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THE
MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
AUGUST 23,
1924
THE POINT OF REVIEW
What Local Associations Can Do
ASTERN piano men returning from the recent convention of
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the Western Music Trades Association are unanimous in the
enthusiasm with which they view this event in retrospect, and in
their declarations that never in the history of the music industries
has a meeting of this kind been carried out so successfully. In
fact, some of them go so far as to state that in this meeting of the
Pacific Coast trade an object lesson could be had by those in charge
of the National convention, not only in the attendance which was
brought out, but in the interest and variety of the programs which
were offered and in the precision with which they were carried out.
When the Western Trades Association meeting is considered with
an attendance of over 200 at the various sessions and this figure
compared to the relative attendance at the meetings of the National
body, the facts are there to justify their statements.
WO other important State association gatherings will be held
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this Fall, that of the Ohio music merchants in September, and
that of the Illinois music merchants in October. Of the achieve-
ments of the Ohio State Association little need be said here, since
this organization has long been a model of w r hat local association
work should be and the indications are that, at the coming meeting
in Cleveland,, the standard which the Association has set itself in
the past will be at least equaled and more likely surpassed. The
Illinois Association, a comparatively new comer in the field, under
the able direction of President Fred T. Watson, is at present en-
gaged in working out its annual program for Springfield, following
the lead here of the National Association of Music Merchants, in
ascertaining through a mail vote among its members the degree of
interest which they feel in the large number of trade topics in order
to prepare a program of discussions and addresses which will be of
most direct interest to the largest proportion of its membership.
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HE success with which these associations are being conducted
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shows beyond a shadow of a doubt the need for a still further
extension of this means of organization in the retail music trade.
The trade at the present moment is confronted with a wide variety
of problems, all of them closely connected with its further progress
and a majority of them susceptible of solution through common
action on the part of the merchants, or else through individual
action based upon and guided by information which can only be
gathered through associations working in a limited section of the
industry where local conditions are practically the same.
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AKE, for instance, the question of retail overhead in the music
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store. Here we have a problem that requires close and intensive
study, where the information thus far to be had is largely vague
and confused, and yet where the individual merchant can only ar-
rive at an eventual solution through having at his disposal figures
and facts upon this subject to which he can compare his own per-
centage of overhead and thus test it in relation to the volume of
sales which he makes as to its relative economy or extravagance.
This was well brought out at the meeting of the Western Music
Trades Association when several papers on this subject were read
and striking emphasis was placed upon the fact that the overhead
problems of a Pacific Coast merchant differ radically from those
of a music merchant on the East Coast or in the Middle West who
is relatively close to the factories which supply his stocks.
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RANTING that this radical difference exists, and the opinion
among the large body of the retail music merchants is that it
does, it would seem that here is a place where the sectional or State
association can function efficiently through gathering figures regard-
ing the overhead existing in the territory which it covers, and
striking an average range of them depending upon the type of store
which would soon indicate whether or not a merchant in that terri-
tory is extravagant in the amount of expense involved in making
each sale in his warerooms. Thus far the only survey of this char-
acter which has ever been attempted in the retail music trade was
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conducted by The Review, but that was national in its scope, and
while it brought to the surface a great deal of new information,
by its very nature it could not come as close to the actual facts as
would a similar survey conducted by a local association within a
restricted territory. This is but one example of the work which
these local or State associations should undertake. There are many
others, but unfortunately the trade is not as yet properly organized
upon a local basis, and until it is the individual merchant must wait
for much information that would be of incalculable value to him
in the conduct of his business.
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I S HE announcement that the Western Music Trades Association
*• will make its chief aim during the coming year the formation
of local associations throughout the territory which it covers, shows
to no small degree the way in which this subject is being con-
sidered by the forward-looking men of the trade and the way
in which they are organizing to develop it. It would be a good
thing if merchants in other sections of the country would lay
out a similar plan of campaign and develop similar means to have
their competitive merchants work w r ith them towards the eventual
solution of the common problems of the trade through common
action toward a common end.
Radio's Part in the Music Trade
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HE radio department to-day is no longer an experiment in the
general music store. The music merchant in large numbers
have tried this comparatively new product and have found that it has
given them a new outlet for increasing their general volume of
sales, and that furthermore it is a factor in attracting a large num-
ber of new people within the doors of their warerooms. He is in
a fair way towards solving the merchandising problems which con-
fronted him at the inauguration of this department and which were
its greatest obstacle towards profitable direction. There was never
any question as to the sales popularity of radio products themselves;
it has been a question, now happily on a fair way toward settlement,
as to how best to sell them.
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PARTICULARLY has this come true in the service problem.
* As a matter of fact, the radio service problem for the retail
music merchant presents no great difficulties, once the reasons which
have given rise to it are discovered, and removed. Excessive de-
mands for service on that part of radio customers have come al-
most exclusively from incorrect selling methods. Their origin can
be easily traced to the so-called "distance craze," the obsession
which has existed with so many retail radio salesmen to sell a radio
set upon wide claims of long distance reception and the natural
reaction on the part of a customer who has succumbed to this selling
talk. If a customer is assured at the time of his purchase that
under any and all conditions he can get all broadcasting stations
within a radius of, say 1,500 miles, it is perfectly natural for him
immediately to demand service, once he fails to do this, and if he
has been sold in this fashion he is perfectly justified in demanding
it. Rut distance to-day is no longer a primary selling factor. The
retail music merchant has realized the error of his ways, has care-
fully instructed his salesmen in the proper method of selling the
radio receiver, that is purely as a means of home entertainment,
with the result that service charges have been heavily cut, with a
resulting increase in the profits of this department. One large
Eastern organization which carried out this reform states that it
has cut its service charges 40 or 50 per cent, since it began it in
its selling methods. Here is the solution for the chief difficulty in
the retail music merchant successfully selling radio.
P R E S E N T indications are that, with the opening of the Fall
•* selling season, practically all the leading music merchants in the
country will have radio departments, that these departments will
be conducted properly, that the goods will be correctly merchandised
and thus this new product will be a profitable adjunct to the store.
THE REVIEW.