Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
The Music Trade Review
JULY 2, 1927
Novelties in Piano Case Design
I
(Registered in the U. S. Patent Office)
PUBLISHED BY EDWARD LYMAN BILL, Inc.
at 4 2 0 Lexington Avenue, New York
Prciident, C. L. Bill; Vice-Presidents, J. B. Spillane, Edward Lyman Bill, Randolph
Brown: Secretary, Edward Lyman Bill; Treasurer, Raymond Bill: Assistant Secretary,
L. E. Bowers; Assistant Treasurer, Wm. A. Low; Chairman of the Board, J. B. Spillane.
B. BRITTAIN WILSON, Editor
RAY BILL, Associate Editor
WM. H. McCLEARY, Managing Editor
CARLETON CHACE, Business Manager
FRANK L. AVERY, Circulation Manager
Executive and Reportorial Staff
E. B. MUNCH, V. D. WALSH, EDWARD VAN HARLINGIN, THOS. W. BRISNAHAN,
E. J. NEALY, FREDERICK B. DIEHL, A. J. NICKLKN
WESTERN DIVISION:
BOSTON OFFICE
FRANK W. KIRK, Manager
JOHN H. WILSON, 324 Washington St.
Republic Bldg., 209 So. State St., Chicago
Telephone, Main 6950
Telephone, Wabash 5242-5243
LONDON, ENGLAND: 1 Gresham Buildings, Basinghall, St., D. C.
NEWS SERVICE IS StPPLIED WEEKLY BY OUR CORRESPONDENTS
LOCATED IN THE LEADING CITIES THROUGHOUT AMERICA
Published Every Saturday at 420 Lexington Avenue, New York
Entered as second-class matter September 10, 1892, at the post office at New York, N. Y.,
under the Act of March 3, 1879
BUBSCRIPTION, United States and Mexico, $2.00 per year; Canada, $3.50; all other
countries, $5.00.
ADVERTISEMENTS, rates on request.
REMITTANCES, should be made payable to Edward Lyman Bill, Inc.
Exposition Honors Won by The Review
Grand Prix
Paris Exposition, 1900 Silver Medal.. .Charleston Exposition, 1902
Diploma
Pan-American Exposition, 1901 Gold Medal
St. Louis Exposition, 1904
Gold Medal—Lewis-Clark Exposition, 1905
TELEPHONES—LEXINGTON 1760-1771
Cable Address: "Elbill, New York"
Vol. LXXXV
NEW YORK, JULY 2, 1927
No. 1
Important Publishers' Announcement
Edward Lyman Bill, Inc., owners of The Music
Trade Review, have recently formed a new company,
namely: Federated Business Publications, Inc., to which
The Music Trade Review has been transferred.
This transfer does not represent any change in the
owning control, or management, or staff of The Music
Trade Review.
The officers of Federated Business Publications, Inc.,
are as follows:
President, Raymond Bill
Vice-Pres., J. B. Spillane
Vice-Pres., Randolph Broivn
Sec'y-Treas., Edward Lyman Bill
The executive staff of The Music Trade Review con-
tinues as set forth in the masthead above.
Coincident with the formation of this company, an
issue of Cumulative First Preferred Stock of Federated
Business Publications, Inc., is offered to the public
through banking channels, and the company has agreed
to make application to list this Preferred Stock on the
New York Curb Market.
This financing has been undertaken for the purpose
of expansion, in order to make possible the acquisi-
tion of additional publications of a well-established
character. Our experience of the past ten years has
definitely proved that the group plan of publishing
makes possible the production of more influential busi-
ness papers; in other words, that by publishing maga-
zines covering diverse industries we can produce a more
effective trade paper in each particular field.
This latest move represents a further step forward in
the progress of our organization, and one which will
enable us to increase the service rendered to the music
industry by The Music Trade Review.
F the piano trade does not come back as strongly as hoped for
as a result of the efforts being put back of promotion work, it
cannot be blamed upon the lack of interest of the majority of
piano manufacturers in developing new types of instruments de-
signed to meet practically every public demand in style, finish
and price.
In the matter of case design alone it is doubtful if any similar
period in trade history has seen the progress that has been made
last year in the development of fancy cases and period designs.
In most instances the period models have shown a real under-
standing of art and its application to cabinet work. Some models
which have not measured up to standard for one reason or another
have made the really artistic cases stand out by comparison, and
if nothing else have indicated the desire of their makers to be in
the front in the matter of case offering.
The period s-tyle and the richly decorated case serve two useful
purposes. Firstly, they are designed to have a stronger appeal
to the prospective piano buyer who requires something beyond
tone and interior quality in his instrument, and, secondly, they
have a special appeal to those who, possessing old pianos, may be
persuaded to buy new ones as being more in keeping with the
interior furnishings of their home. Whatever may be the results,
the makers have at least shown an earnest desire to keep up with
the procession and to get out of the rut.
Nor has all this progress been made in the matter of show
alone. The manufacturing division of the trade has given attention
as never before to the scientific side of piano production. The
practice of building pianos by rule of thumb and dead reckoning,
such as appeared to prevail in many factories, has gone by the
board, and through technical study there has been developed a
fixed formula calculated to produce tonal qualities on a definite
basis. It is true that there is much to be done along this line
and that in the hurry to put a new instrument on the market
some manufacturers are inclined to be satisfied with something
less than perfection. Even in such cases, the new instruments
are subject to a careful scientific check, with the result that cor-
rections are made in the proper spirit. The old practice of
standing by the guns and claiming perfection, in the face of scientific
proof to the contrary, has also died out.
Successful distribution, of course, is the most important in
any line of business, and no matter how much thought and attention
is given to the new product, its final test is in the selling. It is
for the development of sales that the promotion work is being
carried on, but full credit is to be given to those who, in the face
of conditions that are not altogether satisfying, are willing to
display their confidence in the future of the industry by lending
their efforts to the production of new instruments that will lessen
sales resistance. It is a recognition of his functions by the manu-
facturer that speaks well for the stability of the industry.
yg
yg y&
The Western Trades Convention
W
ITHIN approximately a week after this issue of The Review
is in the hands of its readers, the members of the music
industry on the Pacific Coast and from a large territory in the
Far West will gather in San Francisco for the Fourth Annual
Convention of the Western Music Trades Association, with every
indication that this annual meeting will equal in interest those
outstanding gatherings that have gone before it.
It is significant that in drawing up the program of the con-
vention, which calls for four full days of attention to trade and
association business, to say nothing of the many social events that
are interspersed and will follow the meeting, an effort has been
made by the association officers to choose subjects for discussion;
that will cover every phase of the industry as a whole, including
pianos, band and orchestra instruments, phonographs, records,
radio and the other departments that make up the usual repre-
sentative music store. In addition, such general trade activities
as group instruction, piano-playing tournaments, high school band
contests, music in the schools and kindred subjects connected with
the promotional work in the industry will find a place on the pro-
gram. On the whole, the plans for the convention are unusually
well balanced and might be considered with interest by those who
are charged with developing schedules that are worth while for
the national meetings.