Music Trade Review

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THE
DECEMBER 31, 1921
MUSIC
TRADE
REVIEW
11
OSI
A SERMON ON CO-OPERATION
Being a Fitting Capstone to the Story of the Year
From the Music Roll Point of View
It is being generally said that the year 1922 will
undoubtedly show a vast improvement over the
conditions which have prevailed in this industry
during the last twelve months. This time last
year there was little, if any, feeling of happiness
anywhere. Men wondered what would happen
during 1921, and most of them were pessimistic
in their interpretations. The pessimism was in-
deed well founded, though perhaps it was less
pessimism than realization. But to-day we all
feel that it is safe to look forward toward a
brighter time, and so we are less inclined to be
miserable.
But it ought to be clear by now that a good
deal of the depression which we have all had
to endure has been due to our own shortcomings.
There would have been, without any assistance
from us, of course, the depressed condition of
world-wide trade from which we have been so
seriously suffering, but our industry would not
have been so hardly hurt, so sharply pinched, if
we had not ourselves contributed to the power
for evil of any calamity which might have
occurred, by committing a variety of sins against
the laws of our own prosperity. This may sound
merely like the croaking of the disappointed or
of the professional arm-chair lecturer, yet in fact
it is a mere statement of truth.
Of all the sins of commission and of omission,
one may build the most .effective sermon upon
that one which may be described as Failure in
Co-operation. If one thing is truer than another
it is that the music roll business and the player-
piano business are interdependent. What helps
the one helps the other. If one be the victim of
damage the other will suffer in parallel order.
No calamity can happen to the one without the
other suffering to a like degree. No advantage
can inure to the one without the other sharing
in the profit.
fi
Staffnotc
Player Rolls
Arc Best"
is now trie answer received by the
many progressive dealers whenever
they invite comparison by their trade.
Their one main reason for de-
ciding is that Stafifnote rolls are the
most complete, in that, all that is
pertaining to music, is printed on the
roll and are therefore a greater value
for the money. Another reason is
that they are easier to read and have
an outstanding individuality in the
hand played recording of same that
is not to be found in other rolls.
T h e opinion is unanimous among
the players of wind and string in-
struments.
Send for catalogue and our free trial offpr
and learn more about this latest and best achieve-
ment in music rolls.
Billings Player Roll Company
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U. S. A.
Such statements are, of course, obvious
enough as they appear on paper. But between
their obviousness and the practical application
of them there is a great gulf fixed.
The Wanting Spirit
To bring the matter to an issue, it must be
said that the music roll and the player-piano
branches of the music industries are wanting in
a spirit of true co-operation. A moment's con-
sideration will enable us not only to see how this
is the case, but also to see in what way the reme-
dies may be sought and what will happen when
they are applied.
Standardization
Let us take the matter of tracker-bar standardi-
zation. Here is one matter in which the initia-
tive surely should be with the music roll men.
There are springing up all over the place player-
piano actions for automatic expression, and even
accessory installations which can be added to
existing player actions, whereby player-pianos of
ordinary kind can be turned into automatic ex-
pression players. But the greatest difficulty in
making this change lies in the matter of obtain-
ing suitable music. All such automatic expres-
sion players, whether converted from foot-power
instruments or built in the automatic form from
the ground up, are controlled by the motion of
the paper over the tracker-bar. Therefore, if
each type of mechanism has its own lay-out of
the perforations which lead to the expression,
tempo and mechanical governing devices, it
must follow that a special style of music roll must
be made for each.
Now, it would not be difficult for music roll
men to initiate a movement among themselves
to bring persuasion to bear upon the makers of
player-piano mechanisms for an agreement
among themselves as to the lay-out of expres-
sion and governing perforations on the right and
left margins of tracker-bars.
The
Silent Motora
If it be objected that no such standardization
is possible, the reply is that such statements do
not take the facts into proper consideration. In
point of fact, if we omit the three or four
widely known mechanisms which (together with
the music made for each of them exclusively)
may be classified as "reproducing actions," ac-
cording to the classification proposed in the No-
vember issue of this Player Section, we shall
find that virtually all the remaining mechanisms
could very easily be standardized to the degree
discussed in this article. It need hardly be said
that such a move must first come from the
music roll manufacturers, who alone are equally
interested in results and equally impartial as to
the matter of obtaining them.
Co-operation here should have been initiated
long ago. It is yet time to begin. In fact, unless
some agreement is soon come to between the
two branches of the industry, the music roJl men
will find an important market shrinking, till it
ceases to be important at all.
About Special Music
Take one more point. There is to-day a
movement toward exploring the possibilities of
music specially composed for the player-piano.
That movement ought not to be left to the initia-
tive of one or two private individuals or to the
enterprise of one or two music roll men. It rep-
resents one of the most promising possibilities
for effective propaganda in our industry. It
ought to be the object of the co-operative inter-
est of the music roll industry.
When each manufacturer goes it alone on all
points he hurts himself far more than he hurts
his competitor. To-day there is fierce competi-
tion for business, and so long as each man
stands alone the industry cannot prosper. For
divided counsel and unremitting individualism
mean simply lack of direction, lack of system,
inability to realize opportunities. The music roll
business needs to develop a sense of interdepend-
ence with all other branches of the music indus-
tries. It needs likewise to develop, among the
(Continued on page 12)
This electric vacuum
playing device elimi-
nates all foot pumping
We are d i s t r i b u t o r s in
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Motora Sales Co. of Pennsylvania
35 S. 18th Street
Philadelphia, Pa.
WHITE, SON CO.
Manufacturers of
ORGAN AND PLAYER-PIANO
LEATHERS
530-540 Atlantic Ave., BOSTON, MASS.
PLAYER--ORGAN--PIANO
LEATHERS
A Specialty of Pneumatic
T. L LUTKINS, Inc.
Additional Income for
Tuners and Repair
Departments
Leathers
We can supply you
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in any 65 or 88-note
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any ordinary piano by
making some minor altera-
tions in the piano case.
Write
for details of this money-
making possibility.
Simplex Player Action Co.
Worcester, Mass.