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The Music Trade Review
The Uplifters' Club, a branch of the Los
Angeles Athletic Club, situated in Santa Monica
canyon, west of Los Angeles, was the scene on
Tuesday night of a dinner and entertainment
given by the Atwater Kent Radio Mfg. Co., to
which all delegates and their wives were invited.
Delegates Visit Pageant and Exposition
During the afternoons, those delegates who
were not engaged in business transactions or in
attendance at the special meetings visited the
International Music Pageant and Exposition,
given in the Ambassador Auditorium, situated
nearby the convention hall. The exposition was
Philip T. Clay
declared the most complete display of musical
instruments ever held. While one of the Asso-
ciation convention sessions was in progress the
pageantry was staged to reveal to the public
the effect and beneficial power of music. Actors,
pantomimists and scenery carried out the theme
of the pageant, which was declared by the dele-
gates to be a huge merchandising force.
Second Day Session
T * H E second of the Western Music Trades'
•*• Convention yesterday, Wednesday, was
given over entirely to discussions of various
phases of radio and of (he radio trade, and there
were many illuminating facts presented by
authorities for the consideration of the dealers.
Uhl Urges Higher Markup
Ed. H. Uhl, president of the association, in-
troduced the subject by declaring a higher
markup on radio instruments was an urgent
need for the dealer. He declared that with
more profit available in pianos, many of the
dealers were likely to devote the better sales-
men to the bulkier instruments, and to neglect
the radio end of their business. He further
pointed out that when instalment merchants
discounted their paper, sometimes at twenty
per cent, there was little profit left in radio
sales.
Servicing Still a Problem
C. H. Mansfield, of Los Angeles, manager of
the radio department of the Platt Music Co.,
declared service constituted one of the consid-
erable menaces to the radio industry. He said
with many firms promising what he charac-
terized as "wild performances," in other words
declaring their sets would work wonders and
would bring in stations so far remote that such
performance actually would be an impossibility,
the customer, on trying the instrument, would
discover its inability and would demand service
call after service call, thereby running up tre-
mendous losses for the dealer.
The one way to obviate this needless dif-
ficulty, he said, is to promise only a thirty-day
service period after the method of the automo-
bile dealer and to instruct salesmen empha-
tically to make no "wild statements" pertaining
to the product. Cut service costs further, he
recommended, by handling only recognized and
thoroughly tried radio sets. The better sets,
he pointed out, will require but little servicing.
Cooperation of Manufacturers Needed
Without the cooperation of the manufac-
turer, Mr. Mansfield said, the dealer has little
chance to succeed. One of the most necessary
cooperative moves, he declared, constitutes the
manner in which new models are introduced,
for premature announcement of these models
invariably halts sales, and the fact that many
manufacturers do not sufficiently guard against
and do not take steps to curb rumors puts
the dealer at a distinct disadvantage.
"I frequently have had my customers," he
continued, "advise me of models of which 1
had no knowledge either definite or remote.
When these stories became widely circulated, it
sometimes was found they were without founda-
tion or were baseless. However, they had their
disastrous effect on business.
"Some manufacturers give a guarantee against
price drops, but to iny knowledge none of them
give any kind of guarantee against issuance of
new models. One manufacturer to my knowl-
edge has changed models three times within
the past nine months, each time coming out
with practically the same set at a lower price."
Television Still Distant, Says Lambert
Announcement of television was character-
ized as premature both by Mr. Mansfield and
by I. E. Lambert, assistant general attorney of
the Radio Corp. of America, New York.
"Television," said Mr. Lambert, "of course is
r.n assured fact, but it is as yet in the labora-
tory stage. Just as is the phonograph which
runs a motion picture of the band, singer or
raconteur as the record is played, television is
not yet ready for handling by the unskilled lay-
man.
