Music Trade Review

THE
4
MUSIC
TRADE
(Registered in the U. S. Patent Office)
PUBUSHED BY EDWARD LYMAN BILL, Inc.
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Exposition Honors Won by The Review
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Vol. LXXVII
NEW YORK, NOVEMBER 10, 1923
I ABANDONMENT
No. 19
OF DEPRECIATION SCHEDULE
I
HE disappointing feature of the meeting of the Board of
Directors of the Music Industries Chamber of Commerce la st
week was the decision of that body to abandon its attempt to formu­
late a depreciation schedule of used piano values for the guidance
of the retail trade. It is natural, of course, that, in the face of
the difficulties met with in the efforts to create such a schedule
the lack of co-operation on the part of the manufacturers and lack
of interest among dealers--due in a large measure to a general
misu~derstanding of the schedule and its purpose--would dis­
courage those who had put forth long and earnest thought and effort
in the development of the plan.
For years there has been wide talk in the trade of the need for
some guide to used piano values. Makeshift schedules adopted by
local associations were received with acclaim, and yet the national
movement has failed. Too many retailers, and some manufacturers
for that matter, felt that the schedule was going to limit their free­
dom in the matter of making allowances, and would have to be ob­
served to the letter. As a matter of fact, it was simply to be a
guide, leaving the dealer free to enjoy the protection of its obser­
vance or to take his own chances of non-observance. The trade
as a whole is the loser through the decision to abandon the project.
T
PROSPECTS FOR NATIONAL MUSIC WEEK
B
OSTON is the latest city to announce its intention to participate
in National Music Week which will be held next May. Practi­
cally all sides of the city's life, as well as the municipal authorities,
will take an active part in making this event a succes~.
The way in which the id ea of National Music Week is taking
hold of the country's imagination is a remarkable demonstration of
what concerted and co-operative action can accomplish. There is
probably no industry to-day which has so wide an outside partici­
pation in its propaganda as has that of music. This, of course, is
due primarily to the wide appeal of the commodity, speaking com­
mercially, that it sells. But in accomplishing it no little part has
been played by the effective way in which the music industry has
made its appeal.
REVIEW
NOVEMBER
10, 1923
Music, of course, is a cultural and edu cation al medium of the
highest. degree. Despite this universa ll y admitted fact, for years
there have been any number of forces trying to widen the interest
of the American people ill it, but with littl e success because they
failed to realize that spasmodic efforts din:cted at cross purposes
could ach ieve but little. It \\"as not until a focus was provided to
concentrate these efforts and to direct them into channels where
they would reach th<.: great mas s of the people that appreciable re­
sults began to be had.
National Music \Veek is but one side of this "'orle If it be
successful, and there seems every prospect th at it will, the con - .
centration of interest which it wi ll bring about shou ld yi eld re­
markable returns. Never have the ,\merican people taken a greater
interes t in musi c than they do to-day and never has the field been
so well prepared for still further advance- . an advance wh ich must
necessarily yield ret~trns to all those engaged in the music indu stry.
This is the primary reason why the indust ry, as represented by the
individual manufacturer and merchant, shou ld give th<.: movement
every co-op<.:ration wi thit; its power.
THE DEMAND FOR THE GRAND PIANO
most remarkable phenomena of the piano trade dur­
O :K ing E of the the present
Fall has been the steady increase in th<.: popu­
larity of the grand piano, whatever its grade may be. When this
move first became apparent in the industry a number of years ago,
there were many well-informed piano men who considered it largel y
a transitory one that might last a few years and then would (lis ­
appear probably more suddenly than it came. Events, however,
have effectually confounded these forecasts, for to-day the demand
for the grand bears every evidence of being a permanent one, one
that is much more likely to increase than to diminish.
Those men who have played a leading part in developing the
production of medium-priced grands to meet this demand are
worthy of considerable gratitude from the industry. They had
not only difficult problems of distribution to solve, but in problems
of production they were confronted with obstacles which many
piano production men considered impossible of solution . The way
in which these were met and conquered has been a real demonstra­
tion of what brains and ingenuity can accomplish when they are
applied to a condition for which there existed no precedent and
for which the means of meeting it had to be entirely original. That
they have succeed ed as well as they have is a remarkable tribute
to the ability of the men which the industry contains within its
ranks.
It is not so many years ago when the grand type of piano wa'
largely a luxury --· lux ury for the person who bought it through
the comparatively high price at which it was held, and lux ury for
the average piano manufa cturer who probably produced a few in­
struments of this type annually for whatever prestige it might bring
hi s name value. \i\·ith the exception of a few of the high-grade
manufacturers, this was the average manufactur<.:r's attitude
toward s the grand. The success which the production of th(;
medium-priced grand ha s achieved, however, has changed this com ­
pletely, and to-day there exists a large number of manufacturers
a goodly proportion of whos e production con sists of the grand type.
It is without question a permanent development in the trade and
one that bids fair to contin ue to increase with each year.
STANDARDIZED CREDIT APPLICATION FORM
T
HE action of the associated credit men in New York in adopt­
ing a standardized form of blank for use by those seeking to
obtain credit will go a long way towards checking sLlch applicat ion s
when they are based on false. and fraudulent statements. \Vhen
the form is issued, and this will be within a short time, it will be
well worthy of adoption throughout the cOLlntry as it has been drawn
by competent legal authority and should eff<.:ctually check those
who in the past have succeeded in obtain ing extens ion of credit
through the presentation of false information.
The man who makes false statements in his financial report
which he submits to the manufacturer from whom he purchases his
goods has been a growing source of loss. So clever have been
his methods in many cases th at he has completely placed himsel f
beyond prosecution, and all that the manufacturer who has been
deceived is able to do is pocket his loss and consider it so much
experience gained .
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