Classic Mode

Music Trade Review

Issue: 1923 Vol. 76 N. 23

Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE
154
MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
JUNE 9, 1923
THE PUBLISHERS' ASS'N CREDIT BUREAU—(Continued from page 153)
his bank and information of that sort. He is
requested to fill in and return the property
statement to the end that complete information
be given the firm from whom he is seeking
credit.
All of our members receive Inquiry Form No.
2 and immediately each of them fills it in to in-
dicate his experiences, if any, with the account
of the dealer inquired about and returns the
form to the Credit Bureau. It usually takes
about seven days for the complete returns to
reach us and if, by that time, the property
statement has been received from the dealer we
are ready to make a complete report. If it has
not been received we, nevertheless, report the
experiences of our members and simply state
that "Property statement, which has been re-
quested, has not yet been received."
Now, when our report go.es out it goes not
only to the member who initiated the inquiry
about the dealer, but to all other members as
well. Thus an inquiry by any one member re-
sults automatically in all members getting a re-
port. So it will be seen that, although one
member might be careless about making in-
quiries, all of them are not likely to be so, and
the result is a very careful scrutiny of any and
every applicant for credit.
The report, as finally made up, is generally
along the following lines and, should the prop-
erty statement subsequently be received from
the dealer, it is immediately made the subject
of a supplemental report rendered at once to all
members and reproduced on this page.
All of our members are identified by a "key
number," known only to me, so, in reading the
report, no member knows just which member
has made any certain comment. In making up
our report the facts as reported to us are trans-
mitted in the identical language of the member;
no comment is made, one way or the other.
The individual member is free and unrestricted
to use his own individual judgment as to wheth-
er or not, upon the showing made, he cares to
No. 6789—March 4, 1923 JOHN DOE MUSIC
Inquiry Received 2/2S/23
COMPANY,
From No. 8.
John Doe, Proprietor.
1234 Main Street
1! members report "No Account with this parly"
Pineville, Oregon.
No. 9 Since 1917, high cr $45, pays prompt.
10 Since 1918, high cr $23, fair.
12 Since 1919, high cr $95, fair.
14 Since 1920, high cr $175.50, pays 60 90
days. Good a/c.
15 New account with us, experience insuf-
ficient as yet to report.
16 Several years; always pays promptly, high
cr $150.
17 Subscribes for our new issues only, pays
quarterly.
18 Account satisfactory, pays 90 days, high
cr $50.
20 Account recommended, credit limit with us
$100, pays ok.
21 First order just received, shipping COD,
awaiting report.
22 Small but satisfactory a / c ; selling several
years, high cr $75.
24 Experience favorable; orders safely, pays
promptly.
25 No dealings since 1920 when had dispute
re statement, adjusted satisfactorily but
no business since. Okay with us.
26 Since 1918, small a/c but desirable; pays
promptly, high cr $45.
29 Believe okay for limited credit, our experi-
ence favorable.
30 Recommended; has dealt with us some
years, always paid ok.
31 Very limited dealings but satisfactory so far.
32 Since 1917, high cr $150, pays 60-90 days,
okay.
35 Sokl only one bill, discounted. Experience
satisfactory.
PROPERTY STATEMENTS as of DEC. 31, 1922.
Assets
Cash on hand and in bank.. $1,875.40
Accounts Receivable, good..
3,500.00
Notes Receivable, good
2,120.00
Furniture and fixtures
3,700.00
Inventory at cost
9.600.00
Liberty Bonds
3,000.00
$23,79.S.4U
Liabilities
A/c payable, not due
$2,130.00
Notes Payable to bank
l,S00.00
Loan from relative
1,500.00
Accrued insurance premiums
114.19
5,544.19
NET WORTH
.
$18~251.21
Hanks with Provident Loan & Trust Co., Pine-
ville, Oregon.
Carries insurance covering stock, furniture and
fixtures.
References to three concerns other than members
investigated and reports okay for credit limit about
$100, all report pays promptly.
Typical Property Statement
extend credit to the concern that is reported on.
It will be thus seen that the Credit Bureau
simply acts as a clearing house for the inter-
change of accurate information relative to the
ledger experiences of its members. In no case
does it recommend credit or suggest that credit
be denied. It reports the facts and leaves the
member entirely free to use his own judgment.
Naturally, if the report is a poor one, if it
shows that most of the publishers have had
trouble in making collections, there is no in-
centive to extending credit, whereas, if it shows
that the dealer pays promptly and regularly, all
of the publishers are anxious to sell him, to
have his account and to co-operate with him in
every consistent manner. It means a great
deal, aside from the matter of credit alone if
the dealers only knew it, to have the publishers
feel absolutely safe in extending unlimited co-
operation.
Making Collections
Supplementing the work of the Credit Bureau
is a collection service, which functions with two
main objects in view: First, to afford the debt-
or a fair chance to liquidate his obligations
without incurring a bad credit rating and, sec-
ond, to actually enforce collection of past due
accounts.
No accounts are accepted by the collection
division until after the publisher has himself
exhausted his own routine of collecting. Then
the account is sent to us, already past due, in
the form of a draft drawn upon the debtor pay-
able to the order of the Association. This draft
form is unique in that, on its reverse side, a
statement of the account is made up, so that at
the time of its presentation the debtor may see
just what it covers, when the items were due,
etc. When the member sends this draft to us
at the same time he mails a copy of it direct to
the debtor, so the debtor knows not only that
he has been drawn upon, but that the draft is
made through the Association and the items
(Continued on page 155)
The FAME of
The Most Popular Series
of Music Books is
confined to no one locality.
It is the best known and most widely desired
series of music books in the world
