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JUNE 7,
THE
1924
MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
Music Industries Chamber of Commerce—(Continued from page 5)
scrtcd again. At the time of writing this report
the bill has just been reported by the Confer-
ence Committee with this exemption included
and is not subject to further change. Therefore
the exemption of musical instruments from the
jewelry tax is assured when and if this bill is
enacted into law, which will probably be before
this report is presented to the convention.
"When the Revenue Bill was under considera-
Alfred L. Smith
tion by the Senate Finance Committee the ap-
parent need for additional revenue became very
great. This was the principal reason for the
attempted elimination of the musical instru-
ments exemption. At the same time and for the
same reason the committee recommended a tax
of 10 per cent on all radio sets and parts. Such
a tax would be nearly as serious to the music
industry as the former tax on pianos and phono-
graphs, because most of the prominent phono-
graph manufacturers are either now, or have
announced that they soon will be important
manufacturers of combined radio and phono-
graph instruments. The tax would be particu-
larly heavy on such products because it would
be levied on the total selling price of the com-
bined phonograph and radio instrument instead
of upon the price of the radio set only. Further-
more, many if not most of our merchant mem-
bers are already dealers in radio. As soon as
this 10 per cent tax was proposed the Chamber
conferred and co-operated with other groups
which would be affected by this tax and took
the matter up with Senators and Representatives
in Washington. The Chamber was able to ob-
tain the active support of certain representatives
of the farmers whose opposition to this pro-
posed tax contributed largely and perhaps de-
cisively to its repeal on the floor of the Senate.
"The only remaining musical instrument sub-
ject to special excise taxation is the coin-oper-
ated piano which, under the existing law, is
taxed as a vending machine. When the Senate
Finance Committee struck out the musical in-
struments exemption and recommended the tax
on radio, it also increased the tax on coin-
operated machines from 5 per cent to 10 per
cent. The Chamber also took the lead in tlie
fight against this tax. It has brought into the
situation several important concerns and indus-
tries which are adversely affected and whose
opposition had not previously been felt at Wash-
ington. As a result the previous rate of 5 per
cent has been restored.
"The exemption of musical instruments from
the jewelry tax is important not alone because
of band instruments, but also because of the
danger of the application of this tax to many
Other types of instruments using gold, silver or
ivory in their construction. Local collectors
have repeatedly attempted to impose this tax on
phonographs with gold-plated tone arms. The
Chamber has been in almost constant com-
munication and conference with the Internal
Revenue Bureau for the past six months on this
matter. Pending a final decision the bureau
advised collectors not to levy this tax on phono-
graphs. On May 21 D. H. Blair, Commissioner
of Internal Revenue, announced the favorable
result in a letter, from which the following is
quoted:
" 'As a result of conferences recently held in
the Bureau with Mr. Alfred L. Smith, general
manager of the Music Industries Chamber of
Commerce, and upon consideration of additional
evidence submitted by him (that is, phono-
graphs having gold-plated hardware) the con-
clusion has been reached that instruments of
that character are not subject to the tax in ques-
tion. Accordingly, the former ruling has been
reversed and the new conclusion will be com-
municated to those interested in the near future.'
"These tax matters have been of such finan-
cial importance to the industry that the Chamber
has felt that it could not economize in time,
energy or money. The unexpected amount of
work incident thereto has constituted a real
problem, coming as it did at the time when
routine work was heavy, when preparations had
to be made for the conventions and when the
promotions of National Music Week and the
State band contests were reaching their culmi-
nation.
The general manager also reported that the
work of the Chamber was now materially heav-
ier than at any time in its history, with twenty-
six; full-time employes on the rolls and extra
help being required occasionally. He invited
the members of the associations to visit the
new offices of the Chamber at 45 West Forty-
fifth street, New York, while in the city and
observe at close hand the workings of the
Association.
He called attention to the fact that the work
of the National Bureau for the Advancement
of Music has expanded greatly during the year,
among the new activities being the promotion
of the First National Music Week and the
State High School Band Contests.
The Trade Service Bureau has devoted itself
to compiling valuable information regarding
trade matter particularly in the retail field and
has done considerable research work for the
officers and committee chairmen of the National
Association of Music Merchants.
The credit service of the Chamber has in-
creased during the year and to it has been added
a collection service which has been taken advan-
tage of by a goodly number of members. In
the matter of production statistics for which
there is recognized a real need, Mr. Smith said:
"Much preliminary educational work has been
required in starting the production statistics.
Members desired to see actual results before
they would promise their co-operation. More
work of an educational character will be needed
before members will understand fully how these
statistics can and should be used to advantage
and this should be one of the big tasks of the
Chamber during the coming year. Quarterly
figures of band instrument production, monthly
figures of orders, shipments and unfilled orders
for straight pianos, players, grands and repro-
ducing pianos and monthly shipments of plates,
backs and sounding boards and bass strings are
now being compiled and distributed. During the
coming year it is expected that similar figures
will be compiled monthly for player actions and
keys. As soon as the figures for production
have been developed a little more fully it is
hoped to obtain monthly figures from about
one hundred typical large merchandising organ-
izations for repossessions, pianos and phono-
graphs in stock, and retail sales. With these
figures and with more complete monthly an-
alyses of business conditions as now reported
regularly in the Monthly Bulletin, the music
industry should have available fundamental and
reliable facts which will enable executives to
plan their future business upon reliable informa-
tion rather than guesswork as in the past."
In closing his report Mr. Smith reiterated his
former recommendation that "as soon as prac-
ticable, consideration should be given to the
development of facilities, for better publicity,
membership and field work, as the Association
idea must be repeatedly sold and resold in order
that members may be educated to a point of
availing themselves of its benefits to the fullest
extent. The Chamber also lacks adequate facili-
ties for thorough research and investigation in
problems of business, which the trade is more
and more looking to the Chamber to consider."
C. M. Tremaine Tells of Activities of
Bureau for the Advancement of Music
' I *H K report of C. M. Tremaine, director of
the National Bureau for Music, was a most
exhaustive one and served to cover in more or
less detail all the activities of that very busy
organization during the past year. He stated,
for instance, that the Bureau's work and influ-
ence have doubled each year since its organ-
ization in 1916 and that, although its direct
activities have grow r n rapidly, its greatest influ-
ence lies in the indirect help it is furnishing to
the various forces throughout the country
working for the advancement of music.
He emphasized the value of this indirect work
in developing future sales for musical instru-
ments, this influence being recognized as great,
although hardly to be measured on a dollars-
and-cents basis.
He spoke of the growth of the Music Memory
Contest, which movement has now become
completely standardized and an annual event
in many cities and States. An idea of this
growth is found in the fact that reports of
Music Memory Contests were received from
1.050 cities this year as compared with 669 in
1923. The tendency is to have the contest be-
come a State-wide event and this has already
been accomplished in a number of States, in-
cluding Texas, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan,
South Carolina, Tennessee and Washington.
The Bureau is now actively interested in pro-
moting State school band contests and has suc-
ceeded in securing the support of the Music
Supervisors.' National Conference in carrying
out such contests in States where there is a
sufficient demand.
C M . Tremaine
In three States, Illinois, Ohio and New York,
there is sufficient interest to warrant the arrang-
{Continucd on page 9)