THE
VOL. LXXVn. No. 10. Pablished Every Sahli-day. Edward Lyman Bill. Inc., at 383 Madison Ave.• New York. N. Y. Sept. 8. 1923
Sing~to~o~:: l~~ent.
':IIIICIUICIIIKI!I~IIIXIIIXI1l3I11glll~IIlHIIIHlIIglIIglIlgIIIKIlIHII131I1HIIIHIIIHlIlgIl13111~IIIXlllgIIIX"IXlllglIl~IIIXIl
Ii i II iii iii i)) iii
i"
ii" i hi Ii" hili Ii
i'" ii' i Hili i jill i' 'iii iii' i I ... " i' II Iii i i Ii iii i I .. i' Ii' Ii" Ii' i , iii""'''''' i iii"
."" .... iii .. iii. i' i 'ill [IIi" 'II i 1.1 Iii i Ii 11 II Ii. ii' iii' iii iii iii' iii I i II iii'" iii ii' Ii
i'"
iii' Ii
What Will the Fall Selling Season Hold?
IIXI1l31I1gIlIKIIIKIII~1I1311IgI11311131I1XIIIXIH3jl/gI/IXlllgUl;;HI311IXII IXI1I31I1KIIIXIIIXIIIXIiI=CIIIXIIIXIIIXIII=t 1
ITH the passing of Labor Day, the Fall selling season opens.. This year of 1923 it begins with
better prospects than the music industries have enjoyed since the close of the war. It beg ins with
the co~ntry industrially at the pe~k of p.roducti~n, agricul~urally relatively p.rospero~ls despite. the
low prIce of · wheat, and commercIally WIth retaIl sal es settmg record figures m practIcally all lmes.
It begins with the percentage of unemployed extremely low, with building programs at a figure above the aver
age, and with industrial wages at such amounts as give a relatively large purchasing margin above the sums
necessary for the absolute needs of existence.
Taking all these factors into consideration, the amount of money which will be available to form the
purchasing fund from which the music industries will draw their income during the next four months is per
haps greater than has ever been the case before. And this statement is the result of facts--not of unreasoned
optimism.
Dealing specifically with the music industries themselves, they are found to be in a condition approxi
mately the same as that in the other industries of the country. The past three months, the summer season,
usually the dull period of the year, have rolled up a gross volume of sales that has been remarkable in every
sense of the word. The retail merchant has needed n~ither the inducement of long terms nor low prices to do
business, and as a result the sales he has made have been profitable ones . . Collections generally have been
good, despite the higher down payments which have been the rule and the shorter time in which the leases are
paying out.
.
The manufacturers are entering the Fall season with almost the certainty of a shortage of instruments
confronting them. Despite the fact that many of them have managed to accumulate some stock, the general
opinion seems to be that scarcity will be the rule within the next month or six weeks. This has been largely
due to the fact that , many dealers have failed to provide for their future requirements, although the number
who have taken time by the forelock and placed orders is larger relatively than is usually the case. That the
tendency in wholesale piano prices is upward is unquestionably true, but in this condition there should be no
element of uneasiness, for a rising market is invariably a market which is an activ,e one in sales.
Perhaps the greatest element of optimism in considering
conditions during the next four months is the
.
fact that there will be nothing of a "boom" nature concerning the business likely to be done. The country has
not as yet reached the end of a long, steady swing upward from the last period of depression which followed the
post-war hectic period of buying. The elements which shape the situation bear every indication of stability
and steadiness and are not such as to cause a sharp period of reaction. It is almost the situation which every
business man hopes for, since it permits him to count 0n the future with only a minimum of risk. Risk there
must be, of course, f or prophecy is never infallible, yet it should be repeated here that risk to-day is at a minimum.
A survey of retail opinion in the music industries confirms the above diagnosis of the situation. For
the past month correspondents of The Review have reported almost unanimo\lsly that retail music merchants
are generally inclined to regard the coming Fall with optimism. In every section of the country the tenor of
opinion is practically the same. Manufacturers reflect the .general opinion based on the reports received from
their travelers and thei r retail representatives.
Identical opinion prevails generally in other branches of the r'nusic industries. Musical merchandise, talk
ing machines, sheet music and the supply trades are almost without exceptlon ' in an optimistic frame of mind,
a condition which, to unprejudiced analysis, appears to be jU,stified. :,
The music merchants during the coming Fall will ,not: fino, that business will come to them without effort.
Rut it will be a Fall when steady and consistent effort will 'be heavilyrewatded , \\Then good sales work will mean
good sales and when steady collection pressure will mean good collections.
W
,