"Overenthusiastic newspaper stories telling
of television's accomplishment and the an-
nouncement of the movie phonograph have had
their disastrous influence in slowing sales all
over the country. Positive knowledge has come
to us on repeated occasions wherein prospec-
tive customers have hesitated or have actually
refused to buy because they expected immedi-
ate introduction of these two new marvels."
Richard E. Smiley, assistant sales manager
of tlie Atwater Kent Mfg. Co., of Philadelphia,
said: "The radio industry is going through its
usual 'spring season,' with attendant rumors
flying thick and fast. We hear of companies
that are going to revolutionize the industry,
until one wonders if the plans of all will be
successful. Of course, all of this is ridiculous
because many of the companies which have an-
nounced extremely ambitious programs are
most certainly not in position to finance them."
"Is radio a specialty or a commodity," he asked,
declaring that many firms were forcing radio
into the latter class of merchandising. After
many millions of dollars have been expended
in placing a manufacturer's name before the
public, he said, radio should be exploited from
that basis.
Competition among music and radio mer-
chants, Mr. Smiley continued, is being con-
siderably sweetened by better understanding
and the influence of trades associations. If the
radio and the phonograph were once competi-
tors, he said, that competition no longer exists,
as to-day any broad-minded merchant realizes
that both are travelling hand in hand, with the
phonograph giving permanently recorded music
and the radio the current music, news and
concerts.
The Importance of Trade Journals
Trade journals were paid a great compliment
by Mr. Smiley, who declared they were de-
cidedly important factors in bringing the mod-
ern viewpoints to the industry simultaneously
in all parts of the country, The trade journal,
he said, stands as a common meeting place for
men of an industry and the value of this in-
fluence cannot be over-estimated.
Royal W. Daynes, of Salt Lake City, presi-
dent of the Consolidated Music Co., declared
JUNE 30, 1928
jazz music soon will go through a refining proc-
ess and that after this transition, which will
eliminate crazed antics of drummers and shrill
squeaks of clarinets, jazz will be recognized and
accepted by the finest musicians of all nations.
Third Day Session
A T I he final session of the convention, fol-
•^^ lowing the recommendation of President
Uhl at the first session and the attention given
to radio problems on Tuesday, it was voted to
change the name of the organization to the
Western Music & Radio Trades' Association.
The vote was unanimous and the move was en-
dorsed by many prominent members of the
association.
Royal W. Daynes the New President
i
Royal W. Daynes, of the Consolidated Music
Co., Salt Lake City, was elected president, and
his city was chosen as the next meeting place
ol the convention. Other new officers are Ellis
Marx, of the Ellis Marx Music Co., Sacra-
mento, first vice-president; Shirley Walker, of
Sherman, Clay & Co., San Francisco, second
vice-president, and John Elliott Clark, of Salt
Lake City, secretary.
It was left to Mr. Daynes to appoint his own
treasurer, and executive secretary from Salt
Lake City musical instrument men, thereby
swinging the control of the western association
lor the coming year into the intermountain
region.
In his address of acceptance, Mr. Daynes
devoted himself to an invitation to all members
of the Association to attend the next conven-
tion, and refrained from outlining his official
policies other than pledging himself to serve
the industry to his best ability.
Radio Men Appreciative
After the change in name of the organization
was effected, Walter Pagan, Los Angeles radio
dealer and a leader in the industry in the south-
west, was called by E. H. Uhl, still presiding
as president, to describe the radio dealers' reac-
tion to the alteration.
He characterized the move as "more than a
sound one," declaring that great changes in the
distribution of musical instruments were com-
ing from within the industry itself.
"Radio and music are identical," he said, "and
vou will never divorce them. Radio is enter-
C. H. Mansfield
tainment, like a piano. Hut the adoption of a
resolution and the change of an association
name means little other than a reflection of an
internal condition. To make it mean something
real to the industry, radio must be adopted as a
business, a thoroughly recognized and respected
one, by all musical instrument houses."
Committee to Confer With Radio Men
He concluded with recommending that a com-
mittee be appointed at once to confer with the
radio trades associations in all sections of the