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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
REVIEW
PUBLISHED BY EDWARD LYMAN BILL, Inc.
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Departments conducted by an expert wherein all ques-
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regulating and repairing of pianos and player-pianos
are dealt with, will be found in another section of
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Vol. LXX1V
NEW YORK, JANUARY 21, 1922
No. 3
THE PROPOSED NATIONAL ADVERTISING DRIVE
T
H E decision of the executive committee of the National Piano
Manufacturers' Association to consider seriously the plan for
carrying on a campaign of national advertising in the interest of the
player-piano and on a co-operative basis, as advocated by Thomas M.
Pletcher, appears to be a move in the right direction and in the
appointment of R. W. Lawrence and Otto Schulz as a committee to
ascertain the sentiment of the manufacturers as a whole on the sub-
ject the matter has been placed in the hands of men of recognized
ability.
There is no question but that any move calculated to increase the
demand for pianos and players and to develop the interest of the
public in those instruments is worthy of the earnest consideration
of members of the industry. The old methods during the past year
resulted in the sale of only a comparatively small percentage of the
normal output of the piano factories of the country, and new methods
must be considered to increase that percentage.
Mr. Lawrence, particularly, is by experience in a most favorable
position to present the proposition to the trade in an understandable
and logical manner. Whether Mr. Pletcher's offer of $50,000 to
supplement a fund of $200,000 to be raised by the player-piano
manufacturers themselves proves an inducement or not, it would seem
a mighty good thing to ascertain the sentiment of the trade on this
important matter.
THE COMING SCHUBERT CELEBRATION
T
H E movement of the Franz Schubert Memorial Committee, of
which Charles D. Isaacson is chairman, to observe in a fitting
manner the 125th anniversary of the birth of the great composer,
which occurs on January 31, is of interest to the music industry as a
whole, and particularly to the retailers for the opportunity it presents
to feature in window displays, in advertising and in other ways the
many works of that noted composer.
The opportunity is most interesting in that the majority of
Schubert's songs are of the more popular order, high-class of course,
JANUARY 21, 1922
but of a type to appeal to the public as a whole. His songs rank
among the classics of the day and a great number of them are to be
found listed in both the talking machine record and player roll
catalogs.
Among the members of the Schubert Memorial Committee is
Richard W. Lawrence, who has assumed the duty of organizing the
music industry to take proper cognizance of the occasion, and several
trade associations have made official announcement of the anniversary
and have urged the desirability of making special displays.
\*
The practice of celebrating the anniversaries of the births of
noted musicians is one to be heartily endorsed by the industry be-
cause of the fact that it serves to keep public interest aroused in
music as a whole and is calculated to bring directly before the public
at stated intervals the works of this or that great composer of which
they have perhaps heard but with whom they are not as familiar as
might be. From a cold business standpoint such celebrations and
displays of any sort are calculated to help sales and that is one of the
main considerations.
THE PROBLEM OF THE MUSIC SHOW
T
O hold a music show or not to hold a show—that «is the question.
Whether to have exhibits of musical instruments centered in one
place under official auspices and to a certain degree under official
control so that the displays will not detract from the attendance at
convention meetings, or to run the risk of having some dozens of
individual exhibits at various hotels and have them exert the usual
harmful influence on attendance at meetings, is the problem now
before association officials who are making plans for the coming
conventions.
The music merchants have signified their desire to have a regular
music show in connection with the forthcoming conventions in June.
Manufacturers, on the other hand, probably as a result of past expe-
riences, and also in view of existing conditions, have declared them-
selves to be overwhelmingly opposed to any such official display.
It is natural to assume that the piano merchant who travels
several hundred or several thousand miles to a piano manufacturing
center for the purpose of attending a convention also considers that
it is good business to get in touch with the new things offered by the
piano and player manufacturers. If he is a progressive merchant
he owes it to himself to keep in touch with the new developments
whether he takes on the new lines himself or whether they go to his
competitor.
At every national convention there have been and will be two
counter-attractions—the business meetings of the associations on one
hand and the exhibits of the manufacturers, coupled with the appeals
of their salesmen on the other. The question that faces the execu-
tives of the National Association of Music Merchants is that of so
arranging the two attractions that they will not conflict. It is a diffi-
cult problem under any condition, as experience has shown.
A VICTORY FOR THE BALDWIN CO.
T
H E action of the Baldwin Piano Co. in taking up directly with
the American Ambassador in Spain the question of having the
new and greatly increased tariff on pianos imported into that coun-
try reduced to a point where it would be fair and equitable to Amer-
ican manufacturers and permit of the handling of Spanish business
on a profitable basis is a matter for congratulation, for it proves that
direct and energetic action will accomplish results for those who
go to it in the right spirit.
Failing to secure any great encouragement from Government
officials and representatives of the industry in this country, the
Baldwin company took up the matter direct with the American
Ambassador at Madrid, who in turn placed it in the hands of Charles
H. Cunningham, commercial attache at Madrid. Mr. Cunningham
immediately got in touch with piano importers in Spain, with the result
that the duty on imported pianos was changed from 1,000 to 1,500
pesetas to a flat rate of 25 per cent ad valorem.
In taking up this matter of the Spanish tariff the Baldwin com-
pany has accomplished a result for the benefit of the industry as a
whole and has shown a distinctly unselfish spirit in the manner in
which it has handled the question throughout. The results should
serve to encourage other manufacturers to take similar direct action
when the situation seems to warrant it. Trained Government officials
said it was hard to do and involved a long process, but the Baldwin
company did it speedily and satisfactorily.
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