Music Trade Review

Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE
MUSIC TRADE
more or less difficult task of devising ways and means for check-
ing a type of publicity that has had the effect of cheapening the
entire piano trade in the eyes of the public through giving the pro-
spective purchasers false ideas of real piano values. The task is
not one of a week or a month, but it is believed that the committee
of the Chamber will come to Chicago with a report indicating actual
and satisfactory accomplishment.
Financial Matters
The National Piano Manufacturers' Association, and probably
several other bodies in the trade, plan to give considerable atten-
tion to the question of providing more adequate financial support
for the Music Industries Chamber of Commerce, circumstances
during the past year emphasizing strongly the need for stronger
support to enable the Chamber to carry on the work to which its
various bureaus are committed, as well as other activities which
certain sections of the trade believe should be taken up. It is held,
and properly, that if the Chamber is worthy of encouragement at
all it is worthy of the proper support, and that this support must
be guaranteed on a basis that will not permit of any sudden periods
of financial depression calculated to throttle Chamber activities.
Supply Association's Credit Work
Of interest to all bodies in the piano trade especially will be
the serious discussion by the Musical Supply Association of the
credit situation in the industry. This credit work of the Supply
Association has developed far past the experimental stage and the
service has already functioned admirably in a number of notable
instances protecting several piano houses from the distress of
bankruptcy proceedings, at the same time saving the supply men
from the heavy credit losses attendant thereon. In many respects
it is one of the most important activities in music trade association
work and should gain in importance as time goes on.
Wide
Representation
Practically every division of the music industry will be repre-
sented at the Chicago meetings in one way or another with the
possible exception of the music publishers' and music dealers' asso-
ciations, which will hold their respective conventions in New York
during the same week as the general meetings in Chicago. The
fact that the Music Publishers' Association of the United States
is no longer affiliated with the Chamber of Commerce has had an
influence in causing the publishers to go back to their old stamping
ground for their annual meeting.
New Trade Bodies
At least two new trade bodies will hold their first annual meet-
ings in connection with the general Chicago convention, being the
National Association of Musical Instrument and Accessories Manu-
facturers, which was organized in Cleveland in March of this year,
and the National Piano Technicians' Association, which has been
functioning successfully for some months and which expects to
be able to present to all the associations in Chicago definite sugges-
tions relative to the establishment of a standard pitch for all musical
instruments. Although not yet affiliated with the Chamber, the
recently formed Phonograph Manufacturers' Association contem-
plates holding a special meeting at the Furniture Club in Chicago
REVIEW
MAY
30, 1925
during the period of the general convention and will probably de-
velop contact with some of the executives of the older associations
and of the Chamber.
The Entertainment
So far as entertainment goes, the convention delegate of proper
standing should have little waste time on his hands. In the first
place, the practice observed during the past few years of having
official noonday luncheons during the convention will be followed
this year, and an imposing galaxy of talent, including musical and
theatrical stars, has been lined up to entertain during the intermis-
sion periods each day. Then, of course, there is the big banquet
of the National Association of Music Merchants on Wednesday
night, to which everybody goes, and the annual frolic on Thursday
night, the general jollification which brings the convention to an
official close.
In addition to these formal affairs, various manufacturers have
made plans for the entertainment of their retail representatives
who attend the sessions, and some of these plans seem to provide
for some well-filled evenings. To top it all off there is the golf
tournament at Olympia Fields on Friday, which is expected to at-
tract at least 100 of those who chase the pill over the green with
the club.
Eastern Delegation
The Eastern delegation to the convention, including members
of the trade from Boston, New York and nearby cities and towns,
will as usual travel to Chicago on a special train leaving New York
and Boston on Saturday and arriving in the convention city early
on Sunday afternoon, where it will be met by a local reception
committee. The delegation from Texas and the Southwest also
plans to come to the convention in a special train or at least to
charter enough special cars to take care of the music trade mem-
bers. Likewise various groups of tradesmen in the Pacific Coast
district have arranged to travel to Chicago in a body, though it is
intimated that the delegation from the West Coast this year will be
somewhat smaller than usual, owing to the fact that the Pacific
Coast trade will have its own convention later in the month.
Taking it all in all the stage seems to be set for a convention
that should measure up with the very successful meetings that
have been held during recent years. Being in Chicago it will benefit
naturally from its central location, and this generally means a big
dealer attendance.
A New Spirit
The convention this year unquestionably will see a further
extension of the opinion that it is a gathering with serious import,
that those who attend go there for the purpose of discussing the
outstanding problems before the industries, and through common
discussion and contact endeavor to settle them to the benefit of all
concerned. The old days, when the delegates attending were found
more often in the lobbies of the convention hotel than they were
in the business sessions of the associations of which they were mem-
bers, are rapidly disappearing, and a new spirit is growing up, one
that more than justifies the holding of this national gathering.
Programs this year are of a quality that should unquestionably
draw an attendance to all of the sessions, and the man who does
not miss a session of the association in which he is particularly
interested will find that he will carry home with him much of value
in conducting his business during the coming year.