DECE MBER 29, 1923'
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
5
The Critical Time for the Reproducer
•
With This Latest Development of the Trade Come to Its Own, the Big Problem of Properly Merchandising
It in the Future Confronts Its Manufacturers-Lessons That May Be Applied With Profit From
the History of the Development of Merchandising the Player-Piano
The year which is now brou ght to a close
has been the fir s t during which the reprodu c
ing piano may be sai d to have com e into it s
own. Preliminary work of high character had
been done durin g severa l previou s yea rs: but
the past twelve months have seen th e general
idea of the rep roducin g piano secure a hold upon
th e interes ts of th e trade to such an ex tent that
we may now say of it that it has definitely
arrived.
'W ell, now that it has arrived, what are
we goi ng to do with it? The ans wer to this
question is likel y to be difficult, and will cer
tainly be irritatin g to some good people; yet,
some how o r other, it m us t be mad e. Let us try
to make it in a way whic h will brin g no hurt
to anyone 's feelings.
The hi s tory of busine ss is th e hi sto ry of
th e qu a rrel, eternal and inev itable, be tw een
righteousness a nd gree d. Th e hi sto ry of mer
c hand isi ng is the hi story of the fight between
the old theory of cavea t emptor and the ne w
theory that h e gains most who giv es most. The
history of the piano business ha s always been
the hi sto ry of th e fight between na rrow-mind
edness o n the one hand, and, on the other,
bread th of vision and the spir it of se rvice. All
of which is ju s t a nother way of saying that
every bi g improvement, refinement or modifica
tion of conditions in the piano bu siness during
its whole hi s tory has ha d to fight against a spirit
apparently determined to dra g it ea rthwards,
with all th e ima ginat io n squ eezed ou t of it and
eve ry chance of doing a nyth in g big with it
de s troyed forever.
.
Consider History
These may seem hars h words; but in reality
t hey are only the simple truth.
Consider the
history of the pl ayer-p iano from the day of it s
be gi nnin g, more than a quarter century since.
The ca binet instrument be ga n as a high -priced
attachment (it cos t $250) se para te from th e
piano. It was sold on the highest pretensions,
with advertising planned upon th e most elab
orate scale and written in a delib e ratel y dign i
fiedtone . All th e promotion was of the highest
cla ss. Recitals were give n by expert demon
strators and the attempt was steadily made to
appeal to the lat en t musical fe eling of th e mil
lion s of music lo·v ers who are not music pro
ducers . The attempt was successful. The cab
inet player took a di s tin ct position in th e trad e
and for perhaps five years it retai ned it.
The Parting Ways
When, however, it became possible to pro
duce a player action to go into any piano the
commercial
manufacturer
found
himself
la unched into the player game almost without
wishing it. Finding his competitors going int o
the new scheme, he went into it also, and soon
began to see that he must make his choice
betwee n two alternati ve methods of doing busi
ne ss. Either he mu st deliberately try to keep
the player-piano upon a high level, as a more
or less exclusive and limited hi gh-grade piece
of merchandi se (which meant practi cally dictat
ing the policy of his dealers), or else he must
abandon any attempt to do anything of the kind
and fore go any distinct advantage which might
accrue to him from the introduction of the
player mecryanism into the pia no, simply taking
upon himself the added burden of player in
stallation, without any additional net gain per
unit of money investe d. The alternatives were
plain; but the action of the manufacturers was
not in doubt for a moment. The few high
grade men stuck to the first plan, th e commer
cial men took the second path. And the player
bu sin ess started down the hill.
Now, one is not concerned to deny that the
result of the commercialization was to increase
largely th e output of. players and to popul ar ize
the se lf-p layin g instrument througho ut the
len g th and bread th o f th e la nd . The fa ct, how
ever, remains that just as soo n as the player
was thrown into the heap with the rest of th e
pianos, to be dealt with as each individual d ealer
thought be st, all a tt empt at intelli gent, system
a tic promotion was from that moment n eces
sarily abandon ed. The r es ult we all know. It
was said that " the public must be cater ed to."
Tha t meant that all intelli gen t demonstr a ti o n
must be given up. The music must be "pop
ula r" and popular only. Then the player-piano
mus t be built s o that a nyone could m~ke some
so rt of music with it, althou gh to make very
good music with it would thu s become very
di ffi cul t, if not impossible, to a ny save a very
sk ill ed manipulator. Delicate d evices mu st be
taboo. I ntelligence mu st disappear; a nd the
public must have what the public wa nts.
A ll of which has led th e player-piano to the
pass where, when the reproducing piano came
along, the principal energy for its promotion
was to be found in an inten se d esire for some
thing which would give any kind of mu sic tol
erably well without human interve ntion, s in ce
th a t las t had become s o into lerable as serio us ly
to prejudi ce th e sa le of the ordinary player
piano, owing to public dislik e of its perform
ances.
I s it a ny wonder that one of the wise st
and cl ea rest-h eaded ma nufa c tur ers of th e ordi
na ry player-piano has undertaken a vast scheme
of public educational promotio n for his in s tru
ments? And is it not sad to think that after
twenty-five years it should now be necessary
to be g in all over again?
