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THE
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J1UJIC TIRADE
VOL. LXXVI1L No. 17 Published Every Satirday. Edward Lyman Bill, Inc., 383 Madison Ave., New York, N.Y. Apr. 26, 1924 Bln *i%
12.00
10 Cents
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Providing Space for the Piano in the Home
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EFORE the piano can be sold there must be a place provided in the home in which to put it. Piano
merchants generally have had this fact impressed upon them very strongly and in a large measure to
their discouragement during the past few years, through the tendency of builders to provide rooms and
homes in apartments which are either too small to hold a piano and other necessary furniture, or are
lacking adequate and proper wall space against which to place the instrument.
Live piano men of course can get a fair amount of business from those who occupy the old style homes
with limited window space and large room units. But the cream of their business must come from those who
have established, or are establishing, new homes of their own and need a new piano as part of the equipment.
The dealers have found that, particularly in the larger cities, the neglect of the architect to provide for the
installation of a piano has served to kill enough sales to make it advisable to exert efforts to remedy this
difficulty.
Out on the Pacific Coast, in co-operation with local associations, piano dealers have for some time past
been carrying on a very successful campaign to have architects provide space for a piano in the design of
bungalows and other types of small houses. The National Association of Music Merchants has a committee
working along the same line which is apparently accomplishing very satisfactory results.
It is not work, however, that can be handled successfully in a day or a week. Plans that have been
approved are not easily changed and it requires considerable persuasion to have an architect redraw plans
that he has been working upon for some time.
That this has been accomplished, however, in certain instances through the influence of piano mer-
chants proves that it is possible if intelligent effort is put into it.
Fortunately there are two lines of attack in the campaign to have new homes built with a definite idea
of providing a suitable place for the piano. It may not mean much to the architect whether a piano is installed
or not, but to the home owner it means a great deal if his attention can be directed to the matter. The result
has been that advertising campaigns are now being directed towards the home builder, appealing to him to in-
clude a music corner in the plans for his new home and to think about the installation of the piano before
he begins to build.
This work does not require a great amount of selling effort, for the idea is not to sell the piano at once
so much as it is to make possible the sale when the proper time comes. It is building for the future when the
home owner's family requirements or his improved financial condition makes advisable the installation of a
modern musical instrument.
In The Review last week there were reproduced several advertisements published by the Will A. Watkin
Co. in the newspapers of Dallas, Tex., urging upon home builders and prospective home builders the wisdom
of providing for the installation of a piano in considering the plans for-their new residences. The advertising
attracted a considerable amount of attention with the result that close to a dozen representative music houses
of Dallas have arranged to carry on a co-operative advertising campaign in the newspapers of that city
stressing the same point.
There is this much to be said about advertising to the home builder on general principles for the reason
that the copy appeals from a new angle and is more likely to interest than is the regular cut-and-dried piano
sale advertising. It would be well for dealers throughout the country to keep in touch with what has been
done and is being done along that line with a view to putting the experiences of their fellows to profitable use
in their own localities. If a home builder can be induced to think about the piano in planning his home, or
the architect to take that matter into consideration in arranging his plans, there will be less blocking of the
avenue to future sales.