Music Trade Review

SEPTE MBER
8, 1923
•
THE
MUSIC
TRADE
REVIEW
7
Music . Season and Coming Demand
.
Plans of Artists and Managers Indicate a Remarkable Concert Season During 1923-1924- The Relation
Between Interest in Music and the Business Done by the Retail Music Merchant- Linking Up With
the Concert Activities in the Territory Where the Dealer Conducts His Store
.
The ope ning of the Fall se llin g seaso n brings
with it the inaugurat ion of the music season as
we ll. Th e re is a close rela ti o n betw ee n the se
t wo eve nt s , especially durin g th e past few years,
whe n 'popular interest in mu s ic has come to play
~ u c h an important part in se llin g musica l ins tru­
m e nts and is rec eivin g s uch close atten tion from
the merchants in plan nin g their sales ca mpaigns.
Accordin g to prese nt pros pec ts the fe elin g is
ge ne ral in musi cal circles th at t he seas on jus t
beginning wi ll be among t he gr ea test tha t the
co untry has eve r experienced . The ge neral
pros pe rit y of the country, combined with the
g rea t public demand for mu sic, a ll t ypes of mu­
s ic, is at the basis of this belief. Tan g ibl e ele­
m ents in th e situation are the co ndition of ar t­
ists ' advance bookin gs, whi c h are gene rall y d e­
clared to be good, and th e s ub sc ription s to con­
cert cours es in man y citi es, which, ac cordin g to
avai lab le information, 'a re heavy. .
Pianists Who Will Appear
So m e id ea of thi s conditio n m ay be had by
g la nc in g ov e r th e li s t o f g r ea t pia ni sts who are
booked fo r concert tours in thi s country during
th e (o min g seaso n. !\m ong the se are P ad er ew­
s ki , w ho is schedu led to give seve nt y concerts
beginnin g November 19 ; V la dimir d e Pachmann,
th e g rea t Chopin int e r preter, wbo re turns to
make a fa rew ell concer t to ur afte r a n absence
frOIll th e Amer ican co nce rt s tage of many yea rs;
Morit z Ro se nth a l, who w ill m ake hi s fir s t ap ­
peara nce in Am erica in twe lve yea rs; O ss ip
Gabr ilowitsc h, who wi ll appea r in a numb e r of
co ncerts, besid es continui ng hi s work with the
Detroit Symphony Orchestra, of w hi ch he is
conductoJ;; P e rcy Gra in ge r, who returns ' afte r
an a hse nce of some ti me; E rnes t Hutc hinson,
w ho w'ill co ntinu e hi s hi storica l series of recit ­
a ls; Ern es t Sche llin g, th e we ll- known American
pianis t; Elly Ney, w ho has a large numbe r of
concer ts booked ; Ol ga Samaroff, Anton Bilotti,
Alfredo Oswald, E . Rob er t Schmitz, Mischa
Levitz ki , Renno Moi seiwitsch, who has been
tou rin g Au s tra li a for some ti me, a nd A lfr ed
Mirovitch. Among arti s ts "vho a re new to th e
;'\.me rica n p ublic and w ho wil l mak e the ir d e­
buts a re W a nda Landowska, N in o n Roma in e,
A lexander Brai lowsky, A lexander Sk larevsky,
Mitja Nik isc h, s on of th e fa mous orchestral
leader who w"s the fir s t to conduct a sy mphony
co ncer t w ith the player-piano as soloi st, an d
ClaudiO' Arrau, a South American a rti s t.
These, of course, are but a few of th e pianists
who will a ppea r before th e public an d there is
no a tt empt b eing m a d e he re to en um era t e t he
vocalis ts a nd other · in strum e nta lis ts w ho will
a lso app ea r, for even to g ive in de tai l th e mos t
prom in ent of t hem would req ui re more space
than Th e R eview has at its di sposal. But they
are suffi cient to give some idea o f what the
fut u re ho ld s 'in s tore for th e mus ic lover and
some id ea to the man in th e mu s ic indu stries
o f .the co ns tant growt h of this clas s, the best
cla ss, o f purc hase rs , after a ll.
