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MARCH 29,
THE
1924
MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
THE POINT OF REVIEW
I
T is not the custom of The Reviewer to try and feed optimistic
pep to those who spend a few moments weekly reading this
page. Optimism is all very well in its place, but when it has no
foundation it is liable to do more harm than good. So that when he
says, taking everything into consideration, that there is no reason for
the attitude of mind with which a good many piano men at the
present time regard business, he has some reasons to say it and
more reasons to believe it. Talk about the stock market being sensi-
tive to every rumor or movement in the country. The average
operator there seems to be a man of firm and stubborn beliefs com-
pared to a good many piano men, and one who pursues his way
regardless of temporary conditions or his own personal reactions to
conditions as he meets them. Why a slight falling off in demand
should immediately create a widespread feeling of depression in the
piano industry has never been quite adequately explained, but it
does and reacts in an injurious manner upon the entire trade, both
manufacturing and retailing.
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OW let's get down to some of the reasons. First of all we are in
between seasons. The present is not a general buying time. We
are having an extremely late Easter, and it is yet too soon to feel
whatever stimulation buying receives from that day. Secondly, we
have just passed an income tax instalment payment, the effects of
which are always felt for some time after the payments are made.
When a man gives over good money to the Government for which
he receives no immediate return, so far as he can see, he usually
economizes in his expenditure for a while at least. This reaction is
especially bad this year, since the general opinion was that Federal
taxes would be reduced by 25 per cent at least and the entire country
has been disappointed by the dilatory tactics which Congress has
adopted in dealing with legislation that strikes more people directly
than any other matter. Thirdly, we are having a comparatively late
Spring, weather conditions have been bad and they have tended
directly to affect buying. The slump, for slump it may be called,
has been felt in all lines, but there is hardly any doubt that it is near-
ing its end and that we will soon win out of it.
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UT has it been as bad as it is claimed to be? There is a lot of
evidence that those who see a general depression in buying are
shooting wide of- the mark, and while there is an actual decrease,
the comparative decrease with previous years is by no means any-
thing to worry about. Talking the other day with President John-
ston, of the Standard Pneumatic Action Co., showed this up in no
uncertain light. Now a player-action manufacturer is always one
of the best trade barometers that there is, especially one the product
of which is used as widely as is that of the Standard Co. According
to him, shipments of Standard player-actions so far this year are 11
per cent ahead of those during the same period in 1923, and Janu-
ary and February were the best first two months of any year which
his firm had ever enjoyed. Where are these actions going? Surely
manufacturers are not buying them and keeping them in stock.
Evidently they are using them to fill orders for player-pianos from
dealers. The dealers in turn are not buying instruments to hold on
their wareroom floors—they are moving them, else they would not
be buying. Probably no retailer reacts so promptly to a falling off
in demand as does the piano merchant, and no one dislikes so much
to be stocked up as he does. His policy, though there has been an
improvement during the past few years, is to buy to a large propor-
tion from hand to mouth, so that a falling off in demand is imme-
diately reflected both with the manufacturer and the supply man.
There are some hard facts which those who believe the piano busi-
ness has gone to the dogs will have some trouble in explaining away.
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the dealers' standpoint, the following is also interesting.
F ROM
The other day The Reviewer talked to one of the leading sales-
men in one of the largest retail organizations in New York. Asked
the usual question, the reply came that business was poor. A little
further questioning brought out the fact, however, that while this
salesman was getting his usual volume of sales he was having to
work a good deal harder to get them than had been the case in the
past. In other words, people had to be sold and the salesman had
to sweat before he closed the average deal. After a heavy buying
season, such as the latter part of 1923 represented, when selling is
easy, it always takes some time for the retail salesmen to swing
back into harness again—a few months at least. Meantime sales
are not what they should be, simply because the salesmen are not
working at full steam ahead. Once they come to a realization that
they have got to work in order to sell there is an immediate reaction.
Those whose memories go back to the conditions in the trade after
the post-war boom will remember the time and trouble it took to
bring this about. Well, we are confronted with a condition some-
what similar at the present time.
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EPORTS from The Review correspondents in every section of
the country, furthermore, do not justify this state of pes-
simism. These men are in close touch with the trade in their respec-
tive territories, calling on representative dealers there every week,
and reflect their attitude. Some of them report a falling off in sales,
but the general tendency of their reports is that sales are fair and
steady. In some cities, and they are quite a few, sales thus far this
year have been better than last year and in more equal to them. In
other words, to judge by what they say, volume would be very near
what it was last year during the same season, in some cases ahead
and in a few cases showing a slight falling off. Dealers generally
feel that conditions are temporary and will soon right themselves.
Pessimism seems to be concentrated in the manufacturing centers
not with the dealers, and the latter, of course, are in the better
position to know what they are talking about.
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I MiE co-operation which the Vocalstyle Music Co. is extending
-•- its dealers by placing the facilities of its large mailing depart-
ment at their disposal should have an immediate effect upon the
sales of this well-known music roll. Obviously the centralization of
all mailing on this product works for economy in several ways.
First of all it removes from the dealer the burden of having part
of his sales force devote a day or two monthly to addressing and
mailing literature to a comparatively large list. All he has to do is
to furnish the Vocalstyle Co. with a mailing list and his music roll
customers are covered. Secondly, it works out for the proper use
of the literature which the company gets out, for all of it is used.
There have been a good many sales methods discussed in regard to
music rolls, but none has ever yet been found that equaled in effi-
ciency the good old tried method of the monthly mailing. Let's
hope that the dealers co-operate with the Vocalstyle Co. in this
work by keeping their mailing lists up to date and eliminating dead
names and incorrect addresses regularly.
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HIS has truly been a year of local association activities. These
organizations have shown steady advancement and the reports of
what they have been doing have been reflected in cities and sections
where no such bodies exist by discussion at least among the dealers
regarding their formation there. The local association is an ex-
tremely valuable organization to the retail music merchant, provid-
ing it is run on an efficient basis and is not a mere excuse for a
social gathering a few times a year. Not that the social side of these
organizations is not valuable in itself, for unquestionably it is. But
there is so much other work which they can do and which they alone
can do. The National Association of Music Merchants can deal
only with national problems as they affect the trade. It is the local
association that must take up the local problems and these, after all,
are most closely bound up with the merchants' business. Working
at cross-purposes as individuals usually do, the merchant can accom-
plish but little. Working together and co-operatively he can do
much. That is why the campaign conducted for the formation of
such bodies under the direction of President Robert N. Watkin, of
the National Association of Music Merchants, deserves and should
receive the strong support of every retail music merchant in the
country.
THE REVIEWER.
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