Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
NEW YORK, JUNE 17, 1922
Comments by Xhe Man on Xhe Street
One of the important developments in the teaching of vocal and instrumental music in
sheet music trade during the past year or so has schools will bring substantial returns in the way
come as a result of the move of the publishers of sales.
of standard and- teaching music to reduce the
Spring Sales of Popular Music
number of new issues sent each month to deal-
Taking them as a whole, the Spring sales of
ers. The publishers who agreed to this plan popular music have been below expectations and,
have been consistent in their efforts to carry vve should say, considerably below those for the
it out successfully and in a number of cases the same period last year. However, the hits sell
number of new issues has been reduced fully and these in larger quantities than have ever
50 per cent.
before been attained in the Spring season. There
The result of this has been to lift much of the are at least four big sellers in the catalogs of the
burden from the dealer and give him a greater publishers at the present time and, from all in-
opportunity for giving a fair showing to the dications, these will reach very high figures in
music he receives. Where it was formerly the point of sales. The same cannot be said of the
case that the new issues piled up to such a "second-best" numbers, whose sales are invari-
degree that they were moved off the counters ably lower than normal.
and hidden on the shelves to make room for
Music for Smaller Instruments
new prints long before local teachers and pu- In our convention number of last year there
pils had a chance to look them over, it is now appeared an article en "Exploiting Music for the
possible, with fewer numbers, to keep the new Smaller Instruments," in which was reviewed the
selections prominently before the local music continuous popularity of such instruments, par-
buyers and the result has been increased sales. ticularly saxophones, banjo-mandolins, etc. There
The dealers almost without exception have has been practically no let-up in the sales of such
been earnest in their endorsement of the pro- products since that time and the need for in-
gram and have shown their interest in it by struction books, up-to-date folios, etc., has shown
giving more attention to placing the available a tremendous increase. So much so that, par-
new issues in the hands of interested people in ticularly for the saxophone, several publishing
their own localities. In other words, standard houses have brought out books with the most
and teaching music is no longer to sell itself or modern arrangements.
wait for the unsolicited demand from £he cus-
Too often it is the case that after such musi-
tomer. It is now in a position to, and does, cal instruments are sold nothing is done to keep
receive a proper amount of publicity aird ex- the student, or amateur, interested, but a frequent
ploitation which has been reflected in the sales display of books will result in the closing of many
volume.
sales. Some dealers have found it profitable to
list the names of the purchasers of small instru-
National Music Supervisors' Conference
Of particular importance to standard pub- ments and from time to time, as new works of
lishers and dealers are the activities of the Na- interest are issued, to call the same to the atten-
tional Music Supervisors' Conference. The tion of the customers by mail announcement.
A Resume of the Musical Shows
annual convention recently held in Nashville,
From a theatrical standpoint, or, we might say,
Tenn., was one of the largest gatherings ever
held and when it is considered that a great ma- from the viewpoint of the producer, the season
jority of those who attend these conferences do of musical comedy has not been a very profit-
so at a personal sacrifice of time and expense the able one. There have been, however, a num-
ber of successes and these, as has music in the
showing is remarkable.
Representatives from every State in the Union, popular field, have had to be hits or the public
as well as Canada, Scotland, Porto Rico and the did not respond. Among the successes can be
Philippines, were on hand. The reports show numbered "Blossom Time," "Tangerine," "The
that school music activities are making tremen- Blushing Bride," "The Blue Kitten," "Marjo-
dous strides. The development of methods of laine" and "Sally."
teaching school children in classes the piano and
The Sale of Orchestrations
violin; the formation of public and high-school
We are not fortunate enough to be invited to
orchestras and bands; the use of the talking ma- attend the meetings of the Music Publishers' Pro-
chine in the schoolroom to teach music and as- tective Association, but we learn that K. C. Mills,
sist in the teaching of literature, geography, writ- chairman of the board of d.rectors, frequently
ing, history, physical drill, etc., were discussed brings before that body the opportunity for
and it was shown that exceptional progress along selling orchestrations. It is true that the ques-
these lines was being made.
tion is invariably voted down, but Mr. Mills seem-
ingly has the faculty for selling his ideas and
What Dealers Can Do
Local dealers can do much to encourage this we have hopes—indeed we verily believe—that he
work by supporting the music supervisors in their will finally succeed in this instance.
Demonstration of Music
cities who are working for proper recognition of
The popular publisher labors under the belief,
music by their school boards. Not only is this
important for the musical development of the and justly so, that demonstration in one form or
country, but the dealer will find that the modern another is practically the only thing that sells
Illlllll
music. From his angle the demonstrations must
be through the orchestra and the vaudeville per-
formers, not discounting the concert artists,
where the number is adaptable.
Store Demonstrations
The average dealer looks askance at the demon-
strations in his store. His tendency is to be
conservative, his store a place of dignity, and
he is quite right in not desiring to make it a
bedlam. There is, however, a method of demon-
strating still conservative and still dignified. We
refer to the success that some dealers have had
in giving demonstrations from 11.30 a. m. to
2 p. m. We have visited several stores that have
had such a plan in operation and have found
that they were gathering places at those hours
for the youger element, the shop girls and the
"Flappers," it is true, but all purchasers of
music. The advertising value of making the
store an important meeting place can hardly be
overlooked. At these noon hours, too, it will be
found that such activities do not interfere with the
normal course of business. Here is a means of
giving the syndicate store some most active com-
petition.
Progress in Window Displays
It has been said that the front of a store re-
flects the standard of the establishment. It is
gratifying, then, to see the progress made in
window displays. We have reproduced in these
columns any number of attractive, original and
unique window showings. Some of these were
arranged at quite a little expense, but the con-
tinued attention that such stores have given to
their windows is a sure indication of the results
achieved. All of them practically have shown
that much pains and attention were taken in
tlieir arrangement and we think there has been
decided progress in that direction.
It is worth noting that despite the fact that
sheet music is often issued with attractive title
pages it does not always lend itself over-readily
to large window display purposes. Therefore the
arranging of a particularly effective window is
worthy of note.
.
... -
What About the Radio?
At the sessions this week both the National
Association of Sheet Music Dealers and the
Music Publishers' Association of the United
States discussed what has often been termed
radio problems. The Music Publishers' Protec-
tive Association and the American Society of
Composers, Authors and Publishers have, too,
during the past few months taken up the ques-
tion.
Radio, however, in its present form is hardly
a problem. It is the development of this science
and the progress which will be made in the future
that will call for attention. At the present time
there have been no facts presented to show that
radio broadcasting has thus far any decided in-
fluence either for good or bad on the music pub-
lishing industry, or on the sale of sheet music
to the public.