Classic Mode

Music Trade Review

Issue: 1924 Vol. 78 N. 15

Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE
MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
APRIL 12, 1924
THE POINT OF REVIEW
A
N eventual production of 100,000 grand pianos annually!
That seems a figure quite beyond the comprehension of the
average piano man, yet Mark P. Campbell, president of the Bram-
bach Piano Co., and perhaps the best-posted man on this phase of
the industry, confidently made this prediction the other day, and
then proceeded to give a series of facts that placed it well within
the realm of probabilities. According to Mr. Campbell, the grand
production in 1922 was in the neighborhood of 45,000, that of 1923
approximately 58,000 and that of the present year will show a still
greater increase. He stated that there is no indication of any check
in this trend of public taste; in fact, the public demand for grand
pianos is as yet largely in its infancy and just beginning to show its
potentialities for growth.
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3£
T T must be a fine thing for Mr. Campbell to discover his faith in
*• the grand type of instrument justified in this matter. For in the
development of the medium-priced grand, made and sold in quan-
tity, he unquestionably is the pioneer, and it was his faith in an
idea—or perhaps better an ideal—that made the present large
annual production of the Brambach Piano Co. a reality. Like
most pioneers, his was a voice in the wilderness in the beginning.
When he announced his plan the grand, outside of those made by
a few of the high-grade manufacturers, was distinctly a small phase
of the industry. Many manufacturers made a few each year,
largely for prestige purposes; many more made none at all, con-
fining themselves strictly to the upright form. To announce that
a large manufacturer would devote an entire plant to the production
of grands, that this grand would be a good instrument but would
be sold at a price well within the reach of the average American
family, was to depart from all accepted ideas in the piano industry
and was to strike out in a new field where there existed no experi-
ence or a guide and where everything made the plan a gigantic
experiment. New processes of manufacturing had to be developed ;
new methods of marketing had to be worked out; the average
retail dealer had to be convinced. All of this required time and
energy to accomplish.
K
K
*
O
NE thing Mr. Campbell did not have to do. That was to create
a demand for the grand of this type, for that demand already
existed. In fact, it was the foresight which had sense enough to
feel that this demand existed which made possible the Brambach
Co. and what it stood for. The first twelve months that this plan
was being carried out was sufficient to demonstrate its soundness
and also sufficient to quiet those who had predicted failure. Never
was there a more rapid response from both dealers and public and
never had any such radical departure—for radical is alone the word
that fits it—a more striking success. So when Mr. Campbell pre-
dicts a production of 100,000 grands annually his words will be
listened to with respect and there will be found few in the industry
to dispute them. One hundred thousand grands in a year means
one-third of the production of pianos in a normal year, a large
proportion, it is true, but by no means too large, judging by present
conditions in the industry.
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V£
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¥ N putting on the market a series of minstrel rolls, the Vocalstyle
-*- Music Co. seems to have rendered a genuine service to those
who manufacture and sell player-pianos, for these new rolls are of
a type quite as likely to increase and continue interest in player-
piano music as are the classic and semi-classic rolls upon which so
much stress has been placed in the past. The beauty of these rolls
is that they appeal to two generations at least, for the music on
which this home minstrel show is based is that which was popular
at least a score of years ago and which has never lost its appeal to
the new generation. To the older folks, "Hello, Ma Baby," "Lindy,"
"Good-bye, My Blue Bell," "Where Did You Get That Hat?"
"Carry Me Back to Old Virginny," "Lazy Moon," "Sweet Adeline"
and "Sweet Marie" bring back distinctly pleasant memories of
older days, of home parties and the lure of minstrelsy—and min-
strelsy still has its lure. To the present generation the rolls will
appeal from the fact that they not only provide home entertainment
for large groups, something eminently to be desired to-day, but also
are music that still has its own appeal. Minstrel rolls, or, for that
matter, any unusual type of rolls, however clever, cannot be ex-
pected to solve the problem of the player-piano, but such rolls will
play a prominent part in reviving interest in the player with every
one in the family, which is surely an object worth while.
®£ &
5¥
jV/T USICAL instruments classed under the head of jewelry seems
*• *- a far-fetched way of levying a tax, but the ways of Congress
and tax officials are devious indeed, and it takes a first-class head
to follow them through their various intricacies. The tax has been
collected for some time. Then the House of Representatives, in
considering the new tax bill, took it off; now the Senate in its
infinite wisdom has put it back again. Whether or not it will be
taken out again in the conference between the two parts of the
nation's supreme legislature remains in the lap of the gods. The
only thing to do is to get busy with your Congressmen and your
Senators once more and let them know what they are really doing.
You can't make band instruments without gold and silver, but
neither of these precious metals is put there for adornment but
because of the strictest of necessity.
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NE of the striking things in the weekly reports which A.
