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THE
MUSIC
TRADE
RE™
(Registered in the U. S. Patent Office)
REVIEW
APRIL 7, 1923
dealers to concentrate strongly on the exploitation of any one par-
ticular type of instrument. Spreading the publicity to cover the
general line would certainly be calculated to appeal to all classes
of prospective purchasers and thus reduce materially the present
replacement problem. There apparently has been altogether too
much of the policy of replacing the straight piano in the home with
a player, and that in turn with a reproducing piano. It might be
well to change a bit and look for fresh fields for straight sales
of all types of instruments.
PUBLISHED BY EDWARD LYMAN BILL, Inc.
President and Treasurer, C. L. Bill, 373 Fourth Ave., New York; Vice-President,
J. B. Spillane, 373 Fourth Ave., New York; Second Vice-President, Raymond Bill, 373
Fourth Ave., New York; Secretary, Edward Lytnan Bill, 373 Fourth Ave., New York;
Assistant Treasurer, Wm. A. Low.
J. B. SPILLANE, Editor
RAY BILL, B. B. WILSON, t RAID WHITE, Associate Editors
WM. H. McCLEARY, Managing Editor
CARLETON CHACE, Business Manager
L. E. BOWERS, Circulation Manager
Executive and Reportorial Staff
E. B. MUNCH, ARTHUR NEALY, V. D. WALSH, EDWARD VAN HARLINGKN, LEE ROBINSON,
Jos. A. MULDOON, THOS. A. URESNAHAN, E. J. NEALY, C. R. TIGHE, A. J. NICKLIN
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NEWS SERVICE IS SUPPLIED WEEKLY BY OUR CORRESPONDENTS
LOCATED IN THE LEADING CITIES THROUGHOUT AMERICA
Published Every Saturday at 373 Fourth Avenue, New York
Entered as second-class matter September 10, 1892, at the post office at New York, N. Y.,
under the Act of March 3, 1879.
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Exposition Honors Won by The Review
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Paris Exposition, 1900 Silver Medal.. .Charleston Exposition, 1902
Diploma.... Pan- American Exposition, 1901 Gold Medal
St. Louis Exposition, 1904
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Cable Address: "Elbill, New York"
Vol. LXXVI
NEW YORK, APRIL 7, 1923
No. 14
THE FALLACY OF REPLACEMENT SALES
SIGNIFICANT feature of the trade during the past few-
months has been the increasing interest shown by retailers and
also by the public in the straight player-piano, as evidenced by the
increasing sales of that type of instrument. In certain sections the
percentage of sales of player-pianos reported is so high as to seem
hardly credible, and yet there is no gainsaying that the straight
player is again coming into its own as a factor in the trade.
There is nothing particularly unusual alxwt this develop-
ment because, although great emphasis has been placed upon the
reproducing piano during the past few years, the possible pro-
duction of instruments of that type is greatly below the average
demand for pianos. Then again there are thousands of prospective
customers who cannot, afford to purchase a reproducing piano, or
who prefer to interpret their rolls in their own particular way.
In man)- instances within the past few months retailers have
taken particular pains to acquaint, or rather re-acquaint, the pub-
lic with the musical possibilities of the player-piano through re-
citals and through other means of publicity. Only a fortnight
or so ago the straight player was used as the basis for an elab-
orate radio program broadcasted from a Western city.
It is not so many years ago that there were members of the
trade who maintained that in a very short time the straight piano,
particularly the upright, would give place entirely to the player-
piano. Then in turn came those who saw the ordinary player quickly
supplanted by the reproducing piano. In the face of all this there
comes a revival of the straight player on a substantial basis, and
at the same time straight upright pianos, and particularly straight
small grands, are being sold in surprisingly large numbers.
The situation in the trade is such as to prove worthy of study.
It emphasizes the point that in the introduction of the player-piano,
and subsequently the reproducing piano, it should have been, and
still is, a matter of wisdom for retailers to use those new instru-
ments as a means for developing fresh fields for sales rather than
to supplant straight pianos and in turn the straight players in tin-
old sales field.
The come-back ol the ordinary plaver-piano and the main-
tenance of its position by the straight piano develops the question as
to whether or not it is a matter of wisdom for manufacturers and
A
NEW YORK'S FOURTH MUSIC WEEK
V V / I T H I N a month there will be celebrated throughout New
VV York City and the metropolitan district the Fourth Annual
Music Week on a scale that will serve to prove to the doubting ones
that the annual music week idea has become an institution in New
York at least. Particularly significant is the fact that this will be the
first celebration under the auspices of the recently incorporated
New York Music Week Association, Inc., of which Otto II. Kahn,
the noted banker and patron of music, is honorary president, and
Miss Isabel Lowden the moving spirit. The placing of the local
music week activities in the hands of an independent body is in it-
self proof of the importance of the affair.
Tn the past years the activities were confined chiefly to the
celebration of Music Week itself, but under the organization plan
an advancement of music campaigns will be carried on throughout
the year w^ith competitions between students of the piano, violin,
voice, etc., with gold medals as district prizes and scholarships as
final awards. The new body has the financial support not only
of Mr. Kahn as honorary president, but of the Juilliard Founda-
tion, John D. Rockefeller, and other prominent factors in the cause
of musical education.
The various divisions .of the music trade are now being or-
ganized for active participation in the Music Week program and
the indications are that not only will the industry itself make a very
satisfactory independent showing, but that it will give substantial
and consistent financial support to the central organization. Here-
tofore, the Music Week Campaign has been carried on under the
auspices of the National Bureau for the Advancement of Music
and to a certain degree with the funds of that body supplemented
by outside contributions. The association, however, must finance
its activities directly, and, so far as the trade is concerned, will be
dealt with generously this year at least.
It might be well for certain trade factors, however, who are
planning to participate in the Music Week program to see to it
that commercialism is kept under cover so far as possible and that
the cause of music, for music's sake be emphasized. The support
of the movement is given of course in the belief that a greater and
more general appreciation of music will mean an increased de-
mand for musical instruments, but if the Music Week celebra-
tion is made the excuse for a direct selling campaign much of
the effect of the movement will be lost. It is very difficult to wed
commerce and art successfully.
SPREADING ORDERS OVER THE YEAR
many months The Review has emphasized consistently and
persistently the necessity for dealers averaging their orders and
factory shipments fairly evenly throughout the twelve months of
the year if piano manufacturing is to be conducted on a sound,
economic basis, and periods of stock shortage avoided. Now comes
the report of the Conference on Unemployment recently submitted
to the President, which blames the rise and fall of unemployment
upon the practices of retailers generally in ordering from hand to
mouth, and emphasizes the fact that if business is to remain sound
the retailer must carry stock on hand and must expect to take some
losses in a period of depression as well as increased profits in times
of prosperity.
This official report, based on business in general, should have
some weight with music merchants who have continued the practice
of ordering only to meet immediate requirements and have not
heeded the advice to consider future requirements for the benefit of
the trade as a whole.
Many of the dilficulties now existing in the piano industry are
due to the dealers' habits of ordering which constantly tend to
increase the overhead with the manufacturers, a result that is re-
flected in the ultimate prices of the instruments which they purchase.