Music Trade Review

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FEBRUARY 2,
THE
1924
MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
The Associations' Mid-Winter Meeting
National Association of Music Merchants' Executive Committee and Advisory Board, National Piano Manu-
facturers' Executive Committee, Musical Supply Association Directors and Directors of the
Music Industries Chamber of Commerce Hold Sessions in New York
HE mid-Winter meetings of the Board of
Directors-; of the Music Industries Cham-
ber of Commerce, the Advisory Board
and Executive Committee of the National Asso-
ciation of Music Merchants, the Executive Com-
mittee of the National- Piano Manufacturers'
Association and the Board of Directors of the
Musical Supply Association were held in New
York last week, all the organizations with the
exception of the supply men meeting at the
Waldorf-Astoria Hotel.
The meetings resulted in the fixing upon the
week of June 1 for the annual conventions of the
various associations to be held at the Waldorf-
Astoria Hotel, which was selected for a number
of excellent reasons and although there was some
sentiment for a time in favor of the Com-
modore. Particularly significant was the resolu-
tion adopted by the Executive Committee of the
National Piano Manufacturers' Association pro-
hibiting the holding of exhibits of any sort in
the convention hotel under official sanction.
This resolution was concurred in by the mer-
chants who until a few years ago had con-
sistently refused to permit exhibits in the con-
vention hotel, but lifted the bars when no show
was held to afford the manufacturers an oppor-
tunity for displaying their wares. Experience
has proven, however, that exhibits interfere
seriously with the attendance at meetings and
with the association activities generally.
The campaign being carried on by President
Watkin of the National Association of Music
Merchants and executives for the organization
of new State and local associations in all sec-
tions of the country, with a view to having
them affiliate with the national body and thus
bring it in contact with the maximum number
of retailers, was strongly endorsed, as was the
plan to engage an organizer to take up this
work.
Particular interest also centers in the pro-
posal to hold a window display contest this year
along the lines of the advertising contest held
last year, with the awards to be made during
the convention session in New York in June.
Detailed reports of the various meetings are
presented herewith.
T
Music Merchants to Promote Formation
of Local, State and Sectional Bodies
Paid Organizer to Be Placed in Field to Promote Formation of Affiliated Organizations—Con-
vention to Be Held at Waldorf-Astoria During the Week of June 1
'HpHE mid-Winter meeting of the Executive
•*• Committee and Advisory Board of the
National Association of Music Merchants was
held at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel on Thursday
of last week and was devoted chiefly to the
discussion of the elaborate plans laid out by
President Robert N. Watkin and his officers
for the development and expansion of Associa-
tion activities nationally and largely through
the encouragement of local and State bodies.
Local and Sectional Organization
There was a very strong feeling that the suc-
cess of the National Association depended upon
it becoming a strong factor in local centers by
developing direct contact with the music mer-
chants through State and city associations.
After considerable debate a committee, made
up of members of the Advisory Board, was
appointed to secure the services of a paid or-
ganizer to bring music merchants into local
associations and assist in the formation of such
bodies throughout the country.
The:meeting showed that some good work is
being done this year by the chairmen and roem-
bers of the various committees appointed by
President Watkin to investigate and report on
a number of matters of direct interest and bene-
fit to the retail trade, and by the time the an-
nual convention rolls around there will evi-
dently be much accomplished along these sev-
eral lines.
The session was opened with the reading of
the reports on membership and finances by the
secretary, M. J. Kennedy, which showed that
in both these particulars the Association is in
good shape.
.
Misleading Advertising
Considerable attention was devoted to certain
forms of . misleading and questionable adver-
tising which have been, and are, being pub-
lished in various sections of the country, in-
o
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cluding New York, and inquiries were made
regarding what the Better Business Bureau of
the Music Industries Chamber of Commerce
has been doing to check this evil.
It was agreed that, where possible, the
Chamber, the Merchants' Association and the
members thereof should work with, and
through, local Better Business Bureaus to check
advertising that was questionable, particularly
some brought to the attention of the meeting
wherein a Southern concern offered instruments
of practically every leading make at "less than
half usual retail prices."
Music Advancement
M. V. DeForeest, as chairman of the Music
Advancement Committee, reported what was
being accomplished through that work which
has resulted in the development of band and
orchestras in the schools and other movements
proving the increased general interest in music
as an art. He also emphasized the importance
of having grammar and high schools offer cred-
its for music study outside school hours and
called attention to a recent volume issued by
the National Bureau for the Advancement of
Music, giving much information regarding
school credits and how they might be obtained.
Edmund Gram, of Milwaukee, and E. H.
Droop, of Washington, told the Board of the
success attending the celebration of music week
in their respective cities. M. J. Kennedy also
explained the progress that has been made to-
ward having the Mayor of Chicago appoint a
municipal music commission along the lines of
that existing for some time past in Dallas, Tex.
Code of Ethics
A report from John A. Turner, of Tampa,
Fla., was read, setting forth the preamble of a
code of ethics for the retail music trade in the
preparation of which he had been assisted by
Fred G. Barlow. The code itself is now in
K
course of preparation and will be presented at
the convention in June.
In the absence of George Q. Chase, chair-
man of the committee on the piano in the
homes, which is charged with the duty of con-
ferring with architects and decorators relative
to providing suitable space in new homes and
apartments for the placing of that instrument,
John W. Boothe, of Los Angeles, stated that
much had been done along that line on the
Pacific Coast, where the trade has become
alarmed over the number of bungalows erected
without suitable wall space for placing a piano.
He stated that the architects showed a willing-
ness to co-operate in the matter.
The success of President Watkin's plan for
bringing local and State bodies into the Na-
tional Association, as provided for in the con-
stitution, was shown in the applications of five
such associations for affiliation with the na-
tional body. These include the Ohio, Illinois,
Texas, State and Dallas Associations. Inci-
dentally, it was reported that plans were under
way for the forming of new State Associations
in Oklahoma, Michigan and other States.
Retail Salesmen's Training
The question of training retail music sales-
men was discussed at some length and E. Paul
Hamilton, in charge of preparation of the cor-
respondence course in retail salesmanship for
the Chamber, set forth the necessity and prac-
ticability of such a course. He declared that
much of the value of the music advancement
work was lost through incompetent selling and
declared the trouble was traceable to the fact
that few new recruits were entering the field
although the old-timers were passing away.
He ascribed this condition to the fact that
many young men did not realize the oppor-
tunities in the piano field, and the fact that it
was possible for a salesman to make from
$3,000 to $15,000 a year if he understood his
work and put the proper effort into it. Mr.
Hamilton stated that a course is now being
prepared by an organization experienced in the
compilation of salesmanship courses and that
leading merchandisers of the industry were co-
operating with that organization by giving it
the benefit of their experience with the actual
selling problems associated with pianos and
other musical instruments. He said that, prop-
erly advertised, the course should have a wide
appeal and that students completing it would
be granted a diploma bearing the insignia of
the Chamber which would show to the musjc
merchant that the applicant for a position had
been trained in. the ground work of musical
instrument selling and relieve the latter of some
of the responsibility of hiring and gambling on
men with absolutely no knowledge of the trade
or its problems.
Divisional Associations
The question of the development of the local
association was subject to long discussions.' It
was suggested, for instance, that efforts be made
to organize associations in every State and
many of the principal cities and that these
bodies become divisional members of the na-
tional association similar to the plan under
which the Chamber of Commerce operates.
Each association would then pay a fixed annual
sum to the national body towards its mainte-
nance and thus relieve it of the necessity of
E
(Continued on page 8)
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