The Music Merchant's Part
And he re it is prope r to place emp hasis upon
the growin g par t which th e mu s ic merchant is
play in g in th e de ve lopment of musical interest
in th e te rritor y from which he d raws his trade.
In man y cities a mu s ic m erc ha nt is th e so le pro­
mot e r of th e co ncert course w hi ch th ey en joy;
ill ma ny more he is a mong th e most 'p rom i­
ne nt s upporters. It is not m ea nt by this that
s uffi c ie nt of t hi s work is be in g don e, but it is
e ncou ragin g to see its rapid d evelopment on the
part of th e in d ividual m e rcha nt, to say nothing
o f th e wo rk w hich is bein g d one by th e indus ­
tri es co ll ec tive ly throu g h s uch m ediums as t he
:\I'a ti o nal Burea u for th e A d vancement of Mu­
sic, of w hi c h C. M. Tremain e is th e dir ec tor.
Particularly is this the case with th e music ,
m e rcha nt wh ose piano departm ent is of primary
importance. Unquestionab ly th e piano is the
American national musical in strum ent, for no
in s trum ent is found so wi dely in th e American
home a nd no ins trument plays so great a part
upo n th e co ncert s ta ge. In fa ct, it would be
imposs ibl e to give th e average concert w it ho u t
th e piano, for its part as an accompanying in­
strum e nt is far greater than it s part as a solo
in s trument, wide ly as it is u se d for that purpose.
Th e piano· merchant s hould support a ll con­
certs. The f eeling that, be ca use th e piano which
appea rs iil the concert is in a compe ting dea ler's
line, the concert should receive no su ppo rt from
him is an e ntirel y erroneous one. Co ncerts cre­
a t e piano prospects and prospects for all pianos.
It depe nds upon the a bilit y of the dealer's sale s
forc e to turn th ese pros pects into sales. What
differ(' nce does it make as to the name of the
piano w h ich appears on th e pro gram?
Atten~Hng Local Concerts
Anoth er thing that s hould be stressed is the
fa c t th a t both th e dealer a~d his sales m e n
s hould attend th e con certs which are given in
th eir t erritory. I t is a n old s neer, a nd it may
be called tha t for wa nt of a bette r t erm, that
t he class in any g ive n comm unit y mos t con­
sp icuous by its absence from musical even ts are
the men who se ll pia nos. Th e deale r or the
salesman who atte nd s musical eve nts regul arly,
who is act ive in th e ir promotion and t heir sup­
por t, mak es in va lu a bl e co nn ec ti ons, especiall y
if he can talk int elli ge ntly regarding m usic, art­
ist s and concerts .
There is no nee d of po intin g out to th e aver­
age d ealer or salesman the importance of per­
sonal acquainta nc e or con nections in mak ing
silles of pianos. Too many men in th e t ra d e
know th at th eir mo s t va luab le asse t is ju s t that.
Yet they will d elib e rat ely neglect th e grea t est
opportunity th a t exists to form th e most va lu­
able type of connections which t hey can have
by disregardin g t he concerts and oth er musical
eve nts which th ey s hould atten d an d w h ere th ey
sho uld be conspicu ous , not by their absen ce but
by their prese nce.
The Three Bs
Th er e is anoth er importan t factor h er e th at
s hould be d ealt with. That is th e d earth of ­
musical know ledge which to o often th e sa les­
man or deal er possesses. He may conside r that,
after a ll, few p eople car e to talk about Bac h,
Bee tho ven and Brahms. Yet these are th e very
peo ple who bu y the hi gh- grade end of t he line
he hand les and who form the b est sort of cus­
tom ers. And, strange as it may seem, th at is ,
to th e man in t he trade, th e n umber who are
irtt erest ed in th e thr ee TIs is g ro wing eve ry year
an d for ming an eleme nt that no mercha nt can
a fford to neglect. It is the backbone of th('
bu s in ess, th e typ e whi ch mak es th e hi gh-grade
piano po ss ible . T he n, too, its influ ence on the
popUlar-price d inst rum ents is growing year ly.
Th ere is a close connection betwee n th e ac­
tivity in the m usic industries and in the coun­
try 's mu s ic seaso n. Th ey both r eac t on each
oth er. So, it is one of the best indica tors that
the merchants and ma nu fact u re rs will roll u p
a goo d vo lum e of sales when the m us ica l sea­
son has eve r y in di catio n o f prosperity an d ac ­
ti vity. And this year th ere is every indi cation
th at it has.
