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The Music Trade Review
the grief that will follow. Harmony in striving for a common
goal is the answer and the only answer that will bring actual re-
sults to the music industries as a whole.
REVIEW
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Vol. 85
NEW YORK, DECEMBER 31, 1927
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Ignorance Is Not Bliss Here
Published by Federated Business Publications, Inc.
WESTERN
DECEMBER 31, 1927
No. 27
Harmony and a Common Goal
Y the time this issue of The Review reaches its readers the
New Year of 1928 will be upon us with its hopes, its expec-
tations and perhaps its disappointments in a certain measure. Under
existing conditions it would be foolhardy to attempt to present a
prophecy regarding next year's business, and yet, in the face of
the situation as it exists, there is every reason for optimism. The
piano business is not at its peak, and, as a matter of fact, is far
from it. But never before have members of the trade come to
a realization of their obligations as manufacturers and merchants
in creating a market for their products, and therein lies the bright
hope for the future.
Admittedly the piano business has rolled along on the crest
of the waves for a good many years. The fact that the piano
was regarded as an essential in the cultured home, either from
the musical or social standpoint, served to encourage a sufficient
volume of sales to keep factories active and dealers busy. That
conditions have changed and competition has sprung up is recog-
nized, but it profits nothing to take the trade to task for not fore-
seeing the coming of this new and stronger competition. There
is such a thing as getting into a rut, and the piano industry evi-
dently found its rut.
Now, however, we find it fighting for its own. We have
national advertisers and national publicity of a general sort. We
have contests and group instruction, and the campaign for piano
study in the schools of the country is rapidly gaining ground. All
this is calculated to make for a future market. It may come in
1928 or it may come later, but unless efforts are relaxed it is
bound to make its presence felt in the future. The trade has shown
an inclination to co-operate in many ways, but further steps must
be taken before the industry presents a united front to competi
tion generally. Whatever 1928 may produce in a business way,
it should see the complete amalgamation of the industry, and
the elimination of intra-trade jealousies and combativeness. If
the piano proirtotion campaign brings results anticipated there will
be more than enough business for everybody. If it does not pro-
duce those results then trade enmities will not serve to lessen
T T would be an excellent idea for piano manufacturers to re-
-•- spond to the appeal of President Hermann Irion, of the Music
Industries Chamber of Commerce, and provide accurate figures
regarding the output of their factories during the year and other
information relative to the growth or decline of the industry of
which they are integral parts in order that accurate statistics
might be compiled as a rule and guide for the trade in general.
The piano industry taken as a whole has nothing to be ashamed
of. In capital, output and the other factors by which the im-
portance of an industry is measured it stands up well with other
lines of trade, not so big as some, perhaps, but as large as many
and larger than most. Rut the difficulty has been, and is, that
nobody is sure of it. Well-informed members of the trade venture
opinions as to the actual production of instruments for this year
or that, but when it comes down to actual figures that may be
accepted as bona fide and authoritative, there comes the rub.
Not so many years ago piano manufacturers for the most
part were highly secretive regarding their factory operations, and
more than one worker was discharged because he was seen in
company with a fellow-worker from another plant. Piano making
was regarded as a highly individual process, with each factory
keeping its operations closely under cover. And yet in the final
analysis it was found that as a result of maintaining secrecy to
protect one or two unimportant manufacturing processes the manu-
facturer was often losing thousands of dollars because he was not
acquainted with improved processes developed by competing con-
cerns, and which in a sense were his for the asking.
Now we find the technical men of the industry organized in
an association and conferring regularly regarding those matters
which are as important to one as to the other. There are certain
patented processes in use in the trade, it is true, but in a broad
sense the production of pianos in one plant,is much the same as
m the other, and by combining experiences it has been found pos-
sible to avoid costly mistakes and to develop simpler methods
which have actually saved many dollars through the cutting of
production costs.
Having gone so far in the matter of production methods, there
seems to be no real reason why piano manufacturers should not
be willing to give, under a pledge of confidence, of course, actual
production figures. The development of actual statistics is the
only means whereby the industry can determine honestly whether
it is going ahead or slipping back. We are spending tens of thou-
sands of dollars in promotion work, and there are those who say
that they are producing the desired results, but from the broad
standpoint of the industry it is impossible to gauge those results
unless we know whether factory sales will be greater than they
have been this year.
& $* *
Affiliation or No Affiliation
ILL the Ohio State Association affiliate with the National
Association of Music Merchants or not? That is the ques-
tion that seems to be demanding earnest attention from members
of the trade outside the boundaries of Ohio as well as those within
them. There are members of the Ohio Association who are very
much in earnest in their endeavors to bring about such relationship,
and officials of local organizations in other parts of the country
have seen fit to express their views on the situation, emphasizing
particularly the benefits of national affiliation. President Roberts
of the National has answered fully and logically the objections
presented by Secretary Hyre of the Ohio body. Frankly, most
of the objections hardly seem serious enough to warrant any spirit
of aloofness on the part of the Ohio membership if affiliation is
really desired. Casting brickbats back and forth is certainly not
going to promote an entente cordiale, but it is to be hoped that
this airing of grievances and this presentation of facts that is
;,'oing on will accomplish some real purpose. The question has
dragged along for such an extended period that some definite solu-
tion is eminently desirable.
W