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Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
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VOL. LXXIII. No. 7
Published Every Saturday by Edward Lyman BUI, Inc., at 373 4th Ave., New York. August 13, 1921
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[HOSE two old women of history—Dame Gossip and her twin sister Dame Rumor—have been much in
evidence in the music trade during the past few weeks, which may be accepted as proof of the fact that
quite a number of members of the industry are not as busy as they might be, or at least are not attend-
ing to their business as they should, for the busy person who has something of importance on his mind
seldom has time to gossip, and indulgence in the latter requires a certain amount of leisure.
Ever so often the desire to circulate and deal in rumors, regardless of whether or not they are likely to
have any foundation in fact, seems to pervade a certain element in the industry. An innocent query or a face-
tious statement, devoid of any harm in itself, is passed from mouth to mouth, gaining in strength and detail
as it progresses, until it develops to a point where it is very likely to cause harm to some concern, or even to a
group of concerns. It has been known that a simple remark about the office shades in the factory being drawn
has been grabbed up by the gossips, passed on and bandied about, until it grew to an apparently definite state-
ment that the entire factory was closed and that a failure had occurred or was impending, when as a matter
of fact the factory was working overtime, and making excellent profits to boot.
This practice of dealing in rumors is not by any means new in the music industry or in other trades. Let
there be a little slowing down of business, which means more leisure for certain of the trade members, and the
crop of rumors may be expected to develop and grow with the suddenness and rapidity of mushrooms, and with
the poisonous qualities of the toadstool.
It is hard to understand just why apparently good business men, with trade problems of their own facing
them at present and requiring solution, find pleasure in discussing and enlarging upon the reported financial or
business troubles of their competitors, instead of attending to their own affairs. It would be quite bad enough
if this gossip and this passing on of rumors affected only the houses under discussion, but the fact remains that
this constant dealing in rumors and steady discussion of financial and business difficulties, or supposed diffi-
culties, has a tendency to react against the interests of the trade as a whole. The mental attitude is a real and
not an imaginary factor in the conduct of a business, and with his mind continually brought back to real or
supposed difficulties of his competitors by the gossips the average business man is bound to have more or
less pessimism injected into him.
Regarding the music industry particularly it must be admitted that the business situation has not
been of the best, but improvement is in sight and the various factors in the trade, both manufacturing and
retail, have stood up sturdily under conditions that are said to have tested severely the stability of industries
more potential in a financial way than ours. The business crashes have been few and far between, and have
not exceeded in number those reported during the average normal year—a record that can be duplicated by
but few other industries.
The thing to do now is to sidetrack the rumor-mongers and talk optimism, not simply the lip-service
sort, but the kind that has a solid foundation in fact. Having gone through the worst of the depression with
flying colors, there should be no great worry about the future, provided the members of the industry maintain
their mental balance and confidence.
'. ...
It is said that if a certain statement is repeated frequently enough it will eventually be believed, and it
is equally sure that if these rumors of business troubles, which have been so thick in the music trade for the
past few weeks, are allowed to continue and are not stopped the confidence of the trade as a whole is apt to
be undermined. When the dealer hears from half the manufacturers, for instance, rumors that the other half
are shaky he begins to doubt the stability of the whole crowd, and it is particularly harmful because the rumors
are without any basis of fact.
Don't rock the business boat.
" . •,. ',. -..-.'.
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