Music Trade Review

JULY
28, 1923
THE
MUSIC
TRADE
REVIEW
·7
W anted-A New Merchandising Basis
Endeavoring to Sell the Player-Piano on the Basis That the Public Is Acquainted With This Instrument a
Vital Mistake Elementary Information 'Must E!e Made the Fundamental of the Present-day
Advertising and 'Selling Methods- .Tifne to Begin Again
It is as unfortunat e as it is prob a bl y in evitable
that every bu siness e nle r p rise s hould go throu g h
a cyc le of cha nges tendin g fIr s t to a ma ximum
of effici e ncy an d th e n r ecedin g In pa rall e l
Th e hist ory of the pla yer busines5
fas hion
furnishes a case in point. V" h e n thi s instrum e nt
was youn g' its m eTchandising was a matt e r fo r
th e g rav es t attention of th e gr aves t m ind s in
the mu s ic indu s tr y. The amount of ingenuity
a nd ca reful thought lav is hed upon it was re­
mar ka bl e, a nd as a natural result the m e rchan­
di s ing m e thods were of th e hi ghes t class. For
the fir s t fiv e yeal:s the player-piano (or "p ian o
player") was sold to th e hi gh es t cla ss of trade
up on the highe"t cla ss of ar g umen t and d emon­
stra tion . Th e re s ults were amazin g .
No
o ne can say that th ey were not, when it is co n­
s idered how t he piano player was totally novel
and original in the id eas it emb od ied, while it
w as ce rt a in to a ttra ct the hostility of the whole
crowd o r - cc'on cl and thi "d-rate mu s icia ns. That
the first-cla ss mu s ician s almost unanimou s ly en­
dor sed it from the first did no t mu c h h elp
m at ter s, in cO li lpa ri so n at lea s t, with the un­
r ele ntin g press ure of ho s tile fee ling on th e part
of th e rank "nd fil e o f music teachers and
oth e rs of lik e kidn ey. Y e t, d esp ite a ll th ese
ob"tacl es, th e piano player durin g this first five
yea rs accomp lish ed w ond e rful co nqu e< ts and did
alto get her astonishin g ly well. \Vhy?
For two re aso ns. There w as, at first, no
chea p cO lllpet ition . fhen, only best m e rch ant s
could ge t a ge ncie s and th ey were on ly to o g lad
to a llo w th e m a nufa c turers ' repre sentatives to
or r'a niz e depart ments and s how the salesmen
ho w to se ll.
If that r ela tively perfect co ndition of affair s
could hav e continued the player-piano would not
have s uffer ed the eclipse which bega n fo r it
w hen it beca me po p ulari zed.
The Blight of " Popularization"
The la st w ritt e n sentence may seem to invol ve
a contradiction implied, if not ex pres se d. Yet,
in re a lity, it doe s not. When the player-piano
wa s "popularized" it was vul ga ri ze d. Rival in­
ye ll tor s began to produ ce p layers and a ll piano
m an ufa ctur e rs be gan to install them. '\5 soo n
as thi s happ e ned the c heaper pianos bega n to
blo ss om ou t with pl aye r actions. Thi s meant
that th e ne w player-pianos had to be sold up o n
the same pri nc iple s and ter ms as encircled the
se llin g of th e ch ea p straight pi a no. This meant
at o nce that allY di s tinction in merchandising
Illet hod s mu st be lo·s t. The m erc hant who in­
vested in th e "po pular" player-piano found that
he ha d t o se ll it o n t erms much s imilar to th e
t e rms at which he disp osed of his regular
pianos; a nd to do that he must find th e simplest
possible formula. This he foun d in the phrase,
"A c hild ca n play it."
\Ve a ll kno w th e melancholy tale of wh a t
follow ed. No t until within th e las t ten yea i·s
has th e propo rtion of players to stra ight p ia no s
re ac hed SO p er cent; nor was it until rece nt
improvement s in pla yer mcc han islll, esp eci a lly
in co nnection with automati c expre ssion, that
the sa le of playe r-pianos r ea lly h ega n to tak e
on the aspec t ,.v hich durin g the first five y.ea rs
app ea red to be th e most na tura l and inevi ta ble.