Along Which Road?
Well, if all th is be the case, it is evident tha t
th e reproducing piano is doom ed to go the same
road and tre ad the same pat h towa rds det e ri o ra
tion, unless we do something to corre ct the
de s tructive tendency befo re it becomes too
s trong for us. Duri ng the pas t two years th e
reproducing piano has shown wonderful vi tality,
and has been the most consp ic uou s element in
the whole trade, attracting the major share of
public attention, mostly friendly, if not ent hu
s iastic. It is !low in a position where we ca n
do with it a lm os t anyth ing we wish. We can
ca rry it on and make it th e biggest influence
for the expans ion of musical culture and of
music buyin g among the America n peopl e : o r
we can let it slide, com mercialize it and aban
don it to the individual eccentricities of the
indi vidu a l dealers. If we do the one thing we
sha ll prese rve it and gradually carry it up to
unh eard-of prosperity. If we do the other we
shall have a few s hort bursts of prosperity,
followed inevitably by a steady and ever faster
decline.
There is reall y no third possi bili ty. Th e alter
natives here presented exclude a ny other con
tingency. It is this or nothing: a nd th e entire
d ecision is up to us, to our intelligence, to our
fore sight.
Salesmanship: Wise and Unwise
There are influ e nc es in the trade which think
of nothing save immediate output and imme
diate possible volume of sales. Now, vo lum e
of sales is of the essence of s uccessful bu sin ess.
We all want sales, and as many sales as pos
sible. But that is one thing : and to concentrate
upon selling, to anybody, at any price and on
any term s, whate ve r type or sty le of instru
lJ1ent happens to present at the m oment th e
most plausible appeal, is simply to destroy any
exclusive qualities that ins trument may ever
have had, and any advantage in selling appeal
wh ich may eve r have been assoc iate d w ith it ..
In a word, the moment one p uts the repro duc
ing piano on a commercia l level wi th the o ther
types one des troys a ll the adva nt ages which
have bee n pai nfully and expensively won by
cos tl y advertising and promotion work of all
kinds.
We sho uld not wish to be called pessimistic,
but it is necessar y to look a t facts straigh t.
The piano trade, or at leas t a large part Qf it,
has s ho wn a lam en ta bl e lack of foresightedness
an d of keen bu s in ess sense in its handling of
the regular player-piano. ' I s th ere any guar
antee th at it will show any be tt er sense with
t he r eprod uce r ?
Of co urse, ther e is no way to g ua ran tee goo d
sense and int elli ge nce on the part of the retail
trade. It is, th erefore, all the more necessary
for manufacturers to preserve the reproducing
pia no's exclus iveness and its immense selling
appea l by refusing the temptation to cheapen it
or to let it ge t unre servedly into th e hand s of
persons who are tot ally in capa ble of ha ndling
it as it deserves.
Th e past year has been a great reproducing
piano year. 1924 ough t by a ll principl es to be
a bett er one. But it will not, becau se it can
not, be a better one unless the wisdom which
has hith erto chara cterize d the policy of the
ma nufa ct ure rs be s teadily ma intai ned. If, in a
wo rd, th e manufacturers insist o n keeping the
merch a ndising policies in their own hands, t hey
will certainly g-et back all their pa st expe ndi
tUI'es on promotion with a profit. If th ey relax,
they will as surely suffer.
SKLAREVSKI RECORDS FOR AMPICO
Noted Russian Pianist Also to Use Knabe Piano
on Forthcomin.g Recital Tour
Alexa nd er Sk larevsk i, latest of the not ed Rus
s ia n pianists to announc e a con cert to ur of the
Cnited States, has been . added to the list of
exc lu sive Ampico artis ts.
NIl'. Sklarevski was formerly dire cto r of the
Imperia l Co ns ervato ry of Music at Sa ratov,
Ru ssia. H e made hi s first New York appear
a nce in 192 1, returning th ereafter to Eu rope,
an d now comes back to Amer ica for an exte nded
tour.
Few pianists wh o have visited this co untr y
have bee n received wit h suc h un animo us ap
proval, both by audiences and critics, as was
recorded in Mr. Sklar evski's bri ef to ur two
yea rs ago and his name is a notable add iti o n
to the di s tin gui she d list of artists reco rdin g
for the Ampico as well as th ose who use the
Knabe p iano.
SUPERINTENDENTS TO MEET LATER
Owing to th e heav y demand upon piano fac
tories. durin g th e holiday season and the co n
se qu ent activity of th e wo rkin g for ces, the De
cemb~r mee tin g of the Superintendents' Club
of the New Yo rk Pi a no Manufacturers' Asso
ciat ion was postpon ed. The next meeting wi ll
be held in January.
DIGGLES MUSIC CO. OPENS
SACRAMF.NTO, CAL., December 21. .. The.: H. E .
Diggle s Mu s ic Co. h eld its formal opening re
ce nt ly in the new sto re in the Pub li c Market
Build tng a t Thirteenth a nd J streets. The firm
wi ll ope ra te as a piano exchange.