Frederick Carter, Field Editor of The Review, is sending back
regarding his visits to the Southern section of the retail music trade
is the active part which the retail music merchants of that section
of the country are taking in the development of musical activities in
their respective communities. Mr. Carter has not visited a city or
town, it seems, where he has not found the music dealers active in
this direction and where there are not tangible results to show for
their activities. A decade or so ago such activity on the part of a
music merchant was the exception rather than the rule, and a decade
ago the popular interest in music bore no comparison to what exists
in every section of the country at the present time. We would not
go so far as to say that the music merchants are solely responsible
for this increase in interest, but it is beyond question that they have
played a predominating part in it, not only by their own individual
efforts but by their organized activity functioning through the
Bureau for the Advancement of Music. What the music merchant
has done is to bring a talent for business and organization to a
field which formerly was in the hands of people who possessed a
feeling for neither of these, and whose efforts, well intentioned as
they were, were largely lacking in practicability, coherency and
co-ordination. Placing this talent at the service of the community,
they have scored a number of successes which without it would
have been entirely impossible.
K
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IX
A NOTHER development which Mr. Carter's trip has brought
•^ *• out is the way in which local chambers of commerce and other
organizations of business men formed for civic improvement regard
music to-day as an asset of civic importance. No longer, as it was
in the past, do business men look upon music as something largely
confined to women and children; to-day, almost without exception,
they believe in organized musical activities and lend their hearty
support to them. In every city that Mr. Carter has visited he has
conferred with the secretary of the local chamber of commerce or
board of trade, as the case may be, upon organized activities along
these lines, and in every case he has met with an enthusiastic recep-
tion. It is here that the influence of the music merchant is appar-
ent, for nowhere can he exercise it to a greater or more efficient
degree than upon the organization of fellow merchants. Music
unquestionably makes a more attractive town or city, and those who
support it act distinctly in their own interests, for a more attractive
town or city is a better business city. It is enlightened self-interest,
however, the sort which has always created the great artistic periods
in the world's history.
T H E REVIEWER.
Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE
APRIL 12, 1924
MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
Is the Exclusive Agency Worth While?
The Division of Responsibility Between the Manufacturer and the Merchant in This Form of Distribution—
The Dealers' Interest in the Manufacturers' Advertising—Manufacturers' National Distribu-
tions—Second of a Series of Articles on Present-day Piano Distribution
OR many years one of the most disputed
points in piano distribution has been the
value of the exclusive agency, both to the
manufacturer and the dealer. For a long period
this method had been the general trend in piano
distribution, many manufacturers going so far
as to grant large territory promiscuously to
dealers with no certainty of the number of in-
struments they could sell. Even when sales
volume bore no proper ratio to the potentialities
of the territory, these agencies were continued,
either because the manufacturer had no detailed
knowledge regarding that particular locality or
else because he feared to drop a representative
and seek a new one. It was also true that many
manufacturers allowed the creation of name
value to be largely in the hands of the dealer,
with the result that the latter acquired what
seemed to be a vested right in the agency, an
idea that in many cases had a real foundation.
A Gradual Change
Of late years, however, with the appearance
of the nationally advertised piano and player-
piano of medium grades, the exclusive agency,
particularly in this field, has tended to disap-
pear. In its place has come general distribution
with a consequent increase in sales due to the
larger number of outlets. Thus sufficient ex-
perience has been had with both of these
methods of distribution to warrant a careful
study of their effects and arrive at some definite
conclusions regarding the efficiency of both
methods, and the particular instruments to
which both plans of distribution apply most
readily.
In securing an exclusive agency from a manu-
facturer the dealer at the same time acquires a
responsibility. If a manufacturer is willing to
confine his distribution to one outlet within a
certain locality, the dealer in turn assumes an
implied obligation to create a sufficient volume
of sales to warrant that restriction. It has often
been this lack of realization on the part of the
dealer, combined with the attitude of many man-
ufacturers in granting large territories without
sufficiently protecting themselves in regard to
sales volume, that has led to most of abuses
which have grown but of the exclusive agency.
Cases have been known of manufacturers who
have granted a large section of an entire State
to a dealer who had neither the sales organiza-
tion nor the facilities to cover such an extent of
territory, with the result that on the manufac-
turer's distribution map big stretches of prof-
itable selling territory were barren of results
and what appeared to be a national distribution
was in reality but 50 or 60 per cent of the
country.
Mutual Injury
When a manufacturer grants an exclusive
agency he injures both himself and the dealer
it he gives the latter more territory than the
latter can efficiently cover. The injury to the
manufacturer is apparent enough; the injury to
the dealer is more difficult to discover. Granted
that the instrument is a name value piano, and
exclusive agencies are only sought for pianos
of that type, the inevitable result upon the dealer
and his sales organization is to take the easy
sales and make but little effort to obtain the
more difficult ones. A sales policy based on
the lines of least resistance means soft selling
and soft selling means an unworked territory.
If the attitude of the selling organization to-
F
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wards the leader of the line has this character-
istic, it will exist in regard to every instrument
handled, with the result that the dealer's busi-
ness will be materially curtailed with very little
chance of any remedy being found and applied
to remove the evil.