A False Assumption
\N hy has all this b ee n so? V e ry lar ge ly b e ..
calis e th e trad e has been se duc ed info believing
that because they them se lve s understood the
player-piano every bod y outside th e trad e did
so likewise. \Vher eas , of co ur se, the fact is
that even t o-day there are millions, lit era lly
million s, ot men a nd women in the countr y
wh o do not in th e least kn ow what a player­
piano reall y is, w ho ha ve the mo s t grotesquely
i g nor an t and prejuui ce u notion s ab 9Llt it a nd
who a're in most ca se s ho s til e to it and to all
it s cla inl s.
Stran ge as it Illa y seelll to say thi s in the
yea'r 1923, neve rth e less no on e ,who knows t he
fact s ca n do ubt the esse ntial truth of w ha t is
her e stated. And it is to · day ve r y necessary
th a t thi s truth sho uld be dinn'ed int o the ears
o f th e trade. The people do no t und erstand the
player-piano, and all m e thod s o f merchandising
in vo lvin g the a~s um pt j o n th a t th ey do a re fal se
m e thod s and bound to fail.
Light in Darkness
If we look at t he principl es up on whi c h th e
lead ing expo nent , o i both a utom atic -exp ressi o n
an d p eda l-control pl aye r- pia no s ar c going abo ut
their promotion work, we s ha ll see that they
recognize this. Jt is interesting t o watc h th e
m et hod s being ca rried o ut by th e manufac tur e l';;
of rC[Jroduci ng- pianos. These men, w ho have
invested large S Ul11 S of lllOn ey in pa tent s, ma­
chinery and ri g hts, are handling their pro m o­
tio n up on th e prin ciple that nobod y kn ows
a ny thin r ab o ut w h" t th e reprodu cin g piano will
do. T hr· y a rc sta rtin g from the botto m and
are ex plai ni ng the m os t elem e ntar y fa cts in th e
most elementary m a nner. If an ) fault is t o be
found with their meth ods it is th a t som e of
them a rc making the g r eat mi s take of cond emn­
in g all o th e r t ypes of pla ye r-piano. This is a
grea t mistake which cannot be co ndon ed upon
a ny p rinciple of sottnd mer c handi sing.
The
two ideas o ught to be kept se para te.
f \t the sam e tillle, we are boun d to a dmir e
th e m erc handi s in g me th ods of the r epr oduc in g
piano men. They ha ve the ri g ht id ea. T he y
are go in g to th e people jus t as th e early player
m e n of twenty years a go did a nd they a re
d emo n st ratin g to them fr om the g round up.
They a re tak ing nothin g for g rant ed . Th ey are
not as sllmin g th at th e re is anything that th e pub­
li c kn ow a bout the reproducing piano or ab o ut
w hat it may' fairl y be expec t ed to do. They
are no t eve n assuming that anyo ne,know s a ny
thin g about mu sic-in the tec hnical sense. Th ey
are assumin g that the people a re de nse ly ig­
norant of everything on the su bjec t. .\nd while
their assumption is not correc t in a ll cases, it
is corr ect in a vast majority of them; nor i<
th e re any wa y of effecti ve ly di sc rimin a tin g be­
tween wh ere it i, and w her e it is nOl effec ti ve.
Th ey are playing safe, a nd they a r e qui te right.
The Tuner's Story
Th e leadin g expon e nt <; of playe r m erchandis­
ing in connection with the pedal-played in stru­
m e nt ar e also to-day o n the right tracle The y,
too, have firml y r eso lve d to put behind th e m
a ll th e past histor y of the pla yer, ig norin g it
entire ly save in respe c t of the do c trine it illu s­
trates for their g uidance. This do ctrin e is th a t
twenty year s of pla yer selling have n o t made
the people ac quai n ted with th e playe r-piano as
th ey ar e acquainted with the automobile. A
t u ne r in Milw a uke e told the writer the oth er
day that a pl ay er-piano was sold to a customer
so m e week s a go who ap peared to be intelligent
and who li s te ned wi t h attention to the sales­
m a n's de mon s tration talk. A few h ours a fter
the instrument had been delivered th e telephone
bega n to ring and th e lady to comp lain. She
sa id that s he would not make her player wo rk.
