Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE
REVIEW
ffUJIC TIRADE
VOL.
LXXVI. No. 5
Published Every Saturday by Edward Lyman Bill, Inc., 373 4th Ave., New York, N. Y.
Feb. 3, 1923
Single Copies 10 Cents
$2.00 Per Year
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January Smashes Another of the Trade's Traditions
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HERE is a tradition in the piano trade that January must be a dull month. For then the man in busi-
ness casts up his efforts for the past year and discovers whether its balance is to be written in red or
black ink.
But traditions exist only to be broken and January, 1923, accomplished that. From practically
every section of the country reports state that the demand for pianos, player-pianos, music rolls, in fact all
musical merchandise, is steady, that cash payments are high, and that terms are held to a minimum without
difficulty.
All this is reflected in the piano factories in the few dealers' cancellations of unfilled holiday orders and
their steady calls for stock. Practically no factories have shut down for inventory, nor have there been any
noticeable lay-offs of labor. The present month is the best January the piano industry has seen in years.
The general reasons for this are not hard to discover. First in importance, the country is fundamen-
tally prosperous, industrial wages are showing an upward trend and unemployment is practically absent. The
farmer, who has had a difficult situation during the past three years, has turned the corner and there is a
marked resumption of rural buying shown in the reports of the great western mail-order houses. Reports of
retail conditions everywhere show that the great purchasing public is in the market. Finally, and what is the
most infallible guide of all, savings banks deposits show heavy increases, indicating that the people have a sur-
plus above- the amount required for subsistence and this is the fund from which the music merchant draws his
sales.
Furthermore, there are conditions in the industry itself which create this situation. Dealers entered
the fall with light stocks. Few of them had the foresight to order ahead, although a heavy holiday period was
expected. Earlier than is usual stock shortages appeared. With the increased demand many manufacturers
were unable to swing their disorganized production forces into line and this condition was accentuated by a pro-
nounced shortage of labor. Dealers missed many sales through lack of stock, the responsibility for which they
must shoulder themselves since they refused to be warned. Today there are still stock shortages.
The trade is not in the midst of a "boom" period. What it is confronted with is a steady, healthy de-
mand. Times are not such that pianos and player-pianos will sell themselves. Intelligent salesmanship is
necessary, first to create the prospect and then to make the sale on proper terms. But the public is responsive,
and, as every business man knows, that is half the battle.
Taken all in all, it is a time when optimism is justified and a time when the industry can afford to experi-
ment to find a solution for some of the difficulties it confronts. No better opportunity than the present ever
existed to meet and overcome the obstacle fluctuating production has placed in the way of profit-making. The
average dealer with a rapid survey of his own territory should be able to estimate the minimum number of
instruments he will require for the next six months. He is confronting comparatively steady conditions. Let
him do this and he will be assured of a steady supply of stock, and, what is more, he will be aiding the manu-
facturer to meet the trend towards higher wholesale prices, which basic commodity markets indicate is steadily
becoming stronger.
The manufacturer whose dealers give him some idea of the number of instruments they will take during
the next six months is in a position to buy his supplies better and to produce better instruments at a lower
overhead, a gain which he will be glad to share with those who aid him.
The present year started with an exceptional January and there is every indication that it will be a good
year throughout. It is up to the piano dealer and manufacturer to cash in on this stability, not so much in
immediate profits from immediate sales, but in the greater profits that will come from the achievement of a
much-needed reform in the industry.