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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
JANUARY 2, 1926
Music Advancement Bureau and the Trade—(Continued from page 3)
Perhaps you had not thought of the Bureau
as business insurance, and perhaps you may
have wondered why the music business was not
better in 1924 and the Spring of 1925. Frankly,
I do not know, but there are many possible and
probable reasons. Has it occurred to you that
your business might have been much worse if
there had been no Bureau? Certainly anything
which is an influence on the market for your
goods is of very definite and real interest to
you. The Bureau is worth your investigation as
well as your support.
The Automobile
A few days ago the president of one of the
largest music corporations in the country re-
marked to me that in his judgment the greatest
deterrent to the piano business was the auto-
mobile, and that he viewed with considerable
concern the expansion of automobile plants.
With over $20,000,000,000 spent last year for cars
many other industries must have suffered, for
no man can spend the same dollar twice. The
piano business, because it represents an expen-
sive investment, must have been considerably af-
fected. It makes little difference to you to
whom you lost the sale—whether to the piano
dealer across the street or to the automobile
dealer. You failed to get the money.
Are you willing to let the automobile make
further inroads on your business? Are you will-
ing to stand aside and let other energetic and
aggressive industries capture the public's favor
at your expense? It is certain to be at some-
one's expense. The public is fickle and it
changes its favors very easily.
It is true that the automobile is a wonderful
invention and meets a very definite public need.
But the phenomenal success of the motor car
must be attributed to the brains and broad-
minded promotion policy of the industry. Re-
gardless of the unquestioned intrinsic merit of
the automobile it would not have reached its
present status in fifty years without a co-ordi-
nated and brilliant effort to sell it to the public.
What effect do you suppose the good roads
movement has had on the motor industry? That
movement neither originated nor developed by
natural causes unassisted.
You may see no comparison—but it is there
and it is both menacing and promising. But
you must see straight and then act for your
own selfish interest along broad lines when you
are considering broad questions. You must
combine your strength if you are to meet sue-
cessfully the combined strength of your com-
petitors for the public favor. I t is important to
keep in mind that no industry is a fixture and
that but few industries have realized their full
possibilities. The music business—almost as old
as civilization—is confronted with a different sit-
uation than ever before—both menacing and ex-
ceedingly promising. How is it to meet it?
This means how are you to meet it, for your
own pocketbook is affected and it is up to you
to produce the means to meet it.
Collective Competition
If you recognize, as you must, that you have
two kinds of competition to meet—your indi-
vidual competition from the other music dealer
and the collective competition from all the types
of articles the public might buy in place of the
type you sell—you will realize that you must
meet, your individual competition individually
and your collective competition collectively, and
that meeting the collective competition will cost
you some money just as certainly as meeting the
individual competition, although by no means
as much. Not only is it necessary for you to
accept this statement of fact theoretically, but
as a matter of practice, and as applied to you.
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You must be prepared to pay for it yourself, if
it is to be effective. Once this thought is really
accepted by you, you are equipped with the
necessary stimulus to build an effective instru-
mentality to accomplish your purpose. But not
until then.
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The Cost Is Small
Fortunately the cost is extremely small, but
unfortunately there is no way for you to trace
direct results any more than you can trace your
indirect competition. You, of course, must have
some means of checking up so that you may feel
the plan you are undertaking is intelligently and
effectively carried out and actual results are ac-
complished. It is obvious that this check-up
must come from a committee composed of a few
men whom you select and who are willing to
give their time to study and investigate and
report their findings to you. Then, of course,
you must accept their findings because they rep-
resent the best means you have of appraising
the value of the work done and the desirability
of the means employed. Your part, as I said
before, is to pay the cost—about one-twentieth
of 1 per cent of your sales—and be absolutely
satisfied as to the following:
First: That you want an organization work-
ing to increase the interest of the general public
in music.
Second: That you prefer big results which
cannot be directly traced to small results which
can, and permanent results which come slowly
to quick results which fade away before you
have time to profit from them.
Third: That you want economy of operation
in view of the magnitude of the operation—in-
fluencing 110,000,000 people.
A Personal Reaction
My own reaction to the above is as follows:
First: So strongly am I convinced that the
trade is "sold" to the advancement of music
idea that I believe if the National Bureau should
drop out of existence for any reason whatso-
ever the music dealers and manufacturers all
over the country would rise up and demand
some kind of an organization to stimulate inter-
est in music, although I am sorry to say you
might allow apathy to seriously restrict its influ-
ence.
