Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE
MUSIC
TRADE
REVIEW
(Registered in the U. S. Patent Office)
PUBLISHED BY EDWARD LYMAN BILL, Inc.
President and Treasurer, C. L. Bill, 373 Fourth Ave., New York; Vfce-President,
. B. Spillane, 373 Fourth Ave., New York; Second Vice-President, Raymond Bill, 373
ourth Ave., New York; Secretary, Edward Lyman Bill, 373 Fourth Ave., New York;
i Assistant
Treasurer, Wm. A. Low.
J. B. SPILLANE, Editor
RAY BILL, B. B. WILSON, URAID WHITE, Associate Editors
WM. H. McCLEARY, Managing Editor
CARLETON CHACE, Business Manager
L. E. BOWERS, Circulation Manager
Executive and Reportorial Staff
E. B. MUNCH, V. D. WALSH, EDWARD VAN HAULINGEN, LEE ROBINSON,
THOS. W. BRESNAHAN, E. J. NEALY, C. R. TIGHE, FREDERICK B. DIEHL, A. J. NICKLIN
WESTERN DIVISION:
ARTHUR NEALY, Representative
BOSTON O F F I C E :
JOHN H. WILSON, 324 Washington St.
Republic Bldg., 209 So. State St., Chicago
Telephone, Main 6950
Telephone, Wabash 5242-5243.
L O N D O N , E N G L A N D : 1 Gresham Buildings, Basinghall St., D. C.
N E W S S E R V I C E IS S U P P L I E D W E E K L Y B Y OUR C O R R E S P O N D E N T S
LOCATED IN T H E L E A D I N G 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.
SUBSCRIPTION,United States and Mexico, $2.00 per year; Canada, $3.50; all other
countries, $5.00.
ADVERTISEMENTS, rates on request.
REMITTANCES, should be made payable to Edward Lyman Bill, Inc.
Exposition Honors Won by The Review
Grand Prix
Paris Exposition, 1900
Silver Medal... Charleston Exposition, 1902
Diploma... .Pan-American Exposition, 1901
Gold Medal
St. Louis Exposition, 1904
Gold Medal—Lewis-Clark Exposition, 1905
T E L E P H O N E S — M A D I S O N S Q U A R E 5982-5083-5984-9458-7898-0620
Cable Address: "Elbill, N e w York"
Vol. LXXVI
NEW YORK, JUNE 2, 1923
No. 22
PROBLEMS INTERNATIONAL, NOT NATIONAL
T
HOSE members of the American music trade who believe that
their merchandising problems are peculiar to themselves will
find much of interest in the fact that the program of the British
Music Industries annual meeting, held in Buxton last week, in-
cluded a number of subjects that paralleled in a large measure the
subjects that will be offered for discussion at the Allied Music
Trades' Convention at the Drake Hotel next week.
Among the matters discussed by the British trade were "The
Player-piano as a Factor in Musical Education," "The Federation
Scheme for Hire-Purchase Finance," "Could the Present Seasonal
Character of the Pianoforte Industry Be Always to the Advantage
of the Manufacturer, Dealer and Workman?" "The Music Trade
and Wireless," "The Music Trades' School and Its Possibilities of
Service to the Industry," "An Exchange Scheme for Obsolete and
Unsalable Records" and other subjects of this character.
It is significant that within the past few months much attention
has been given by the American trade to the question of financing
retail business through properly handling the instalment paper, and
also to that of averaging dealers' orders through the year in an
effort to keep the factories operating evenly throughout twelve
months. The player-piano as an educational factor has already
established itself in the United States and the handling of obsolete
and unsalable records has been solved through exchange plans inau-
gurated by the manufacturers.
The similarity of the programs of the British convention and
the American convention, however, is particularly striking and in-
teresting, and indicates the fact that trade problems, taken as a
whole, are international rather than national.
WATCH THE NEW COPYRIGHT REVISION
N his analysis of the copyright situation and of the future pos-
sibilities of copyright legislation in The Review last week, Waldon
I Fawcett
offered several suggestions for the guidance of the music
trade in protecting its varied
copyright bill that may be
Congress or the sessions that
There are several phases
interests in connection with any new
offered during the next session of
follow.
of the copyright bill on which strong
REVIEW
JUNE 2, 1923
fights will be waged. New royalty fees for the mechanical repro-
duction of copyrighted music, a new and well-defined status for
word roll royalties, an established legal basis defining the rights
of both music publishers and broadcasting interests and other im-
portant matters, will all be considered and are all of direct interest.
The music publishers particularly are warned to watch their in-
terests closely for the reason that there has been, and will be, oppo-
sition from many quarters to the grant of those interests of rights
declared to be monopolistic. In every respect new copyright legis-
lation will bear close watching.
RETAIL MERCHANTS IN BETTER WAREROOMS
a week passes without the announcement of some
H ARDLY
music merchant, large or small, either having his present
building remodeled at considerable expense or moving to new and
larger quarters that have been prepared to meet his special require-
ments. This fact alone should inspire confidence in those who are
wondering what the future holds in store for the music merchant,
for the individual who spends his hard-earned money in making
preparations to handle the increased business may be held to know
pretty much what he is about.
This tendency to provide more attractive and more elaborate
warerooms for the display of musical instruments is a matter for
congratulation, and the investment in handsome quarters, provid-
ing the business warrants it, is one of the best investments a dealer
can make, for it is likely to put a business on a higher plane in the
eyes of the public and to command the respect that is due to the
trade which makes the production of music in the home possible.
There were those some years ago who held the opinion that
elaborate warerooms were likely to frighten those prospects who
desire to purchase a piano but whose funds were limited and who,
therefore, hesitated to enter imposing portals in the belief that they
would be open to ridicule. Experience has proven, however, that
the purchaser of a piano for $300 or less is just as appreciative of
handsome warerooms as is the purchaser of the $3,500 reproducing
grand.
THE OHIO ASSOCIATION'S NEW SLOGAN
Music Merchants' Association has adopted officially
T as HE a Ohio
slogan the phrase: "If You're a Performer—You're a
Better Listener." It has distributed window strips bearing the
slogan in large red type as well as arranging to have its members
wherever possible include that phrase in their advertising. Con-
ceived by F. B. Beinkamp, Cincinnati, the slogan, properly pre-
sented, has an important meaning, for musical appreciation comes
from performance, whether that performance consists of manual
playing of the piano or the operation of the player-piano or talking
machine.
It is generally conceded that, with the coming of the player-
piano and particularly the talking machine which brought the best
of music properly interpreted into the great majority of the homes
of the country, the attendance at operas and concerts has shown a
substantial gain and the greater appreciation of the audience has
been distinctly apparent. Good music suffers, in a large measure,
because it is not understood, so, when the individual can come to
a proper understanding of what it means and the idea it intends
to convey, then something definite has been accomplished.
NEW DEVELOPMENTS IN CASE DESIGN
interesting development in the piano trade during recent
A N months
has been the tendency toward innovations in the mat-
ter of case finishing. Tangible evidence of this tendency is found
in the two-tone finishes for piano cases offered by a number of
manufacturers. These have served to please both the dealers and
the retail customer.
In looking over various piano lines one is tempted to wonder
at times why there is such similarity of case design. Some years
ago it was the old black ebony case and practically all pianos were
thus cased; then came the rosewood case, which had its day and
which was followed, in turn, by the mahogany and walnut. Furni-
ture manufacturers have, naturally, followed the trend of public
taste and have supplied finishes in mahogany or walnut, as desired.
They have had a little more latitude, of course, in the matter of
finish and so a greater opportunity to furnish various styles of fin-
ishes which serve to get away from the commonplace.