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THE
MUSIC
TRADE
REVIEW
PUBLISHED BY EDWARD LYMAN BILL, Inc.
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Departments conducted by an expert wherein all ques-
tions of a technical nature relating to the tuning,
regulating and repairing of pianos and player-pianos
are dealt with, will be found in another section of
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which will be cheerfully given upon request.
Player-Piano and
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Vol. LXX1V
NEW YORK, APRIL 1, 1922
No. 13
INTENSIVE WORK BRINGS RESULTS
T
H E R E are a number of piano manufacturers who have realized
that the question of distributing their product is not entirely one
of getting a few dealers to take large numbers of pianos each year,
but that great possibilities lie in the line-up of numerous small dealers
who, taking only comparatively few pianos each year, build up a most
substantial total through their aggregate purchases. The situation
resolves itself into a question of either placing all the eggs in one
basket or dividing them into several baskets. When a dozen large
retailers, taking an average of a hundred pianos a year, cut orders
50 per cent it means a sudden drop of 600 instruments. On the
other hand, if there are sixty dealers, averaging twenty pianos a year
each, the likelihood of all of them making a 50 per cent cut is remote,
for there is business still to be done in many sections of this broad
country.
A wholesale representative from the West, who visited New York
recently, had figures to prove that he was disposing at wholesale of
about 200 pianos per month, averaging fifty instruments monthly,
from each of five manufacturers. This piano man covers a large ter-
ritory and each month gets in touch with close to three-score dealers,
some of them large but the majority small. With a well-balanced
line at his command, however, he keeps up his quota without any-
great difficulty.
Manufacturers have taken occasion in the past few months to
advise dealers who put forth intensive effort to go over their terri-
tory with a fine-tooth comb. It might be well for some manufac-
turers to follow the same advice. More than one producer of pianos
in the past has discovered there is a lot of business to be had in small
towns that are not included in the regular itinerary of Pullman
jumps.
IMPROVING PATENT OFFICE CONDITIONS
T
H E signing by the President of the bill providing for increased
salaries for patent office employes, together with slight increases
in patent fees, is of general interest to business men, for it marks the
REVIEW
APRIL 1, 1922
first step toward bringing the patent office out of the muddle in which
it has been for some time past and enabling the office staff to catch
up with its work. It is unfortunate that a government department of
such vital importance to the business interests of the country should
have been neglected so long, and it is to be hoped, with the new law
as a precedent, steps will be taken to put the patent office on a modern,
efficient basis and keep it there.
There is no question but that millions of dollars have been lost
to inventors and industrial concerns through delays in patent office
searches and in the handling of patent applications, due, not to the
carelessness of the patent office workers, but to the inability of the
officials to recruit and maintain a sufficient staff to carry on the work
under the existing salary scale. Even under the new law, the salaries
paid patent office experts will be far below those that could be de-
manded in the general business field for work of the same sort and
requiring an equal amount of intelligence and training. The slight
increase in fees will be more than offset by the saving accruing to
inventors and business men generally as a result of the greater speed
and efficiency in obtaining patent rights.
THE MEMBERSHIP DRIVE
T
H E results of the drive for new members just inaugurated by the
National Association of Music Merchants will be watched with
considerable interest, for the drive has started under the most favor-
able conditions, following so soon after the transcontinental trip of
President DeForeest.
The progress of the National Association in the matter of mem-
bership has been steady, even though slow, but the effort that is being
put behind the present drive, coupled with the stimulating effect of
the prizes offered to the various individuals and organizations for
bringing in the greatest number of new members, should serve to
accomplish much in extending the rolls of that organization within
the next few weeks.
There has been considerable discussion during the present year
as to the evident lack of interest in association work on the part of
the lay members of various industries being a reflection of the busi-
ness conditions, retailers being too much engrossed with their own
affairs to have a proper regard for the affairs of the industry of
which they are members. As a matter of fact, with conditions as
they are, this is the most opportune time to take increased interest
in the association movement, from the fact that the present program
calls for the sort of constructive service from association headquarters
that will aid retailers materially in meeting and solving existing sales
problems.
The day is past for the association to exist simply for the pur-
pose of giving trade members an excuse to get together once a year
for a general jollification. Association members demand something
more than just a good time for the effort and money they invest in
organization work, something more than the reading of dry papers
and making of set speeches at the annual session. In the music in-
dustry this fact has been realized and efforts are being made to
develop the Merchants' Association, and for that matter all trade
associations, into a value-giving proposition from the standpoint of
the individual member.
AUCTION SALES OF PIANOS
DEALER in Baltimore who desired to get rid of surplus stock
quickly on the plea of moving to new quarters solved the prob-
lem by bringing an auctioneer and disposing of most of the instru-
ments on his floors to the highest bidders. This is one of the first
instances which have come to the attention of the trade where such
a policy has been adopted, and the probable developments may be
interesting. From the standpoint of the competitor, it is a question
whether the disposal of a stock of instruments suddenly and at auc-
tion is not less harmful to regular trade than the practice of carrying
on an extended "closing out" sale with sensational advertising, bar-
gain prices and low terms. When pianos are sold at auction the
bidder buys, not according to his idea of what the instrument is worth,
but according to his ability to get it at a low bid. When sales are
advertised, the prices quoted are too often accepted by a goodly por-
tion of prospective customers as representative of all piano prices.
The practice of closing out stocks at auction may not become general
in the trade, but it has a number of interesting phases which may
well be considered.
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