She ass ured the p eop le in th e store th a t s he
had inserted the music roll a nd do'ne eve r y­
thin g els e, including workin~ the pedals vigor­
ously, but th at .\t last the t uner we nt out to se e what was
wr o n g and found that for tw o hour s the woman
h ad been acti vely working th e piano pedal)
up and down!
.
The salesman ha d simply neg lected to direct
special att e ntion to th e manner in wbi ch th e
pl ayer-peda ls fo lded inside the case an d the
pu rchase r of the in st rum e nt ha d for go tten :tli
a bout them!
Th e story is chara cteristi c, th o ug'h perhaps
extre me. It illu s trat es once more th e simple
fac t that th e gen e ra l publi c is s till ig noran t of
the player-piano. A nd becaus e the ge nera) pub­
lic is thu s ign ora nt it is idio tic to bas e one's
m e rchandi s in g plans fo r th e pla ye r-pi a no up o n
the opposite and false ass umpti o n.
The Only Right Way
That is the truth this arti cle is intended and
purposed to in culc ate ; nam ely, that t he only
right wa y to sell player-pianos is to put one ­
se lf in the pos iti o n of the tot a ll y ig norant pur··
ch ase r and to ex plain, and demon s trat e, fr om
th e gr o und up. i\1l th e adve rti s ing s ho uld be
based on th e sam e idea. Ko one ou g ht to t a ke
the play er -piano fo r gra nted in adverti for the r ea cle r s of lhe adve rti seme nt s do not
in general und e r s ta nd th e play e r-piano. They
therefore, unl ess their en thu sias m is wo rk ed up
by con stru ct iv e adverti sin g, ca nnot be expected
to think much a bout it.
Every bu s in ess goes through the cy cle of in­
vention- -host ili ty, Cll thu s iaslll, familiarity, con­
tempt. \V e hav e got t o th e last-named stage.
It is tim e to begin again.
TWO JOHN CHURCH BRANCHES
D A:-.1 VJLLE, I n., Jul y 23.- A nnoun cement has ju st
bee n ma de of the co ntemplated opening of two
a ddi tio na l branch pian o s tor es in this terri lor y
b y the J oh n Church Co., of Chicago. The n ew
s t ores w ill be o perat ed from th e Danville office,
of whi c h E. A. Elm er is in charge. ),tIr. .e lm e r
has b een with th e Chur ch orga ni zat ion for nine
years and, prior to coming to Danville, managed
Church branches at Mom e nce, Elgin a nd At­
tica. The two new stor es will carry th e John
Church line of pianos a nd several other instru­
ments.
GRANT BUYS NASE STORE
I NGLEWCx)D, CAL, July 24.-Douglas M. Gra nt
has r ecently purchased the s toc k and lease of
Rcli p h Nase, a mu s ic me rc hant her e. NIr. Grant
will condu ct a n L1p-t o-date mu s ic s tor e, called
the In glewood Mu sic C o., and will handle
phono g raph s and a full s tock of record s and
sheet m ll sic.. It is hi s in ten tJon to later add a
lin e of player-pianos and oth er musical m e r­
c handise.
J. E. CASTEN BECOMES MANAGER
KEWA NEE, IUL., July 24.- -J. E. Cast en ha s just
be e n made man age r of the musical. instrument
depa rtment of t he Gri ggs Music House her e.
:M r. Caste n h as bee n very suc cess ful in band
wo rk in Cambridge, where he was lo cated until
rec entl y, a nd is now organizing a boys' band
of thirty or mor e pi ece s in K e wan ee. H e is al so
director of th e Bo y Scouts fif e an d drum co rps
of thi s loca lity.
NEW STORE IN McPHERSON, KAN.
MCPHERSO N, KAN., July 23.-- Th e ne w musi c
store on North Main s tre et, of which Helm e r
Ek is pro prietor, will be formally open ed in a
i ew day s, acco rdin g to an noun cement mad e by
Mr. E k, '\, ho is aw aitin g th e arrival ·of his fi x­
tur es. H e ha s alr eady don e con siderab le bu si­
ws s and ha s installed a co mplete line of stock