Given a wide enough stretch of territory,
there are always sufficient sales of a name value
piano to create a fair sales volume, and espe-
cially when the dealer has never studied the
potentialities of the territory, self-satisfaction
exists. There are a number of instances of
retail houses in the trade doing a fair sales
volume, but not making nearly enough of their
opportunities, which have suffered for years
from this interior dry-rot. This condition has
had much wider effect upon piano distribution
than has been usually considered.
Agency and Quota
Thus the exclusive agency has served in many
cases to create a steady deterioration of retail
selling methods. But this is not an inherent
defect of this method; it has grown up by the
abuse of it. The manufacturer should grant no
exclusive agency for his product save by a
direct understanding with the dealer that the
latter will make a sufficient volume of sales to
warrant a restriction of outlets in his territory.
A manufacturer of one of the best names in the
country, whose product is sold on an exclusive
agency basis, never grants an agency unless the
house is sure the dealer can properly cover the
territory. Then the dealer is told that a certain
quota of sales is expected annually if the agency
is to remain in his possession. This quota is
figured on the condition of the territory within
a certain radius of the dealer's warerooms and
takes into consideration such factors as the
population, the income tax statistics, whether
the territory is industrial, commercial or agri-
cultural, the number of individually owned
homes, the number of individually owned
automobiles, the number of banks and the
number of bank depositors, as well as the total
deposits, the number of piano dealers and com-
petitive conditions, including the competitive
lines handled, and other information of a similar
character. With this information at the manu-
facturer's disposal, he figures a reasonable
quota, with due allowance made for fluctuating
local industrial conditions, and the agency is
valuable enough for the dealer to agree to it
in order to secure the representation.
Many dealers, of course, would consider that
such a system throws too much responsibility
upon their shoulders. But in the experience
of this manufacturer, an agency is rarely trans-
ferred, staying with the same retail house year
after year, and the quotas are met. The house
itself has one of the few really national dis-
tributions that exist in the piano industry and
has built it up simply because it has consistently
followed this policy. Its agencies include the
best retail dealers in the country.
Medium and Low-priced Products
Manufacturers of medium and low-priced
pianos and player-pianos have largely discon-
tinued the exclusive agency, especially when
their selling plan is based on national adver-
tising. One manufacturer, who was among the
pioneers in this policy, has developed this work
so far that, in a city like Chicago, he has ap-
proximately twenty dealers, all handling his
line under its own name, for he makes no other
K
instruments save those which carry his name
on their fallboards. Ten years ago such a dis-
tribution was unknown in retail piano selling
and would have been thought out of the
question. Yet, this manufacturer, through ad-
vertising his product steadily and consistently,
has built up such a demand with the buying
public that these dealers, many as there are
of them, make imposing sales figures in selling
this line on its name and, of course, on the
intrinsic value which the name denotes.
One of the outstanding features of this manu-
facturers' selling policy has been the steady en-
couragement he has always given his dealers to
utilize his national publicity in their own selling
work. Strange as it may seem, this has re-
quired a long campaign of written propaganda
and personal work by his travelers. To-day all
dealers who handle this line link their ware-
rooms closely with the national campaign,
partly by means of the dealers' helps which the
manufacturer sends out and partly by closely
following the national publicity as it appears
with their own advertising in the local news-
papers. It is quantity selling, of course, but
quantity selling methods are required in
handling a line which has such a wide potential.
market.
Checking Volume
The manufacturer of a similar line who is
still trying to use the exclusive agency in mar-
keting it is checking his own development as
well as that of the dealers with whom he places
his agencies. Quantity selling, which implies
a comparatively small profit, must mean a large
number of outlets. The manufacturing problem
here sets the selling problem and unless they
are both in a proper relationship, distribution
inevitably suffers.
Considering the exclusive agency from the
standpoint of efficient piano distribution, inevi-
tably the conclusion must be arrived at that
it is only efficient when applied to instruments
of the higher grades, which appeal to a com-
paratively restricted buying public because their
prices place them beyond the reach of the aver-
age family income. On the other hand, in the
distribution of instruments in the medium and
lower grades the exclusive agency inevitably
tends to restrict outlets and thus sales volume.
For, with an instrument of name value in these
grades, there are no retail selling organizations
large enough nor with sufficient facilities to
cover the prospective buyers for it.
B & E
Murphy in New Warerooms
SAVANNAH, GA., April 7.—The Murphy Music
House has taken larger and more convenient
quarters at 144 Whitaker street, removing from
112 Whitaker, where it has been doing business
for several years. The business was established
in 1904 by John D. Murphy and its present
owner and proprietor is G. A. Murphy.
Incorporated in Missouri
KANSAS CITY, MO., April 5.—The Starr Piano
Co. Sales Corp., of Indiana, has recently been
incorporated to sell musical instruments in
Kansas City, with an authorized capitalization
of $10,000. Harry and Clarence Gennett and
C. V. Bissell are the incorporators.
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