HINDS, HAYDEN & ELDREDGE. Inc.
Publishers
Union Square West
New York City
Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
JUNE 9, 1923
THE
MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
155
The Season's Two Song and Dance Leaders
That Red Head Gal"
"No One Loves You Any Better Than Your
M- A -Double M-Y"
Stock and Feature These Fast Sellers
FRED FISHER, Inc.,
224 West 46th St., New York City
THE PUBLISHERS' ASS'N CREDIT BUREAU—(Continued from page 154)
covered are specified in the copy. This oper-
ates as an advance notice that the draft is com-
ing.
When we receive the draft it is deposited in
our bank for collection and goes through the
usual process of presentation. If it is paid the
returns are credited our account and we then
issue our voucher to the publisher and the in-
cident is closed.
If, however, the draft is not paid when pre-
sented, upon its return dishonored it is then re-
turned by us to the publisher with a request
for further instructions. This is done so that,
in event remittance has been made direct, we
will not proceed in ignorance of that fact.
Presuming that remittance has not been
made direct and nothing has been heard direct
by the publisher, he returns the draft to us
with instructions to proceed. We then have an
instrument, as will be seen, that contains on
one piece of paper an itemized statement of
the account, the endorsements of banks show-
ing that it has been presented and payment
demanded, the excuse for non-payment as made
by the debtor, all of which forms an ideal docu-
ment upon which to base further action. There
has been no dispute regarding the account, no
contest of its correctness and validity.
First Notice Sent
Our next step is to send the debtor our first
notice that the claim is now in process of col-
lection through our Bureau and further action
is suspended a sufficient time to allow his re-
sponse to reach us by return mail.
If it is not received our second notice is then
sent. This is a final notice. If no response^ is
received we then send the claim to our local
attorney (we have a representative in every
city in the United States), with instructions to
proceed aggressively.
Careful and accurate card record is kept on
each dealer in the United States of whom we
have record, and as these various steps are
taken entries are made on his card. If several
claims are received it quickly becomes apparent
that that certain dealer is in financial difficul-
ties. Automatically, when any publisher be-
comes uncertain as to the financial condition of
a dealer, he makes an inquiry about him; this
results in a new credit report being gathered
and rendered and the information as to number
of claims in hand, and amount thereof, is em-
bodied therein. Thus, it will be seen that it is
now practically impossible to get into arrears
With any single member of this Association
without the rest of the members very quickly
ascertaining that fact.
It should be remembered that in no case is
any disputed account made the basis for unfa-
vorable action and every consistent opportunity
is afforded the dealer to clean things up with-
out information becoming general that he has
been in arrears.
When it appears that a firm is getting into
serious condition I usually write it a frank letter
regarding the situation, offering to help in a
constructive way to avoid bankruptcies, insol-
vencies and assignments and, in many cases,
we have been able to pull dealers out of serious
difficulties and save their business for them.
This we are always glad to do when the cir-
cumstances and conditions warrant it.
Causes of Failure
After three years of Credit Bureau experi-
ence, gathering data on more than six thousand
firms, handling many bankruptcies and insol-
vencies, from the creditor's viewpoint, in the
sheet music business failures seem mainly at-
tributable to the following causes, and they are
the causes, too, of most failures in most other
lines of business:
1. Insufficient capital. Entirely too many
"Song Shops," "Melody Shops," "Harmony
Shops," and so on, are opened up by ambitious
but insufficiently financed enthusiasts. With a
small payment down on fixtures and a piano,
the payment of a couple months' rent and the
purchase of a small first stock they start out
011 a business career. Probably they have over-
estimated the business they will do during the
early weeks of their existence and underesti-
mated the time it will take them to become
known to the community. The result is an in-
sufficient volume of business, soon they are
struggling to "make ends meet" and, finally,
generally they fade out of the picture through
foreclosure of the liens upon their fixtures and
piano and repossession of the premises by the
landlord. Unlucky indeed is the publisher who,
after the first bill rendered was promptly paid
(and this is the rule rather than the exception),
has extended credit where there was no real
or tangible financial basis for extending it.
These "shops" come and go in an endless pro-
cession of failures. They used to cost the pub-
lishers a lot of money in the way of credit
losses, but they don't now.
2. Unintelligent salesmanship. In new stores
and old, in large stores and small, it seems pe-
culiarly a weakness incident to merchandising
of sheet music that salesmanship is not intelli-
gently directed. Having bought a stock of
sheet music, there is only one logical thing to
do with it and that is to sell it to customers.
A stock of music is, in the main, subject to a
timely demand; that is, songs should be sold
while they are "in the air," while the publisher
is working on them, while the public is inter-
ested in them. To a considerable extent they
sell themselves through the demand created by
the publisher which brings customers in asking
for a certain composition. But that is no ex-
cuse for the dealer and his staff not being ener-
getic and intelligent sales people. Instead of
letting any stock of a song "die" on his hands
the dealer and his clerks should take almost-
{Continued on page 156)
Robert Teller Sons & Dorner
LITHOGRAPHERS
MUSIC PRINTERS
and ENGRAVERS
311 W. FORTY-THIRD ST.
N E W
Y O R K
The Best Music Printers for Over 50 Years
SEND MANUSCRIPT FOR ESTIMATE
IIIIIIIIIH

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