THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
4
OCTOBER
13, 192.1
SUBSCRIPTION. United States and Mexico, $2.00 per year; Canada. $3.50; all other
cowltries, $5.00.
ADVERTISEi)IENTS. rates on request.
REJ.\UTTANCJ<;S. should be made payable to Edward Lyman Bill, Inc.
music merchant's publicity has been welcomed, especially since
musical instruments are a type of merchandise that responds readily
to this form of advertising, provided it is well conceived and con
sistently carried out.
Direct advertising is difficult, but the difficulty is more than
compensated by its results. It is a type of puhlicity that the average
merchant should not handle haphazardly nor without a well
conceived plan. It is one that should be adapted directly to local
conditions, for, as Robert E. Ram sey, the author of the series, has
pointed out again and again, th e appeal differs' with the locality
and a successful letter in one territory may bring no results at all
in another. Here the music merchant enjoys an immense ad
vantage, for he, above all people, should be closely familiar vvith
the people to whom he sells.
In this issue of The Review is published an article on the
methods that the large national mail order houses use in develop
ing their sales of pianos. The article, which is based on the ex
perience of a piano man who has long been engaged in this field,
shows what these houses have been able to accomplish in direct
competition with the local merchants on the ground. Lacking the
latter's advantages, they seem to have succeeded in overcoming
obstacles which at first glance would seem insurmountable. If they
can do it, wby can not the local merchant develop his direct ad·
vertising in such a manner that it will yield him results that, in
combination with the direct contact his salesmen have, should
create sales at a comparatively low expense? There is no reason
if the merchant will develop this type of advertising with care
and give it more than the haphazard attention with which so many
merchants send out an occasional letter to a li st of prospects that
is largely out of date and inaccurate.
Exposition Honors Won by The Review
SOLVING MUTUAL PROBLEMS BY MUTUALITY
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PUBLISHED BY EDW ARD LYMAN BILL, Inc.
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RAY BILL, B. B. WILSON, BRAID WHITE, Associate Editors
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THOS.
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A.
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TELEPHONES-V ANDERBILT 2642-2643-2644-2645-2647-2648
Cable Addres", "Elbil!. New York"
Vol. LXXVII
NEW YORK, OCTOBER 13, 1923
No. 15
THE ADVENT OF THE AMERICAN AMATEUR
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I
N the Musical Merchandise Section of the last issue of The
Revi ew it was stated that conditions are such that the next few
months should see one of the greatest sales volumes of band instru
ments that the trade has ever had. Risky as prophecies always are.
unquestionably this statement is well based, for never, perhaps, has
the amateur instrumentalist he en so great in numbers in this country
as he is at the present time. _\mateur bands and orchestras, and
in the latter brass and reeo instruments play a steadily increasing
part, are increasing rapidly and there appears at the present time
no chance of this tendency being checked.
\i\!ith this oev elopment one of the greatest difficulties which
al ways con f ron teo the :\ l11erican music industries is rapidly dis
appearing. That difficulty was the comparative lack of amateJr
musicians here. "\broad the amateur occupies a well-defined status
in musical circles, amateur musical organizations are common and
amateur achievements' in music have always been numerous. In this
country, outside 6f the piano, the amateur has never played a con
spicuous part, and thus deprived manufacturers of such musical
merchandise as hand instruments and other small instruments of
what is their greatest market.
The present tendency is one that must be encouraged. This is
jointly the task of the dealer and manufacturer. The latter's propa
g'anda is national in its scope, of course. The dealer, on the other
hand, can do intensive work in his territory, he can encourage the
development of local amateur bands and orchestras, he can lend
his support to all such movements. Especially in this case of band
instruments is such work profitable, for a full equipment of a band
of any size at all is a sale that brings in a considerable profit.
The advent of the American amateur musician must. mark a
milestone in the advance of the American music industries.
MAKING DIRECT ADVERTISING PROFITABLE
T
HE series of articles entitled "Making Dinct Advertising
Profitable," which are appearing in the current issues of The
Review, have aroused not a little comment from its readers. Un
questionably a discussion of the fundamentals of this side of the
HE question of retail distribution has become a matter of na
tional importance. Not only are government departments en
gaged in investigating it, but leading commercial organizations are
setting their best brains to work in order to discover a better ba sis
of mutuality between the manufacturer and the retailer and, through
this, an eventual lower overhead cost in bringing the products of
the factories to the homes of their ultimate purchasers.
In our own industry great strides have been made during the
past few years towards this end. Especially is it apparent in th e
selling co-operation which the manufacturer gives his representa
tive s. It has come to be recognized in most cases that the interests
of the manufacturer and the retail merchant are identical, that is,
what is to the benefit of one must necessarily be to the benefit
of the other. Those manufacturers who were the pioneers in
turning this recognition into action have reaped the benefits, not
only in increased sales, but in a better undei'standing which has
led to the elimination of many of those evils which, in the piano
industry at one time, \vere a constant source of controversy.
Distribution in the piano industry and in the music industries
. generally can be improved; the expenditure involved therein can
either be lowered or, what is better still, can be applied so as
to prod!-lce greater volume. But basic in achieving this end is a
close and intimate understanding between manufacturer and mer
chant, an appreciation of the individual difficulties which confront
each of them, and a full confidence in each other. It is good to
see that this condition is steadily increasing in the music industries
and it is better to see the results it is bringing.
T
THE FATHER OF THE PIANO DEPARTMENT
HE recent death of Merritt J. Chapman marks the passing of
the man who might be termed the father of the successful piano
department in the modern department store, for it was he who
organized the piano department of the John Vlanamaker store in
New York in the early days and who made it a successful factor in
the industry when. other department store enterprises of similar
character had failed and continued to fail.
It was Yrr. Chapman who realized that a piano department must
be conducted on a high-class basis and that certain fundamental
rules not always in accord with department store policies must be
observed in handling such a specialty as the pia·no. During his
fifteen years as manager of the Wanamaker department he estab
lished it upon the solid foundation which has been maintained up to
the present day, when it is accepted as a model of its kind.
T