in misleading or fraudulent advertising,
or to discredit it through unfair business methods. Fortunately the manufacturer is not compelled to depend
entirely upon the trade-mark law for such protection.
Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
REVIEW
PUBLISHED BY EDWARD LYMAN BILL, Inc.
President and Treasurer, C. L. Bill, 373 Fourth Ave., New York; Vice-President,
T. B. Spillane, 373 Fourth Ave., New York; Second Vice-President, Raymond Bill, 373
Fourth Ave., New York; Secretary, Edward Lyman Bill, 373 Fourth Ave., New York;
Assistant Treasurer, Wm. A. Low.
J. B. SPILLANE, Editor
RAY BILL, B. B. WILSON, BRAID WHITE, Associate Editors
WILSON D. BUSH, Managing Editor
CARLETON CHACE, Business Manager
L. E. BOWERS, Circulation Manager
Executive and Reportorial Stall
EDWARD VAN HARUNGEN, V. D. WALSH, E. B. MUNCH, LEE ROBINSON C. R. TIGHK,
EDWARD LYMAN BILL, SCOTT KINGWILL, THOS. W. BRESNAHAN, A. J. NICKLIN.
W E S T E R N DIVISION:
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N E W S SERVICE IS SUPPLIED WEEKLY BY OUR CORRESPONDENTS
LOCATED IN T H E LEADING CITIES THROUGHOUT AMERICA.
Published Every Saturday at 373 Fourth Avenue, New York
Enttrtd
as second-class matter September 10, 1892, at the post office at New York, N. Y.,
under the Act of March 3, 1879.
SUBSCRIPTION (including postage), United States and Mexico, $2.00 per year;
Canada, $3.50; all other countries, $5.00.
ADVERTISEMENTS, $6.00 per inch, single column, per insertion. On quarterly or
yearly contracts a special discount is allowea. Advertising pages, $150.
REMITTANCES, in other than currency forms, should be made payable to Edward
Lyman Bill, Inc.
Departments conducted by an expert wherein all ques-
Player-Piano and
tions of a technical nature relating to the tuning,
regulating and repairing of pianos and player-pianos
Technical
Departments
_
are dealt with, will be found in another section of
this paper. We also publish a number of reliable technical works, information concerning
this paper. We also publish a nui
Iiich will be cheerfully given upon request.
which
Exposition Honors Won by The Review
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Connecting: all Departments
Cable Address: "Elbill, New York"
Vol. LXX1II
NEW YORK, SEPTEMBER 3, 1921
No. 10
THE TURNING TIDE OF BUSINESS
EPORTS from various sections of the country, and even from
R
the industrial centers that have apparently been hardest hit by
the wave of depression, indicate a distinctly better turn to the busi-
ness situation, with sales increasing in volume slowly but steadily.
There is no great rush of business, but there is sufficient progress
being made to encourage both retailers and wholesalers in the belief
that the Fall trade revival is a thing of fact. There is not yet enough
demand upon the factories to keep all of them running at full speed,
but there is enough demand to keep them running, which is to be
accepted as a crumb of comfort.
General conditions reflect improvement in the trade situation,
or vice versa, as the case may be. The financial situation has eased
off to a noticeable degree, and crop conditions, upon which the
Nation's prosperity depends to such a degree, are distinctly encourag-
ing. The passing of the Farm Credit Bill by Congress is expected
to do much to make the general trade of the farmer something worth
considering and going after.
It is not probable that business for the coming Fall will break
any records, but there is every prospect that it will come close to
meeting the expectations of those who base their future calculations
on facts and not upon desires. The inclination of active music
dealers to expand their businesses, install new equipment and make
preparations generally to handle a growing trade certainly reflects
their optimism in a practical manner.
THE MAINTENANCE OF QUALITY
HEN a few years ago piano supplies became not only costly
W
but extremely scarce various manufacturers of pianos of
reputation were quick to announce that despite all obstacles they
insisted upon maintaining the standard of the materials entering
into their products—that the scarcity would not be used as a cloak
for inferior material.
Just now it is quite important that manufacturers take the same
attitude with respect to the demand that wholesale piano prices be
SEPTEMBER 3, 1921
adjusted. There are a goodly number of pianos that could be sold
at much less than present prices were the manufacturers to sacrifice
quality standards in an effort to appeal to the trade and public, but the
manufacturer who has built up to a standard rather than down to
a price and who has developed a reputation for his instrument on
that basis is not going to benefit himself by effecting savings on
materials at the expense of quality.
Manufacturers of all kinds of products are shopping around
these days, and the saving of half a cent or a cent here and there
helps surprisingly toward the solution of their problems, but if that
same saving of half a cent on a pound or a foot of piano material
means a full cent less of quality the game is not worth the candle.
There are instances on record where very recently manufacturers
have bought too closely and then been sorry. It is the quality which
can be obtained at a price that proves the bargain.
THE CONTAGION
OF PESSIMISM
P
ESSIMISM begets pessimism, and even the optimist is likely
to have his confidence in the business outlook and its future
shaken by a man who can see nothing but gloom ahead and insists
on telling the world of the fact. An instance in point was recited
to The Review last week by the president of a well-known piano
manufacturing concern, who told of a dealer who visited New York
for the purpose of buying and went home empty-handed and with
his confidence in business shaken.
Said the piano man: "A certain retail piano dealer from the
Middle West came into my office several days ago, and, during our
conversation, he pulled a bunch of orders for pianos out of his
pocket and showed them to me. They were made out to several
piano manufacturers. He said that he had visited every one of
these men with the intention of placing the order, but the attitude
of the heads of the firm and their pessimistic views of business were
so depressing that he decided not to place the orders. 'I am going
home to-morrow, and I am going to take the orders with me,' he
said. 'Business is very good in my territory just now, but I am
going to go easy on laying in stock until the manufacturers tell me
a more cheery story.' "
The moral of this little story is too pointed to need defining. It
is clear that the manufacturers visited by this merchant would have
received the orders had they been more cheerful and taken a brighter
view of business conditions. These men are not only losing business,
but they are spreading a false doctrine, and the sooner they wake
up to the fact that there is business to be had by going after it just
so much sooner will their plants be in full operation.
SOUTH AMERICAN TRADE
HE first-hand views offered by Frederick P. Stieff, well-known
T piano
man of Baltimore, upon his return from South America,
regarding the possibilities of again developing a substantial trade
between the United States and South American countries, as pre-
sented in The Review last week, are distinctly interesting and fit
in well with statements made by business men generally who have
visited the Latin Republics recently.
The question of exchange is a vital one in the business relation-
ship between the United States and European as well as South
American countries, and efforts looking toward an adjustment of the
exchange rate, with a view to making it possible for foreign countries
to do business on an equitable basis, are to be encouraged and
abetted. It is well enough to have the dollar placed in such a domi-
nating position, but for practical purposes it should be more on a
level with foreign currency. The condition is righting itself but
very slowly, and meanwhile the trade is suffering.
THE OHIO CONVENTION
J
UDGING from the list of those who have announced their inten-
tion of attending the annual convention of the Music Merchants'
Association of Ohio in Columbus on September 12-15, and with the
elaborate program that has been arranged for that affair, the con-
vention sessions promise to assume a really national character. Mem-
bers of the trade from all sections of the country have arranged to
be in Columbus, and it is likely that there will be sufficient happen-
ings there to make this national interest worth while. Certain it is
that the subjects allotted to the different speakers are distinctly
practical in character and in keeping with the present demand for
ideas that will stimulate business.

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