TAKING THE INSTRUMENTS INTO THE PEOPLE'S HOMES
The Policies Which Have Created a Remarkable Volume of Business for the Preston Music Stores
of Bakers field , Cal., in the Fou r Years S~nce They Have Been E stablished
BAKERSI'lELD, CAL., A ugust 27.- Fou r yea rs ago
Don C. Pres to n opened a small mu s ie sto re in
thi s city. To-day h e is celebrating h is anni­
versa r y wit h th e feelin g that comes to a m an
who, within t his shor t space of tim e, has de­
ve lop ed a busin es s that amo unts t o h alf a mil­
lion dollars yearly, with one of th e finest ware­
r ooms in Bake rsfield, and with a rapidly grow­
in g bran ch stor e in T aft, an adjoinin g town .
Don C. Pr es ton, when he opened t he Preston
Music Store four yea rs ago, had th e ex pe ri e nce
of traveler in th e musical in s t rument fi eld be­
hind hi m . The s tud y h e had made of re ta ilin g
du ring h is years on th e r oad has b een th e basis
of his success, whic h can b e summed up in t he
slogan "Take mu s ic to the people and the people
w ill brin g b usiness to yo u." His se llin g pol icy
literall y fo llows out this slogan, for he works
on the o ld a nd tri ed plan of ta king pianos and
player-pian os out to the homes of th e prospects
and g ivin g th em direct d emonstrations, where
they can v is ua li ze th e in s trument in th eir pos­
session . To do thi s he uses a fl eet of four
Dod g e cars, equip ped w ith piano loa d ers, and
hi s sales men cove r th e territor y s ur roundin g
his headquart e rs co nsta ntl y and co nsiste n tl y.
Tha t is one of th e secrets of that prese nt im- '
posin g tota l of sales.
Bu ildin g this bu si ness in four years has bee n
no easy task, of co ur se. Mr. Preston ha d his fir s t
war e ro o m s in a sma ll store, bu t with in thirty
day s after th e ope nin g he was compelled to move
to la rge r qu a rt e rs. It is s tated t ha t wit hin t he
fir s t six tee n mont hs hi s sales amount ed to $100,­
000. Th e n ca m e hi s first se t-back. In 1921 hi s
wan;rOO!l1S we re rl es tro yed b y fire . En gagin g
te mporar y quar t ers he a t once wen t ba ck t o
work ' u ndismayed a nd s ince that time it has
bee n a con s tant expa nsio n. D esp it e the fir e a
bra nch store was op e ned in Taft in 1921, which
on ly a few mon th s ago was compell ed to move
to larger quarters.
In speakin g of the deve lopment of th e busi­
ness Jesse G. Gray, new sales ma na ger of th e
com pany, said:
" I have found th at th e bu sines s men who are
most affected by the suppose d sl um p in business
a rc in most cas es the men w ho a re making no
grea t effo r t to build bu s iness. It is tru e, how­
ever, that all the talk we hear of hard times
has put a dam per on sale s and has caused peo­
ple to be a little mo re co nse rvative in b uyi n g,
but we haH no complain t to make in busin ess.
It is remarkabl e t he n u mber of cash sales we
hav e had durin g the Summer mon ths-there has
bee n no decr ease in th e vo lume of business with
us.
"O ne of th e bi gges t helps in the mus ic bu si­
ness is the t eachin g of m usic in the public
sc hools in Kern s Co unty. The child b eing
ta ug h t in schoo l acq uires the d esi re to learn to
play some in s tru ment an d th e progress of th e
chil d in mu s ic creates in the hea rts of the pa r­
e n ts a desir e to accompany th e youngster on
a nother in strument. Groups of neighborho od
chil dren form o rchestras, t ea chers of music hav e
their recitals in which parents wish their ch il­
dren to take part. Every fam ily desires to cre­
ate its own entert a inmen t in the home; in fa ct,
we find the days foll owing a ho liday a r e a l­
ways t he best in t he sto r e fo r sma ll merc han ­
dise a nd records."