Second: There is no doubt but that the trade
wants the biggest results it can get. I t is
equally certain that there is an urgent need of
them, in view of the aggressiveness of other in-
dustries and the fickleness of the American
public. It is clear that it would be easier to
get up plans which would "sell" the National
Bureau to the trade by a few spectacular stunts
than plans which would "sell" music to the great
buying public by establishing a sincere, deep-
seated interest. It is equally clear that if
$50,000,000 are now being spent by philan-
thropists in this endeavor (a conservative fig-
ure) the trade has insufficient funds to mate-
rially increase results by working alone. It
must utilize.this $50,000,000 so that it will pro-
duce greater efficiency. It must also utilize the
army of volunteer workers who are susceptible
to suggestion.
Third: Economy of operation. Obviously it
is more economical to get others to do the work
than to do it yourself. In this connection it
should be borne in mind that this is not and
cannot be done by trickery, the magician's wand,
or even by cleverness, but by the wise guidance
of those we wish to have follow our counsel.
Specific Facts and Figures
While I believe the National Bureau for the
Advancement of Music should be judged by the
sum total of its work rather than on any specific
accomplishment, and on its main policy and
purpose and the effectiveness with which that
purpose is carried out, there are specific
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facts and figures for those who desire them.
There are too many facts and figures to be given
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here, but as it is your money which is being
spent, you should acquaint yourself fully with
them. Do not make the mistake, however, of
concentrating your thought so much on the
proof of direct results that you miss the larger
picture of probability of very much greater
results.
Does it not appeal to your judgment that a
National Music Week observed in 682 cities and
towns on a community-wide basis, and in 526
additional towns on a partial basis—1,208 in all
—is a stimulant to the music business? Eighty
thousand, two hundred and sixty-four dollars
and thirty-five cents was raised by the local corn-
mittees in 318 of these places. Does not your
judgment tell you that public interest in music
must have been aroused or this could not have
happened? The movement must have merit for
it has already spread to Alaska, Hawaii, Porto
Rico, Philippines, Canada and Scotland, and
other countries are considering the movement.
The 296-page book, "Municipal Aid to Music,"
published by the Bureau after a fifteen months'
survey, has provided a powerful instrument in
the hands of Chambers of Commerce, Rotary
and Kiwanis Clubs, music clubs, women's clubs,
etc., in a campaign initiated by the Bureau to
induce cities and towns to appropriate more
money from the public funds to provide music
for the people. Many mayors have written that
the book will be an aid in making up their next
year's budgets,
And Results
Can anyone state specifically what the direct
results will be? No. It would be of little im-
portance if definite proof could be given, except
to add prestige to the Bureau in the eyes of
the trade. But the Bureau is not working for
prestige or proof but for the maximum influence,
The exploitation of proof would defeat the very
purpose for which the Bureau is striking,
namely, to convince the statesemen and the gen-
eral public of the great value of music in the
daily life of the people as a whole, and each
individual man, woman and child. It would pin
on the movement the tag of commercial self-
interest,
Let me be perfectly frank, so you who are
engaged in the music industry can understand
the Bureau's policy. I think I understand you
and that I can confidently appeal to your judg-
ment to back that policy. You are paying the
bills, yet the Bureau is not working for your
interest except as a secondary consideration,
You have the Music Merchants' Service (an-
other part of the M. I. C. C.) doing that for
you. The Bureau is working primarily and
almost exclusively in the interest of the people
in bringing music to them. It is my firm con-
viction that music is of infinitely greater im-
portance to mankind as a whole—not an isolated
group—than is generally comprehended by 90
per cent of our population. This, fortunately
for the music industry, has been decreed by
Divine Providence—by our physical, mental and
nervous makeup. It is the Bureau's purpose to
make this fact, known so that music shall be
more universally sought and enjoyed. Let me
report one evidence of progress. The following
is a list of the organizations, officials and indi-
vidual workers which the Bureau has assisted
or with whom it has co-operated within the past
twelve months in connection with some local
musical activity, project or need:
Music Clubs
807
?J US1C S u P e r v l s o r s
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Editors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ! ! ' . . . ! . " . .
' ' 188
Music Dealers
439
Music Teachers
174
Chambers of Commerce
156
Boards of Education
148
Orchestras and Bands
Libraries
140
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0. SIMMS MF8. CO.. 103-5 Wwt 14th St.
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